Speaking of making me feel like a slacker over the holidays, Alan Arnette has managed to add to that feeling. Alan left his home in Colorado on December 27th to head South to Argentina to climb Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America and outside of the Himalaya, at 22,834 feet. This is Alan's latest step on his Road Back to Mt. Everest as he continues to train and prepare for his return to Everest in the Spring, where he'll be climbing to raise money and awareness for the Cure Alzheimer's Fund. He also successfully summitted the mountain back in 2005.
Alan's been gone a week, but he's already made several dispatches from Argentina. The first of which you can read here. From the sounds of things, it was an adventure just getting to the airport to begin his journey to the mountain. But in the end, that journey got off to an uneventful start, and he arrived safely. The rest of the post gives some great background information on Aconcagua itself including some insights into how to approach the climb itself.
The second dispatch finds Alan in Mendoza, the city that is used as a staging area for Aconcagua climbs. Alan decribes the city very well, and sets the stage for what it's like in this Argentine city of 150,000 people. There, Alan has hooked up with his team, and is preparing to head out into the mountains themselves.
Finally, today we have an audio dispatch from Alan, who has arrived at Base Camp safe and sound. He reports that the weather has been great so far, although a bit on the warm side. The team spent three days acclimatizing as they slowly made their way to BC, and will now spend another couple of days there before proceeding up to Camp 1. He promises more audio dispatches will follow soon, and it should be an interesting way to follow his efforts up one of the most iconic climbs in South America, and one of the Seven Summits.
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