After our monumental physical effort in getting to the summit on the biggest mountain outside of Asia, the trip had not come to an end just yet. We still had a two day hike descending 4000m and covering 40km to deal with, and let me just say that that it brought back memories of my Army days and the forced pack marches we had to complete. Descending in mountaineering boots is torture because your toes slide forward with each step slamming into the front of the boot, a process known as Boot Bump. I survived the entire expedition without a single blister then in the first three hours during day one of descent I had two lovely little blisters on the top of the third toe on each foot. I decided to change into my trekking boots and put up with the loss of traction in exchange for comfy feet. The second day heading down was seven hours of fast paced hiking carrying all our gear, at the end of this day I felt like I had played a game of A grade Rugby after 5 years off and no warn up, but spirits were high and on arrival at the park entrance even pain couldnt take the smile off my face.  We were picked up by our bus at the entrance and settled in for the three hour ride back to Mendoza, showers, steak and a soft mattress. It was an amazing trip with a fantastic team and world class guides.

As of this writing I have had 5 days of Eating, sleeping and recovery and am now back in my favourite country of all and ready to smash up training in Sydney. I dropped 9kg on the expedition which has to go back on and I now have six weeks till I depart for mountain number two, Denali in Alaska. I gained knowledge and confidence from Aconcagua and am more excited then ever to get to Alaska, but for now its training time.

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The weather was perfect for our move to Camp 3, the only problem was that I had a hideous nights sleep the night before. Im blaming the restless night on the fact that I ate enough powdered cheesecake given to me by another team to kill a small rhinoceros. I have always been one to indulge in the delicious treat and after not tasting anything so good for some time I over did it and payed the price. I felt very weak on the move up and even though we completed the leg an hour faster than the time before I was dredding our summit day the next day if I still felt like this. I fell into bed early in the afternoon hoping for a good sleep and clear skies, just as the snow started to fall.

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Half way through the night while I was topping up my pee botle to the brim and trying not to spill it into my sleeping bag I noticed that the weather was calm. It must have stayed the way for the rest of the night because when I zipped open the tent this morning it was a beautiful site. Clear blue skies, no wind and crisp white snow lying motionless on every surface. It was a great day for our load carry to Camp 3 at 6000m, it was tough though as we had to break trail through two feet on snow most of the way. After resting long enough at Camp 3 to cache gear and get headaches we descended back to Camp 2. The weather forecast for the next few days looks great so the plan is to move to Camp 3 tomorrow and if the weather holds try for the summit the following day. Our lead guide Matias gave us the news that two of the three missing climbers have been found but have sustained bad frostbite to their hands and feet, the third is still missing. He also dropped the bombshell that two climbers died yesterday on there way to summit and they are not able to get the bodies down for some time. This means that on our way to the summit we will be confronted with the bodies and will have to deal with it. I knew that mountaineering was a risky enterprise but I also thought that I wouldnt have to see dead climbers untill Everest. No one knows the details of why these climbers died and I do not want to speculate here, Matias simply said that the mountain is dangerous and has to be respected at all times.

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The weather continued to be fierce all night and although it is sunny this morning the wind is unforgiving. I got very little sleep due to headaches from the increased altitude and the news we received over breakfast did little to lighten our moods. There are now three Spanish climbers missing up on a part of the mountain called the Polish Glacier, as well as an English team in trouble high up with an unconscious member. The weather yesterday caught all teams off guard, we were lucky we were close to our camp when the worst hit us, the teams high on the peak would have been caught in a nightmare. The rescue teams are out searching and we are waiting for any new information to develop, today will be a rest day for us with tomorrow looking to be alright for a load carry up to Camp 3. We have just received word that the unconscious member has died higher up from Camp 3. This is terrible news and has given everyone on our team a big reality check. The weather has picked up intensity again but Im sure we are all now in no rush to go higher unless its perfect conditions.

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We woke up to high winds and cold but clear skies so we decided to make the move to Camp 2 after breakfast. It was close to -10 already with wind chill and about an hour into the climb the weather turned and it started to snow. We continued on as the weather worsened into near white out conditions and we were hiking through knee deep snow. It was a tough 4 hrs to reach the camp and on arrival we had to try to set up the tents in gale forced winds, horizontal pelting snow and near exhaustion. Our guides were machines at assisting us through the white out and getting everyone into camp safely. This was the toughest day I have had on the mountain so far but it was also the most exciting. One breath per step, blinding snow and ice forming long strands hanging from my beard, it was Hollywood stuff. The storm is still raging outside so we will have to wait and see if we can complete a load carry to Camp 3 tomorrow, what a day.

