The team made a carry to High Camp!

Chris just called and the team made a carry up to their High Camp this morning. Chris says it is a beautiful day up on the mountain, and that the rumors of an impending snowstorm have yet to materialize.

The route up to high Camp departs Camp 2 and climbs steeply up a short hill, at the top of which used to be the remnants of the crashed Lama helicopter. Beyond this point, it follows a vague ridge line, which is actually the border of an old, mostly rotten and rock covered glacier.

This ridge delineates two huge bowls that comprise much of the West Face of Aconcagua. The southern bowl is topped by the Polish Glacier and drains down into the Plaza Argentina drainage. The more northerly bowl is very broad across its top and drains down into a series of glacially sculpted valleys which bottom out at the head of the Vacas Valley.

The team ascended the ridge to a point where they could do a gradual traverse across the top of the northern bowl and then ascend up to their high Camp on the crest of the North Ridge of Aconcagua. The final several hundred feet to High Camp is a surreal landscape of bizarre purple hued rock towers and boulders, sculpted by the wind into curved, twisted forms very reminiscent of an early Star Trek setting. High Camp is surrounded by white versions of these towers, hence its other moniker, White Rocks. Located at just over 20,000 feet, the team could look down the west side of Aconcagua at the upper camps used by the thousands of climbers ascending the normal route. The rocks provide some protection from the wind, which, as you might well imagine can be severe at that altitude.

Everyone is doing well, although they are feeling the effects of the altitude. They will celebrate Christmas at Camp 2, so that Santa won't have to fly his sleigh quite so high to deliver their presents. hopefully, he keeps any gifts light weight! The additional day of acclimatization and rest should put them in a better position for a summit bid after moving high on Friday.