We’re all heading down the mountain! Around midday after staying at 5,550m, Walter, who is usually acclimated to these altitudes, exhibited symptoms of altitude sickness. As a precaution, I was sent down with him, since I had also exhibited a few mild symptoms. Unfortunately, I did not get to continue up the mountain, but luckily Walter and I didn’t develop any further symptoms and Walter recovered quickly. I camped at 4,000m that night, and after heroically overcoming some serious car troubles, we made it to Cortaderas (~11,000ft) last night.
I heard via satellite phone that Brian and Adam made it to science targets at 6,400 yesterday! After I believe they were turned away due to wind. This is great news- the fumaroles and penitentes that were our greatest science interest were located here. They also took some of my sensors to finish collecting light measurements, in addition to the microbial and mineral samples.
We had 3 possible summit days- the 11th, 12th, and 13th. Unfortunately only the 11th had low enough winds, and the reports for the 12th and 13th have gotten worse. For that reason, Brian and Adam are heading down to Cortaderas to pick me up before continuing on to Fiambola. I’m very excited to hear all about how it went!