Thursday, December 16, 2010

FTA Aconcagua Dec 11 Falso - heading to BC!


Our December Falso trip under the leadership of Ben Kane is off and running! They will be pulling into the base camp shortly and preparing to begin the climbing phase of the trip. We look forward to hearing their news shortly and until then enjoy a note from Ben about the trip ahead!



Dec 13, 2010

Hello from Mendoza, Argentina!

Tomorrow Saul Willers and Dean Slawson and myself will be departing Mendoza, bound for Penitentes.
The drive takes between three to four hours, and passes through some amazing countryside, from the arid desert surrounding Mendoza, past the aqua marine lake at Porterillos,
winding through canyons before coming out onto the plain at Uspallata. We'll have a lunch stop here before continuing onto Penitentes, gaining height to an altitude of 2500m.

Saul and I did this earlier in the month and had the luxury of camping a few nights in the hills
surrounding Penitentes, just below the summit of Cruz de Cana peak. Below is a photo of our camp during a magnificent sunrise. An amazing vista to wake up to indeed!

We'll have an acclimatization hike, aiming to get up to around 3800m and hit the trailhead on the 14th. Over the next few days we'll go through the process of sorting personal
gear, tents, stoves, food etc and prepare our loads for the mules to carry. We'll be hiking for three days and arrive at Plaza Argentina on the 16th, our base camp for our attempt on the False Polish traverse.

Weather and acclimatization allowing, we'll be heading for a summit bid on around the 25th, so fingers crossed we'll be celebrating Christmas on the top of South America!

Stay tuned for more dispatches and pictures from the mountain!

Ben


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Mendoza is a wonderful destination for vacations! More info: http://www.hoteltraveltour.com/argentina/mendoza-mendoza.html

Nicole said...

Way to go guys ... all the best for a safe and exhilarating adventure. Wishing you all the best for a Merry Christmas day summit ... Sending you much love, your Australian fans xxx