Base Camp Info!!

Grettings Friends and Family! We're reaching you via a sat uplink, so time is precious AND expensive!

All three of us are doing very well, especially with health and strength. No issues with the altitude and our spirits are high. It's been a great experience so far and we hope it continues to go well. The only issue we have right now deals with weather. We have been snowed on every day on the mountain, and greeted by quite high winds most the day as well. This is quite unusual, as in our last camp most people would normally wear shorts and t-shirts and sit outside talking, but we had on many of our clothes and had to battle the below freezing temps, not to mention the blowing snow.

We're now at base camp, which sits under the steep ascent to the high camps. Each day we see groups coming off the mountain with news of destroyed tents and right now one missing climber (but not part of a guided group). A group of 10 people literally had to all huddle in one small tent two nights ago since all their other tents had failed under the high winds. Anway, this is a very unusual weather to have on Aconcagua this time of year, but it doesn't seem to be something just passing by. It's been a problem for some time, preventing most groups, well, pretty much every group for summiting. We're hoping to catch a break in the weather or maybe just have it blow itself out. Until then, we will be taking on the winds, snow, and frozen conditions as we slowly work our way up the camp.

We want to make a shout out to Mark Uberuauga, wish you were here buddy (Vern Tejas passed through today... w/o his banjo!), to all the people that helped to get us here (esp our military commanders and supporters who made the time avaliable), and most of all, to our family that is out there thinking of us. So, keep us in mind when you see the sun and are warm throughout the day... all for now from 14,500ft!!

Vaya con dios!

Rob, Justin, and Heidi
"Climb High, Fly Low"