40 Days and 40 Nights

Appropriately named after the amount of time I will be gone, I will be departing Jan 13th due South on a two day journey of airport hopping with a final destination of Mendoza, Argentina (South America). Once in Argentina I will be attempting to reach the summit of a 22,841 ft. mountain called Aconcagua, located in the Andes Mountain Range. It is the tallest mountain outside of Asia and the highest point in both the southern and western hemisphere. This will be my first attempt at one of the "Seven Summits" I have set out to climb. Not to make light of a very tall, cold, and steep mountain covered with rock scree, snow, and ice fields, but I will be attempting the Normal Route on the mountain, which is a non-technical route meaning; I will not need the support of a rope or other technical hardware used for climbing vertical rock pitches, steep ice slopes, and crevasses. I have chosen to take on the challenge of organizing the entire expedition myself, which entails pre-trip logistical planning, the learning of some rudimentary Spanish, the hiring of a mule in Mendoza for transporting some of my gear to basecamp, acquiring a climbing permit, arranging transportation to the Aconcagua National Park, carrying loads of equipment and food, establishing camps on the mountain, cooking, finding water, staying warm, acclimating, passing time, and most importantly summiting! I've spent a lot of time the last few months preparing for this trip both physically and mentally. My physical conditioning has consisted of mountain biking, skiing, working out, running, and a countless number of trips up the local Canfield Mt. so I'm excited to see how it all pays off. I've been eating like crazy trying to pack on a few extra lb's to make up for what will be lost from training and being at high altitude for an extended period of time, where your caloric expenditure from climbing and keeping warm far exceeds your intake. At altitude one of your body's adaptive responses is a decreased metabolism, which in turn creates a loss of appetite, making it very difficult to eat the amount of calories you are actually needing (perhaps a solution to America's weight loss problem ????). This I learned first hand after last year's expedition in Nepal when I came back looking like Starvin Marvin. I've also spent a lot of extra time at work as I usually do this time of year acquiring shift trades with other employees and doing trip research, so I'm definitely ready for what I'd like to call an active vacation, seeing as how the idea of sitting on a beach doing nothing doesn't really appeal to me as an exciting vacation. However, on that note, I will have a few weeks of downtime post my adventure on the mountain that will be spent exploring parts of Argentina and Chile, and just may happen to involve some beach combing and sampling of local drinks! Steak, wine, and tango as notably Argentina is known for....sounds OK to me. As for now it's back to organizing my gear, food, and plans before I depart, and finishing out the last few days of work. Until then please standby as I will try my best to keep the blog updated through out the trip...pending internet access of course.