let it snow

On the first day of work, the ground around us was devoid of snow. It was also the first day we had to start canceling tours. After getting water from a nearby creek for the dogs, we scooped up about 50 pounds of poop, wondering if this was really what we wanted to be doing. Our time on the farm had hardened our nostrils and as we began to learn how to harness the dogs, we grew excited once more. That day, we took out two teams of 12 dogs for training runs, a 2 mile long run pulling an ATV at 7 to 10 miles per hour. The dogs are so excited that you have to hold on for dear life with one hand as you try to put the harness on with the other hand. Our first day of work started out with a bang as I got pissed on while harnessing a dog and Toren got knocked over into the mud and shit. The weather pulled through on our second day, dumping 4 inches of fresh snow. And that's how it's been for the last 3 days, dumping snow. Shoveling snow off the decks today, our knees kept scraping across the 2 feet of powder now covering everything. Yesterday was our first dog sled ride as "guinea pig clients." Without much of a snow base, it was a bumpy ride, complete with the lack of any real brakes on the sled. Coming around an S-curve, we narrowly avoided an angry herd of Texas Longhorns, only to hit a log, flip the sled, and spill all of us onto the ground. Chasing down the dog team, now without anyone to guide the sled, I had a smile on my face and knew this was going to be a great winter.

out of the frying pan, into the fire

Well, Thanksgiving was fun filled and a whirlwind of activity. Once again, I received requests to start this up again since we don't see many of you Washington folks much. So here we go, round two of the blogging world. Where are we? Right now: Edwards, CO, about 15 minutes west of Vail. What are we doing here? Right now: desperately looking for housing, hopefully starting work tomorrow. Our jobs will be helping take care of a kennel of 120 Alaskan Huskies and assisting with dog sled tours around Vail. Check out www.winterhawkdogsledadv.com for more info and to see pictures, movies, FAQ, etc. I'll put up some photos of my own as I get the chance. It snowed a couple inches last night, was still a blizzard this morning, and turned into a beautiful, sunny day this afternoon. I think we made a couple dozen phone calls today, looked at 6 or so houses, and are hopeful about our housing options. Um, what else? We're chillin' in a coffeshop/bookstore right now, waiting for some peope to call back, so take care and I'll try to be a little more on top of this thing...

the continuation

Apparently some people are still checking this periodically, so I guess I'll continue to update with the pertinent stories of what's happening. The last post occurred three months ago while we were still in South America. Here's a quick recap of what has happened since then: we all returned home safely and enjoyed some well deserved rest with family and friends. Toren and I have been working on my father's farm and dreaming of mountains. We did a lot of pruning in the orchard and found my mom's old tipi, which we have set up and are currently sleeping in it. The garden is almost all planted and we've got baby turkeys and pigs everywhere. On the adventure side of life, we survived Braden's big birthday party over Memorial Day weekend and promptly headed into the North Cascades. We reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan at 5:30 a.m. and made it back to Seattle in time for all-you-can-eat sushi. Rainier was next, but we had some friends coming to round out the team. We rested and did garden work, anxious to be in the mountains again. Ben and Meryl finally made it to Seattle and we piled into the car and drove to Mount Rainier National Park. Meryl had to drop her summit attempt early due to a bout of sickness, but Ben, Toren, and I continued to camp at 8,800 ft. We awoke to a sea of clouds and stars and began our ascent of Mt. Rainier via the Fuhrer Finger. The summit was reached at 2 p.m. and we descend via Disappointment Clever to Ingrahm Flats. We returned to the clouds below the Muir snowfield and found Meryl waiting, happy to see us. A quick stop in Seattle and now we're back in Montana. Posts will occur as the story unfolds. Until then, enjoy the summer weather!

photos

A few more photos have been posted on the aforementioned Flickr site. There appears to be a conflict with Flickr and the internet down here and I can't really tell which photo is which, so descriptions will come as soon as the issue resolves itself...in the mean time, enjoy!

Aconcagua 2009 -- Team Condor

Aconcagua stands at 6962 meters (22,637 feet) above sea level. The highest point outside of the Himalayas and considered the roof of the Americas, it is a challenge to mountaineers around the world. On February 21, 2009, three young American mountaineers entered Aconcagua Provincial Park in the provence of Mendoza, Argentina. As all people with too much time tend to do, they dubed themselves Team Condor, and began the long and difficult journey to touch the sky. The approach to Plaza de Mulas (4270 m) was easy enough, but that was only the beginning. The weather was favorable and the next day was spent doing a portage up to Camp Alaska (5180 m). Clouds moved in and we decended back to Plaza de Mulas with a light snow falling. A higher camp was desired and Nido de Cóndores (5350 m) was the next target. As we pulled into camp, so did a storm. Tents were put up in blowing snow and lightening crashed into the mountains around us. Three afternoons of thunder and lightening at Nido did nothing for our confidence. The winds were getting stronger and the weather forcast looked poor. We stashed some food, packed up in a blizzard, and began the descent through a white-out back to Plaza de Mulas. Wind and snow storms kept us in ours tents for three days at basecamp, until one morning the weather cleared and the mountain opened up before us. Itching for physical activity, we began our return to the camp at Nido. Light winds the next day allowed us to make the move up to Camp Berlin (5780 m), the final high camp. A night without sleep brought us to summit day and we woke up at 3:00 a.m. with knots in our stomachs. A Polish team of 10 people left Berlin with us, but we all quickly became strung out across the route. Team Condor struggled through gale force winds and blowing snow that stung our faces and after almost 12 hours of movement, reached the summit of Aconcagua at 4:15 p.m. on March 6, 2009. We were tired and could feel the altitude, but we all had the biggest smiles of our lives. We stood looking across the Andes, grabing photos to remember our journey, and then began the descent back to Mendoza. Which is where we are now, rested up and ready for our next adventure. Yesterday were wine tours via bicycle, tomorrow is a bus ride to new destinations. We miss you all, but know that you were all in our hearts and thoughts as we touched the roof of the Americas.

