mtvalley and I are planning a trip to Aconcagua this season. We're looking for one more person to join us. We're planning on doing the Polish Direct sometime between Dec 15th and Jan 15th. Our dates are not set yet. Previous Altitude/expedition experience required.

See our partner request post if you're interested: http://www.summitpost.org/plans/view_activity.php?post_id=9983

Hi!

I plan Aconcagua at the end of this year too and also in search of a climbing buddy.
I'll be in Mendoza from mid-November, as my good friends live there. So we could catch up in da city almost anytime.
Btw, most of my local friends had climbed the mount before, so they could give us some useful tips.

If it's still possible to join you, please, write me back.

Luck!

Katya

I'll be doing the Polish Traverse rather than Direct so I can't join you guys. But I figured others might wander into this topic, so I'll post my own request here.

Dates: Dec 15-Jan 15
Route: Polish Traverse

Don't really need a partner, I just think it might be more interesting. 24 year old from California USA, previous experience: Orizaba, Elbrus, Shasta. Just reply here.

Our actual plan as of now is to do the direct, then traverse to decend via the Ruta Normal.

I would like to join your Aconcagua group via Ruta Normal. I was planning Tupungato to the south for a longtime now and my partner just bailed and still want to do a mountain while I am in South America. I don't really have experience at high altitude or glacier travel, but I have a ton of backcountry experience, as well as mountain experience. Cheers!

I am wondering if there are any web sites or places to go to see current searches that are going on for missing climbers. Jarod VonRueden who was looking for additional climbers on this site has not been located. His distress beacon went off and they are searching for him. Is there any tips anyone can give to his family or parents to help get more information out of Argentina.

Has anyone been in contact with jvonrueden or MTValley? Or did anyone else go with them? I am jvonrueden's cousin and on Dec 31, we received a call from the US Air Force that his rescue beacon had been activated at 22,140 Ft on Aconcagua. They have been missing since then. Has anyone heard anything? Air rescue missions has not obtained a visual and foot rescue missions have been canceled due to weather.

Bad news... The family seems to have been notified (missing-climber-in-argentina-t66879.html)

Several sources are reporting that Richard Von Rueden, 22 years old, and Francis Keenan, 28 years old, were found dead on Aconcagua yesterday. They were sighted from a helicopter around 6400m near "Camino de los Polacos" near the polish glaciar after a third member of their party decided not to continue and turned back. It appears that they suffered a fall.

Mueren dos andinistas estadounidenses en el cerro Aconcagua, 6 Jan 2013
http://www.minutouno.com/notas/309758-m ... -aconcagua
Richard Von Rueden, de 22 años, y Francis Keenan, de 28, fueron avistados sin vida desde un helicóptero en la zona conocida como Camino de los Polacos.