Guides: Danny Uhlmann, Alasdair Turner, and Juan Churra
Climbers: Danny Griffith (Bellingham, WA), Alfred Kwok (Claremont, CA), Diccon Westworth (Sacramento, CA), Jim Bonadonna (Poughkeepsie, NY), Raymond Gregory (Marquette, MI), Nancy Burke (Dallas, TX), and Margen Burke-Karr (Missouri City, TX).
Danny called at 3:25 pm PST on Monday, June 7th with the following dispatch:
It’s another fantastic day in Bolivia. We just had our first day of mountaineering skills and touched on crampon and ice axe techniques. Everyone crushed the ice like it was nothing.
It’s super beautiful here. We’re back at camp, getting ready to climb the Pirmida Blanca tomorrow. We have two teams are going up the normal route. However, I am going up a more direct route with Diccon and Raymond. This route goes straight up the face and there’s a huge pillar of waterfall ice that I’ve never encountered here before.
A few messages:
Danny says I love you to Jackie.
Jim says Hello to his family and thanks for the birthday cake. (We had an early birthday party for Jim. We’re going to be out in the mountains on his birthday, which is the 11th. So, when we were in town we got a cake. He was very excited about that!)
Right now there are clouds in the sky but it’s mostly clear. The sky is beautiful, especially at night. We’ve been singing the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song “Southern Cross”. I didn’t bring my mandolin along this year. I think everyone is a little bummed that there’s no music, but then again, maybe they’re happy about me not singing!.