The climb is planned to start January 4, 2005 and the team consists of:

Professionals	Amateur
Robert Link	Chris Balsiger
Tap Richards
Heidi Richards

The team expects the climb to take 17-21 days and will approach it from the Vacas Valley (starting at 5,000 feet) through the base camp, Plaza Argentina at approximately 13,500 feet. From there the team will establish camps at 16,000; 19,000; and 20,500 feet using a variation of the Polish traverse route. From high camp at 20,500 feet, the team will attempt the summit assuming acceptable weather.

This will be Chris's second attempt at Aconcagua. His first attempt came one year ago and ended just under 21,000 feet when he acquired a severe case of altitude sickness and was forced to rapidly descend to lower camp.

	We arrived in Mendoza.
	Today is supply day, get our gear in shape, and still spend tonight on a bed. The walk-in will be three days starting on January 5. We have no idea what the conditions are, there appears to be a lot of snow up high, but we will wait and see. Everyone is ready to go — always nervous right before the beginning, but everyone is ready to go. I'll be calling in...take care. Communications Manager's Note — January 4: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters...MOSTLY DRY...FREEZE-THAW CONDITIONS (MAX 4°C ON THU MORNING, MIN -13°C ON THU NIGHT)...MAINLY FRESH WINDS Communication Manager's Note: Second Call of Day It's the end of the day on the 4th of January. We checked our gear and packed it. Tomorrow we head out toward base camp. Normally base camp is three days. We hope to make it in two. We have been climbing with Robert Link, who is a real treat. He is sort of treated above the rest so we have been given some horses. We're going to ride in to 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) on horses. We're right now at about 8,500 feet (2,591 meters). We will ride in about 15 miles or so and that will buy us a day that we'll spend up high to acclimatize a little bit better. On January 6th, we plan to then walk from 11,000 ft to 14,000 ft (4,267 meters) into base camp. My satellite phone may not work tomorrow because we will be down in a valley. If not, you'll hear from me at base camp, where we expect to be the evening of the 6th. We will be at 14,000 ft, rest a day, and then 6 to 8 days from there, we hope to try for the summit. Everyone is in good shape.
	We just rode mules and bypassed one camp. Rode into what would normally be the second camp, so we saved a day as well as energy.
	Got up, did about a seven hour hike in, and gained about 3,000 feet of altitude. We're at about 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). We're in base camp. Everyone is doing well.
	Today will be a rest day and then I'll call in with an update on the 8th. We expect on the 8th to start to make carries up to Camp One. Everyone is doing well. Weather is pretty clear, a little bit gusty, but nothing out of the ordinary. Communications Manager's Note — January 7: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters...MOSTLY DRY...FREEZE-THAW CONDITIONS (MAX 5°C ON SUN MORNING, MIN -10°C ON SAT NIGHT)...WINDS DECREASING (STRONG WINDS FROM THE NW ON FRI MORNING, LIGHT WINDS FROM THE WNW BY SUN NIGHT) Communications Manager's Note: Second Call of Day Was a rest day. Weather came in bad. Heavy winds. It was a good day not to be climbing. We ate well, napped, and got our strength.
	Being a team of 4, we're moving real fast and efficient. We took a big load up to Camp One, which is at 16,200 feet (4,938 meters). We did the load in good weather with just slight winds. Got back down tonight. We'll rest up tonight and move the camp tomorrow assuming we have good weather. Will call in tomorrow night. There have been no issues with the climb. You know, once again, we are a team of 4. We are using some infrastructure here. We are able to move both fast and efficient. Everyone is staying healthy. If we don't have bad weather like we had on McKinley, we might get a good shot at the summit. We are expecting, assuming decent weather, we will have a summit attempt possibly as early as January 14 or 15. Communications Manager's Note — January 8: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 4,827 meters...MOSTLY DRY...FREEZE-THAW CONDITIONS (MAX 6°C ON MON MORNING, MIN -9°C ON MON NIGHT)...WIND WILL BE GENERALLY LIGHT Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at summit (6,962 meters)...MOSTLY DRY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE WELL BELOW FREEZING (MAX -9°C ON MON MORNING, MIN -22°C ON MON NIGHT)...WINDS INCREASING (MODERATE WINDS FROM THE WNW ON MON NIGHT, STRONG WINDS FROM THE WNW BY WED AFTERNOON)
	We have moved to Camp One, which is at 16,200 feet (4,938 meters). We actually made the move here yesterday. Today we did a little hike up to 17,000 feet (5,182 meters) and rested. We're going to sleep tonight again in Camp One. Tomorrow, given the weather stays good, we will make a carry load up to Camp Two at 19,000 feet (5,791 meters) and then come back and rest. I'm going to be calling every other day so we can conserve battery. Tomorrow should be a carry day to 19,000 feet, come back and sleep at 16,000 feet, and another rest day or so. Weather has been great and we hope it holds. Communications Manager's Note — January 10: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 5,894 meters...MOSTLY DRY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW FREEZING (MAX -1°C ON WED MORNING, MIN -16°C ON THU NIGHT)...MAINLY STRONG WINDS Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at summit (6,962 meters)...MOSTLY DRY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE WELL BELOW FREEZING (MAX -8°C ON WED MORNING, MIN -22°C ON THU NIGHT)...MAINLY NEAR GALES
