Aconcagua Expedition with Vernon Tejas

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Yosemite Classics
Cruising the Zodiac
Climbing in Autumn
Climbing in The Needles

Through the Penitentes
Tuesday, September 21, 1999

Vern

Hear Vern's Call from Aconcagua

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Penitentes

Good morning Mountain Zone, this is Team Omega up on Aconcagua at an elevation of 16,180ft — Camp I. Yesterday we came up the Ameghino Glacier which is generally - in the summertime - a field of penitentes. Penitentes are very similar to upside-down icicles and they're very difficult to travel through. But because it's wintertime, it was snowed over and we were able to crampon up in very good conditions.

We made an excellent camp, where we have running water and lots of ambient heat from the rocks that have been heated up by the solar input during the day. So we were able to have dinner out in our long johns yesterday — pretty amazing for a winter climb.

Today's big adventure was to take our mental flexibility test again for the University of Alaska and we're looking forward to see the results - we actually seem to be getting better at taking tests. Another thing that we've noticed as we gained altitude is that blood-oxygen rate is dropping pretty dramatically. We started in Mendoza with 96% oxygen saturation and last night we ran a low 80s, high 70s, so that's one thing...[Transmission Fails]

—Vernon Tejas, MountainZone.com Correspondent

EXPEDITION DISPATCHES

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