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Had a fairly terrible nights sleep, was waking up every couple of hours with headaches. I have been holding off taking any pills for it but this morning two panadol to ease the acclimatisation process were needed. It was still snowing at midnight last night but as I watch the frost thaw and water trickle down the inside of my tent there is a good possibility that we will be making the move to Camp 2 tomorrow. Im always keen to keep moving higher towards our goal but its a slow process for a reason, if you rush up these big mountains you simply get to sick to make a decent summit attempt. So I guess mountaineering is teaching me patience amongst everything else. It has just started to snow again and the weather on the horizon does not look inviting, lets hope we can still make a move soon.

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It was a bitter cold night last night, my water bottle must have slipped out of my sleeping bag during the night because it was slightly frozen, nothing worse then waking up in the morning when its cold and having to drink a slushy. For breakfast I had some hard cake roll dipped in hot water which was very nice believe it or not. It was then time to slip off the Down Jacket, throw on the pack and begin the first load carry into the unknown up to Camp 2. It was steep and tough going with a cold breeze coming head on most of the way up. It took us 3hr 40min to gain 500m altitude finishing at 5500m.  We were quick to cache the gear have a short break and begin our decent just as it started to snow. The weather chased us all the way back down to Camp 1 and we are now all huddled down in our tents as a foot of snow has fallen already. Today was a tough day and it has taken its toll on a couple of our team, Johanna and Petros have decided to pull the pin and be evacuated by Helicopter as soon as the storm clears, Warwick left after the Camp one haul, hes was our oldest member and I think the mountain was giving him a tough time. This sport isnt for everyone but I hope that they all learnt something from their time up here and take that away with them, we are now a crew of 8.

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Day 8 was a well deserved rest day after our first load carry to Camp 1, plenty of food and water going down range. I also had another two visits to the Doc trialing some different meds to get my blood pressure down but no luck. He gave me one last handfull of pills, the strongest available, and told me if my pressure wasnt down below 160 by the morning then I will not be able to continue up the mountain with the rest of the team. This sent me into stress mode straight away, to think that all my training and preparation for this mountain could be for nothing due to a simple thing as blood pressure. That night I decided to eat a few more of the pills that I had left over from previos visits to try to get under 160. The next morning I stayed as calm as I could trying to think happy thoughts and not thoughts about my dream about to be taken away. The Doc did his thing and to all of our suprise I came in at 145, probably the lowest my BP has ever been. The Stress relief was immediate and I was clear to carry on with the rest of the team, who said overdosing is bad. Straight after I was given the all clear we begun our move to Camp 1 with the remainder of our gear and said goodbye to Base Camp for good. My load was heavier than the first trip to Camp 1 but we completed it in a quicker time despite the fact that it started to snow half way up.We are now Set up at Camp 1 and have planned the first load carry to Camp 2 tomorrow.

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Had my second visit to the mountain Doctor today and it was a write off. My Blood Pressure has shot up to 180/80 now. I feel fit and strong though and the Doc said I can continue on with the first load carry but that he wants to see me again after the second round of pills he gave me takes effect. We are a big team and we have a hell of a lot of equipment with us on this mountain so part of the process involved in climbing the mountain and acclimatising is to conduct load carries. This involves separating our gear into the stuff we dont need right now and carrying that higher up the mountain to our next camp then returning to the lower camp for a day to recover. After the rest day we will take the second load to the higher camp and stay there, then repeating the process continually moving higher. A few of the team have opted to have Porters carry there equipment up the mountain so that they can save all there strength for the summit day but I wanted to do it all myself as a personal goal. The first carry to Camp 1 is 800m elevation up to 5000m. It had a glacier crossing and a tough scree slope to navigate through to achieve the top. It was tough but not sole destroying, it took 7hr 40min to hit Camp 1 where we rested just long enough to get headaches and then descend back to Base Camp. Needed a big dinner and after consumption went to see my old friend the Doc. BP was still 175/80 so it was more pills and come back tomorrow. Im starting to get nervous about it which isnt going to help my cause at all. Lets see tomorrow.

Aconcagua Expedition Day 5

February 20th, 2011

Aconcagua Expedition Day 4

February 19th, 2011

Aconcagua Expedition Day 3

February 19th, 2011

Aconcagua Expedition Day 2

February 19th, 2011

Mission Accomplished

February 19th, 2011

Aconcagua Team

January 31st, 2011

Transit

January 29th, 2011