The shadow cast over the Andes Range by Aconcagua’s summit from the rising sun. This is a treat they had today.

Congratulations to the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge Team!!!  The summit was reached by some of the team yesterday!!!

We heard from our Alaska Mountaineering School liaison, Caitlin, last night.  She reports that after a successful climb, the team was back at camp and had climbed into their sleeping bags after eating.  We are sure they had a good nights sleep after the huge efforts everyone made today.

The summit day traverse trail is covered in snow, canaletta begins just out of sight of the trail near the triangular rock face.

Caitlin says the weather was clear and cold when they started their climb in the still very dark early morning hours.  Part of the team went across a very long traverse, where the conditions consisted of a challenging mix of rocks, hard-packed snow and ice.  Navigating some of that in the dark had to be incredibly difficult!!

Looking back at the traverse and the Andes. This location is almost at the base of the canaletta, a steep section which requires great effort.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the team as they return to base camp.

This climber sums it up! With view from the top of South America and the Western Hemisphere.

Climbers above the canaletta, on the summit ridge, which take so , so, so very long, everyone at this point is moving very slowly, 3-4 breaths for each step.