July 10, 2007

We heard again from Team Mabunga today at 1pm. AAI guide Danny Uhlmann called in to report the following:

"Everyone is doing well. Today we woke and had a long and relaxed pancake breakfast, to which Steve Eichel showed up wearing his climbing helmet! Funny guy. We then headed out for a late morning session of skills practice. We went over knots, hitches, and tying into a rope for glacier travel. We have now moved onto crevasse rescue and will probably keep it up for another couple of hours, then start thinking about dinner (which is going to be Mexican food). Then tomorrow morning at 4am, we'll wake and leave for the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo!

"The weather has been a little inclement, with occassional high winds, snow, and clouds. There is snow on the ground now from last night - pretty atypical weather for Bolivia this time of year. So far, it hasn't affected our plans, but needless to say we're hoping it will soon clear."