Storm

JD and I rented touring skiis, boots and skins for the weekend and made for Storm Mountain (3118m). Started off from the car at 9am, up through thinning trees. Never used these things before, so the concept is new and we dont trust them. Soon enough we learn you can go up pretty much any slope. We continue up the base of a valley to reach an upper bowl. A few hundred meters switchbacking takes us as high as we can go on skis. We boot-pack the last couple-hundred meters of vertical to the summit.

Back to our skiis, we lock-down the bindings and make a few turns. its awkward at first, but we soon find a rythm. Its easier turning in the upper bowl in valley, but down where the trees get thicker its a big effort no to crash.

7 hrs up, 30 minutes down!

The Stone Sentinal

JD travelled to South America this past spring and visited Base Camp of Mt. Aconcagua (6962m), situated on the Chile-Argentina border. December brings us back to the Andes, to try for the top. This is a true expedition, we have packed all our own food, enough for 2 weeks. We learned our lessons on Kili about equipment, so this time we are ready - North Face Tent, -40 sleeping bags, double plastic boots and heavy down jackets. We take care of permits in Mendoza, then make our way to the outpost of Puente Del Inca (2200m), trailhead for Aconcagua. This area is a ski resort in the winter, so we spend a couple of days acclimatizing on some day hikes. Its a rocky desert in this area, no vegitation at all. We hire mules to carry most of our supplies, keeping our tent and sleeping bags for the 40 km journey into basecamp.Our first camp is Confluencia (3350m), named for the meeting point of two large glacial valleys. The next day, Christmas Day, we do a side hike up to to the base of the West Face of Aconcagua. Only the most elite mountaineers in the world have climbed the mountain via this route. The next day, we pack everything up and head for Plaza de Mulas...basecamp. Its a long day up desolate Horcones Valley, but we finally arrive at 4200m, exhausted. There are hundreds of climbers here from all around the world. A few days rest here get us used to the increased altitude. This is the highest mountain outside the Himalayas, so there are doctors here that check your blood pressure and O2 saturation levels. Here the water is ample, it can be collected from glaciar runoff. Up higher we will need to melt snow for drinking and cooking.

The first camp is Camp Canada at 4900m, which offers gorgeous views of the valley below. We carry a load of supplies here one day before moving the tent up here the next. The next camp is Nido De Condores, the condors nest, at 5400m. Its an extremely windy plateau with not much in the way of cover. We've been on the same schedule as a solo Swedish climber named Rob. We discuss strategy, read and melt snow. Jr. is drinking the water faster than i can melt it! A number of other teams try for the summit straight from this camp. We decide to give it a shot - load up with water and powerbars and head off from the tents at midnight. An hour later we are back in the tents, back to the drawing board. We decide to move up to one camp higher, Camp Berlin at 5900m. This is where most party's try for the summit. If means a tough carry and sleeping quite high, higher than the summit of Kilimanjaro, but the summit day is alot shorter. We get out of Camp Berlin in good time, the first team to leave camp. Its a crystal clear night, no clouds. Its cold (probably minus 10C) but no wind. We slowly work our way up, each moving at our own pace. JD is off ahead, Rob behind me. Up we get to a vantage point where you can see a long diagonal traverse up across a scree slope. JD's already crossed the traverse - he's moving fast. Following the traverse is a last steep section of scrambly rocks called the Canaleta. Half way up, I finally see JD, he's on the way down already! Almost there. Another hour and I reach the top, the view is tremendous, and not a cloud in the sky. Very little wind. For a few minutes, I'm alone as the highest man in South America. Yet at the top you're only half way there, still the matter of the long decent back to camp. Slowly down, now without the motivation of the summit. Back at Berlin, Jr. has dismantled the tent and continued on down. We pick up whats left and head down further. Back at Nido, JD has not set up the tent - still down he continues, so on we go. Same story at Canada, so all the way back down to basecamp we go, finally arriving just as the sun sets. All in all, a 16 hour day on the mountain. We are too tired to set up the tent, so we lay out our sleeping bags on the ground in one of the storage tents, and fall asleep. The next day, all the way back out the 40 long kms to Puente Del Inca. We've missed the mule train for the day, and we are not about to stay an extra night, so we hump everying out on our backs. We limp back to the trailhead pretty weathered, sunburned badly, a few pounds ligher, and exhausted. But thats it, the job is done!

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

Our first big mountain experience! The Machame Route of Mt. Kilimanjaro, highest mountain in Africa at 5895m. We are a team of 10 - JD, Dr. JRP and myself, plus our local guide Paul, an assistant guide, 3 porters, 1 cook and 1 assistant cook. We've packed light - our Canadian Tire Spalding tent, some cheapo sleeping bags, and wind-breakers. Food will be provided, though we each have our favorite bars - Mesotech, Vector and Powerbar. Our porters carry our travel bags plus their own personal effects. We carry day packs only, with water and cameras. The first day takes us through the jungle, large trees and vine-covered slopes, to a campsite at 2200m, where the porters cook us a meal. We wake wearily on the second day and break camp, starting up now through broken trees and more rocky outcrops. We camp at 3200m, and start to feel the first effects of the altitude. Day 3 we plod on, up through a moonscape to a place called the Lava Tower at 4000m. Jr is definitely feeling the effects of the rapid height gain. The porters want to camp here and take us up the more direct Western Breach route, but we convince them to continue along the Machame route. The route continues back down to 3700m and a gorgeously situated camp. We can see the entire western wall of the mountain, with glaciers dropping from the summit down among the mists and low clouds. Very cold night, our sleeping bags arent nearly warm enough - we sleep in every stich of clothing we own. Early the next morning we head up the Barranco Wall, picking our way through one of the steeper sections of the route. We cross horizontally across the mountain to our last camp at 4500m. JD moving very slow, but moving. I throw up dinner, rushing from the tent to the edge of a cliff just in the nick of time. We are all definitely feeling the effects of the altutude now. Atfter maybe a few winks of sleep, we are up very early on summit day - midnight. The idea is to arrive on the summit for sunrise. We stumble out of the tent with headlamps and start our way up following our assistant guide. We arrive at Gilmans Point - the crater rim, still before sunrise. Windy and cold, we are delerious from the altitude. We stumble along the ridge till the summit sign comes into view - Highest Point in Africa! Still dark, but we can start to see the glaciers off in the distance, we are above evrything. The conical silouette of neighbouring Mt. Meru is off to the west. We take a few pictures, then begin the long road down retracing our steps. We stumple back to camp, taking in as many views as we can. Back to camp by 11 am and straigh into a comoatose sleep for a couple of hours. But we are tired and hungry and dirty. We decide to go all the way down right away, bypassing the last camp on the way down. Arrive back in Moshi, exhausted. We give the porters our tents and gaitors...wont be needing those anymore on this trip. Off to the beach in Zanzibar!