POTRERILLOS, ARGENTINA – The polar explorer Amundsen hated adventure and worked hard to avoid it. Adventures begin when things go wrong and are a sign of bad planning, he said.
For us, the adventure began even before we landed in Argentina. One of our five giant duffle bags full of gear never made it to Mendoza. All of my high altitude gear was in that bag. It took me four months to accumulate that gear.
When we got to Mendoza on December 22 and reported the bag missing, the Chilean airline that flew us from Santiago to Mendoza, LAN, told us the bag was still in Miami. We had flown on American Airlines from Indianapolis to Miami and from there to Santiago before boarding the LAN flight to Mendoza.
Two days later, LAN is telling us the bag is still in Miami. American Airlines, however, says the bag is in Santiago.
All I have with me now are my warm weather clothes, toiletries and an ice axe. Our dehydrated food made it through in another bag, thankfully.
Francisco says we will find a way to buy or borrow enough gear to replace what the airlines lost.
First Day of Training
Yesterday we climbed Mount Aspero, a 6 kilometer round trip from Francisco and Jeannine’s back door. The trek took us from 2,080 to about 2,600 meters in elevation. I wore hiking boots borrowed from Jeannine. Their dog Whitey went with us, trotting easily up the steep slopes and coming back down to greet us before going up again.
A young German family joined us for the hike and moved much more quickly than we did. I was the slowest one, toiling up the rough path. (Aspero means “rough.”) It was a beautiful hike on the way up, and grueling coming down. I was reminded why I might want to follow the physical therapist’s advice and stretch before exertion.
Francisco has been checking our oxygen uptake and pulse with a portable pulse oximeter. At rest, my pulse is about 115, a sign that my heart is working harder than normal. This is a part of the acclimatization process.
Today, Jeff and I climbed a smaller hill a couple of times with no weight on our backs to work on our speed and confidence.
Tonight, we’ll celebrate Christmas with Francisco, Jeannine, their three sons and Jeannine’s parents. It will be a late night, but restful.
