Rob just left another voicemail. He says that today’s 4.5 hour climb up to Camp 1 was “a heckuva climb”. Very windy with lots of scree and rain. He says everyone’s feeling well. They rest tonight and tomorrow.

and here is JJ Justman’s blog entry on December 10th. He is the lead guide with support from Geoff Schellens.

He says, “I know I sound like a broken record but our Aconcagua team is both rocking and rolling! Today we woke up early and laced up our mountaineering boots. With hefty packs in hand we slowly made our way up to Camp 1 at 16,360 feet…officially.

For Geoff and I today gave us an opportunity to visibly see how each climber is doing. And it was obvious that everyone has climbed before. And climbed well. The team was in sync with breaks, rest stepping, good footwork and most importantly everyone was having fun.

We spent a half an hour at Camp 1 and we left quite a bit of gear that we will need for the upper mountain. So we are now officially ready to move up the mountain. But first we will take another rest day here at base camp. There’s no need to rush. The tortoise always wins the race.”

Day 8: Carry to Camp 1 (16,200’). Our trek ends and the climb begins with our first carry of the expedition. We climb to Camp 1, caching a portion of our supplies and equipment. We descend to Base Camp to sleep.* Monday, December 10th, 2012

* Itinerary summary from RMI Guides