	We did a carry to start to build our camp at Camp Two at 19,000 feet (5,791 meters). It went very, very well. We came down and rested.
	We chose to use as a rest day again at the same camp at 16,200 feet (4,938 meters) to further acclimatize. Weather was a little bit spotty today. We're a little bit concerned, but not too. We're going to try to move to the camp at 19,000 feet (5,791 meters) tomorrow, which is your Thursday. Then the plan, if the weather holds (which is iffy), will be to move Friday to a camp at 20,500 feet (6,248 meters) and then to wake up about 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning and go for the top. Everyone feels real good. Everyone's health is good. We have acclimatized a lot more than last year so we're real optimistic but starting to worry just a tad about the weather. We sure hope that our bad luck on McKinley will not come here — we don't think it will, but that's where we are. Communications Manager's Note — January 13: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 5,894 meters...MOSTLY DRY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW FREEZING (MAX -2°C ON THUR MORNING, MIN -17°C ON FRI NIGHT)...WINDS DECREASING (NEAR GALES FROM THE WEST ON FRI MORNING, LIGHT WINDS FROM THE NORTHEAST BY SAT NIGHT) Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at summit (6,962 meters)...MOSTLY DRY...TEMPERATURES WILL BE WELL BELOW FREEZING (MAX -9°C ON THUR MORNING, MIN -23°C ON FRI NIGHT)...WINDS DECREASDING (NEAR GALES FROM THE WEST ON FRI MORNING, LIGHT WINDS FROM THE NORTHEAST BY SATURDAY NIGHT)
	We did advance to the camp at 19,200 feet (5,791 meters). The team is strong; however, the weather did not hold. It turned a little bit dicey in the afternoon. Thursday night it turned very, very rough. There appears to be a system that has moved in over the mountain. Our plans today were to advance to camp at 20,500 (6,248 meters). We don't know yet what we're going to do. Odds are we'll probably stay here today and try to advance there tomorrow. As soon as we advance, that night we will summit, or at least try for the summit. It appears we may have a little bit bad McKinley weather. Now as I'm looking out, it doesn't appear to be as vicious as McKinley. But who knows, we have food to last two to three more days. So...we'll see what happens. Hopefully I'm not being negative, but we'll see. Communications Manager's Note — January 14: Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at 5,894 meters...A DUSTING OF NEW SNOW TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW FREEZING (MAX -4°C ON SUN MORNING, MIN -17°C ON FRI NIGHT)WINDS DECREASING (STRONG WINDS FROM THE WEST ON FRI MORNING, LIGHT WINDS FROM THE NORTHWEST BY SUN AFTERNOON) Current Aconcagua weather report from snow-forecast.com at summit (6,962 meters) A DUSTING OF NEW SNOW EXTREMELY COLD (MAX -12°C ON SAT MORNING, MIN -24°C ON FRI NIGHT) WINDS DECREASING (NEAR GALES FROM THE WEST ON FRI MORNING, LIGHT WINDS FROM THE NORTHEAST BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON)
	It's Saturday morning here — weather has broken so we are going to move out of camp here around noon to set up a high camp at around 20,000 feet — rest there and then go for the summit early Sunday morning. The forecast is good. Everyone here is strong — so we plan to go. The next communication will be late Sunday night so take care and we will talk to you then.
	Team summited. Everyone safe. Everyone happy and then we'll head down — and I will call in tomorrow. Click here to listen to the actual recording left by Mr. Balsiger on the summit of Aconcagua.
	We awoke, broke the high camp at 20,200 feet. Collected our gear, pretty hefty loads and proceeded down to base camp at 13,500 feet. The weather had turned and was a little bit harder coming down. We had been above base camp for eight days. The glacier had melted and had split new rivers. Glacier rivers had erupted so it made for the exit down to base camp a little bit more challenging and exposed than we had hoped. Everyone got into base safe around 5 at night, rested, had a good meal and went to bed.
	We woke early, packed up our base camp, loaded up the mules, and began a 28 or so mile walkout to the roadhead?  The trip again was in very bad weather.  It looked like in hindsight that we had timed our summit attempt well so we were proud of that.  Of course the walkout is always a lot easier if you had been successful and everyone is safe.  It took us about 10 hours to walk out to the camp near the roadhead.  We got there about nine o’clock at night, cooked a good meal, relaxed, and slept under the stars for a few hours preparing for an early start on Wednesday.
	We got up early about 5 in the morning.  Walked to the roadhead.  Very uneventful.  Weather improved a little bit.  Got picked up by jeeps, met our gear, caught our bus back to Mendoza where we showered at the hotel.  Everyone’s safe and made plans.  I made my plans quick to get back to the U.S. and the team was making their plans to go where they had to go.
	Afterthoughts The afterthoughts of the climb were very simple. The first objective is to make sure that everyone gets off the mountain safe, which occurred. The second objective is to try to get the summit, which we did. So it was a great climb. The objectives in that order were met. The team will relax for about a week and then we’ll begin our training and planning for our next major expedition, which will be McKinley in June. There will be a couple training climbs in between. The focus now is one week of rest and then back to the training and then it’s all about McKinley.