low oxygen, high altitude

We are happy to report a new personal height record for the two of us...6000+ meters! At 1:00 in the afternoon on Feburary 17, we summited Cerro Plata in beautiful weather. We could see Aconcagua, Tupungato, and a lot of the Andes as we struggled to breath. It was a short 4 day trip into the Cordon del Plata, but the experience was wonderful. We had guancos laughing at us, red foxes talking around our tents, condors buzzing us as we hiked, and the lights of both Mendoza and the stars twinkling as the sun rose on our summit day. Words are not enough, but for now we are in Mendoza and have met up with Kelten, Toren´s brother and the third member of our Aconcagua team. Today we drop a lot of money on supplies, mules, and permits; tomorrow we head to Puenta del Inca to begin gaining altitude. This will be the last post before we start the climb, so check back again in two or three weeks. We miss all our friends and family and wish the best of luck to all of you at whatever point you are in life. Be well, do good things, and keep in touch.

time for recovery

Well we have finally made it back to our starting point 5 weeks ago, Buenos Aires. After the longest bus ride I hope I will never have to endure again, we returned to the heat, humidity, and city life. On Saturday, we left Punta Arenas (Sandy Point), Chile, early in the afternoon. After a two hour border crossing, we arrived in Rio Gallegos. Attempts to procure cheap plane tickets failed and we purchased bus tickets to Buenos Aires that left that night. During the 38 hour bus ride (no typo here), we finished books, watched 5 movies, and didn't sleep much. All in all, it took 48 hours to get from Punta Arenas to Buenos Aires. We'll be in Buenos Aires for a few days to recover from sitting too much and then take another overnight bus out to Mendoza. Aconcagua is the next big step of the trip and it has begun to overtake much of my thinking time. I will be glad to start to the mountain, but we are both nervous and excited about the challenges the mountain has to offer. A couple more posts should happen before we begin the climb.

p.s.
Photos have been posted! Check out www.flickr.com/livewell to see what we have been up to.

one life goal complete, a lifetime more to go...

Saw penguins yesterday...lots of penguins, about 50,000 penguins. We begin the journey north towards Buenos Aires today. Will be starting the Aconcagua climb in two weeks. Photos to come soon...

spice is nice in Chile

We returned from our Torres del Paine cirtuit trip two days ago and spent yesterday resting. The weather was great and we only had one day with a little bit of rain. There are two mains treks in Parques Nacional Torres del Paine and we basically did both of them for a total of about 150 km. The national parks down here are run different from the U.S. and we were discouraged at times when the trash would pile up around camps. But overall the scenery was great and we have become good friends with an Irish couple we did the trek with. The four of us are headed to Punta Arenas today and will likely split paths in the next couple days. Toren and I will hopefully be seeing penguins soon as we are planning on doing a boat tour when we arrive in Punta Arenas. Our options are open after Punta Arenas so we will have to make a decision soon as to where we will explore next. We have taken lots of photos, but will not be able to upload any until we return to my friends apartment in Buenos Aires, so look for some in a couple weeks. An update on things we have seen: an armadillo, two owls, flamingos, and a 17km long glacier.

We just spent 9 days in El Chalten and hiked most of the trails around Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. The weather is highly variable, switching from sun to rain fairly fast. The wind has been pretty bad also. We are in Calafate today and take the 8 am bus tomorrow to cross into Chile and will hopefully be in Torres del Paine National Park soon. We are doing a 10 day backpack around the mountains and then have some extra time before we head back to Buenos Aires where all our mountaineering stuff is. Then it is to Mendoza. Hopefully we will start up the mountain around Feb. 21 which is when the low season starts. We have been seeing wild parrots everywhere from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, as well as magellanic woodpeckers, kingfishers, peruvian meadowlarks (bright red), llamas (domestic and wild), stray dogs, the sunrise on Fitz Roy, a nice Irish couple, and lots of sweet pastries...but still no penguins.

to the ends of the earth

We have been enjoying our time down here in Ushuaia at the end of the world. Only 1000 km from Antarctica, the cool weather has been a relief from the heat of Buenos Aires and Puerto Madryn. Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego was nice, but the 50 km backpack we just did was even better. Saw some real wild landscapes as we hiked with no real trail. Had good weather with only one day of rain. Today is a rest day to fill up on empanadas, pastries from the panderias, and chopps (pints) of microbrews from the Cape Horn and Beagle Channel breweries. Tomorrow we fly to El Calafate to experience Parque Nacionale Los Glaciares and the Fitz Roy range. The penguins ornaments are everywhere in the tourist shops, but actual birds have been difficult to find as you have to hire a private tour. More to come as we begin to head back north again...