Sunday, December 30, 2012

ON the ground in Santiago

Randy here at the American Airlines Club Lounge in Santiago with Anders.  I thought I would take the opportunity that internet access presents to jump back in and post--I hope the current blogmaster, Judy, is cool with that!

As Judy mentioned, our flight was cancelled out of Miami but we were successful in jumping on the next one at 11:15 last night.  Sleepy pills made for an uneventful trip down.  the view out the window as we hugged the western coast of South American was impressive--those Andes appear to be quite the mountain range!

The weather is beautiful here in Santiago--70s, sunny and mountains all around.  We won't be able to do much more than look out windows as we are in transit to Mendoza--we have a five hour layover here.  We couldn't be happier though (well a shower might be nice) as we have internet access and coffee and light food things to revive us.  My Priority Pass card allows us access to airport VIP clubs all over the world and we're in one now.  We're both well into our third expressos and the world is a very happy place now!

The near and longer-term ensemble forecast for our time on the mountain looks very promising.  (Of-course, these are nototiously inaccurate at the 14-day time frame, but hey, we'll take it!)  The IMG Team Two group slept at C3 (high camp) last night and the weather looks perfect for a summit attempt today--my guess is that they'll go for it and get some folks up there--we wish them well!  Our summit window (13th-15th) looks like lighter (10-20 mph) winds and moderating (minus 5 to 10 degrees F) temps.  If we could lock it in somehow we would!

After arriving in Mendoza this evening we'll meet our 11-person team that will be our temporary family for the next three weeks.....We start the actual march in on 1/2....onward and upward!

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