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Progressing in Pristine Weather
Monday, September 20, 1999
 Vern | |
 Hear Vern's Call from Aconcagua |
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Buenas días Mountain Zone, this is Team Omega reporting from Aconcagua, Argentina. We're moving up today into Camp I and we've been smiled upon by the mountain gods. The weather is pristine — best weather I've seen in a long, long time. So we're hopeful we're going to get to Camp I, get to acclimatize, take our mental flexibility tests and then be ready to move to Camp II in the mañana.
One of the things that we've been testing while we're up here is a water hydration system that has been in the works for several years but it seems to be working quite well and is far superior to anything that's on the market right now. So as soon as I get back I'm expecting some calls from Outdoor Research or MSR or somebody like that to see what we can do with this thing.
The other thing we are looking at today is packing up all the essentials and then leaving all the non-essentials here, so we're going to be about half the weight. So we're appreciative of that and our spines are, too. So all of our return food, return fuel, anything that we're not going to use on the mountain will stay in Base Camp. Our loads will be a little bit lighter, which is good because the air can be a little bit thinner.
So, join us tomorrow, further up the trail, higher on the mountain. This is Vern Tejas, signing off.
Those interested in the critical numbers: it's the 20th of September and at 7:18 this morning we're at 13,980ft - Base Camp at Mount Aconcagua. Temperature is 12 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind speed was 3.5 out of the west. Bob's saturation of oxygen was 88 and 59 pulse rate. My blood-sat was 86 and a 38 pulse rate this morning.
—Vernon Tejas, MountainZone.com Correspondent
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