On her third attempt at Aconcagua

January 26, 2008 by admin.

Lei has been in basecamp for 4 days, and will go up to camp 1 this afternoon. She arrived at basecamp on Jan 22, rested for one day, did a carry to camp 1 on Jan 24, then another rest day. There is a weather system in the area and the forecast is not good until Jan 29, so she’s spending more time in basecamp to wait out the weather instead of waiting higher on the mountain. She’ll move up later this afternoon (Jan 26).

Lei reports:

Weather wise, this season has been good so far, most teams can get a decent summit window with a reasonable schedule. My planned summit day is after this storm system pass on Jan 29. Hopefully, I will have my luck this time.

Health wise, I´m in perfect condition. Having spent more time to slowly acclimatize, my oxygen saturation level is consistent at high 80%, near 90% (oxygen saturation level in blood at sea level is 100%). I am feeling very comfortable here.

On another note, there´s a change to my guide. My guide Damian left the mountain yesterday morning due to a family emergency. I was very depressed and sat in a corner of base camp by myself for several hours yesterday morning to gather my thoughts, and steer myself towards positive thinking. My new guide Esteban is a very caring person, his warmer personality and very positive attitude helped me feel better and cheered me up. We are looking forward to a happy and fast ascent ahead (given that I have acclimatized perfectly and am feeling strong).

Next update will be after summit.

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