Day 3: Monday, 12/28/10: Travel to Los Penitentes

We arrived at the tourist office around 9:00 just after it opened. We filled out some paperwork, paid for the permit at a local bank, and then returned to the tourist office to obtain the actual climbing permit. The wait was not too bad considering all of the climbers that were scrambling around the city. After that we grabbed some fuel at one of the local mountaineering stores and stocked up on a few last food items. We did some final gear sorting and waited for our ride. We scheduled a 14:00 pickup with Grajales to get us to Los Penitentes and they were there right on time again.

The trip to Los Penitentes was about two hours. Once we arrived, we were awestruck by the surroundings. The wind was blowing cloud shadows over the surrounding hills like a time lapse photo. We did some final sorting of gear for the mule transport tomorrow morning and were all set. Mules can carry no more than 60 kg, with no more than 30 kg in a particular bag. Our two primary duffels were around 25 kg, and we needed to fill a third bag with around 15 kg worth of gear. Due to a climbing schedule that was slightly tighter than normal, our plan was to get to Plaza Argentina in two days, so that we could spend more time at altitude. Unfortunately because Grajales was supporting so many climbers with mule services the following day, our mules were on the three day schedule to reach base camp. This meant we needed to carry all of our camping gear, food and supplies, up to base camp. We ended up with 60 lb loads for our 24 mile approach. We enjoyed our final dinner in civilization and hit the sack.

Day 2     Trip Report Index     Day 4