Expedition Photographs!
The team is now off the mountain
after successfully summiting Aconcagua. Expedition leader Keith
McPheeters has sent in a
whole set of
photographs chronicling the team's memorial expedition
experiences.
Friday January 30th:
The team is now off the mountain
after successfully summiting Aconcagua. Their satellite telephone
report from Argentina can be heard
at this link.
In addition, expedition leader Keith
McPheeters emailed a report from Mendoza:
Hi There!
The team has arrived back in Mendoza and is
staying at the Hotel Nutibara in Mendoza. We arrived today at
about 5:00 PM.... a little exhausted from our journey, but no
worse for the wear.
It has been quite a trip and we are glad that is coming to a
close and a little proud of having pulled off a successful
expedition once again without injury or significant problem.
We want to publicly thank Greg Hughes for his tireless efforts
behind the scenes to keep our families and friends updated on
our progress and welfare by doing such a great job on the Cops
on Top website. Great job Greg! Greg has been helping Cops on
Top for many years and we are indeed grateful to him...
We fly out on Tuesday, so that gives us a few days to relax and
enjoy Mendoza, which has proven to be a beautiful city. We will
then fly from here to Santiago, Santiago to Lima, Lima to
Dallas, and there we will all part our ways to our separate
destinations.
Our love to all our families.... we will be in touch with more
details and are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to post
photos of the expedition on the web site.
Keith
Monday,
January 26
McPheeters and Singleton are on the Summit!
(WinMedia audio)
"We are thinking of
Cawley family, our thoughts are with them. We realize that no action
of ours can bring any more honor to that name than what James Cawley
already did in life. We are grateful for this opportunity to do
something on his behalf."
Keith McPheeters called in as he and Chris
Singleton stood on the SUMMIT OF ACONCAGUA!!!
Congratulations Team!!
Sunday,
January 25
Sat-Phone call from
THE SUMMIT!
(WinMedia audio)
Stu Frink called in from the SUMMIT OF
ACONCAGUA!!!
Congratulations Team!!
Stu
made an additional call
once the team had returned to Camp Two, reporting everyone is
healthy.
Friday, January
23 - Sat-Phone call from
Camp Two (WinMedia audio)
Tuesday
Evening, January 20 - Sat-Phone call from
Camp One (WinMedia audio)
Sunday Evening, January 18 - Sat-Phone call
- Camp One Info
(WinMedia audio)
Saturday, January 17 - Sat-Phone call from
Stu Frink (WinMedia audio)
Friday
Evening, January 16 - Sat-Phone call from
Keith at Base Camp (WinMedia audio)
Tuesday
Evening, January 13 - Sat-Phone call from
trailhead (WinMedia audio)
Tuesday January 13
First Night in Mendoza
Keith McPheeters describes their first night at
the Mendoza hostel:
What
a night!!! The Hostel crowd drank and sang till about 0500 this
morning. Rocky and I have a room by the front door with our only air
source an open window out onto the front entry. Since the gate is
locked, every person must stop and ring the buzzer to get in or
out..... all night. My bed was on the top bunk (of three) at about
10 feet up. It was about 105 degrees up there when I went to bed and
cooled to probably 85 after the night went by. Stu and Spence have a
much better room with a fan (lucky dogs!).
All is well, we have some shopping for white gasoline, some last
minute
baggage arrangements while we are gone, and our permits to pick up
before heading out.
Take care everyone and be safe.
Keith
Monday
January 12
Team Arrives in Mendoza, Argentina
Team leader Sgt. Keith McPheeters writes in with the team's first
update:
Hey! to all our families and friends.
Cops on Top all arrived in Mendoza at approximately the same time
today, 1-12-04. Charlie and Eric missed their flight from Santiago, but were
able to catch
our flight to Mendoza. Chris, Jim, Shane, and Kaley had arrived
before us and
met us at our Hostel. The place is rockinŽ.... the rest of the
guests are a
tad younger than we are, both in body and spirit.
We met with Captain Carroll Mays of the SLC
Police. We picked up items from the family of James Cawley and
mementos from the department and SWAT team for carrying to the
summit of Cerro Aconcagua. We are grateful that the family trusted
us with their personal letters.
All of the gear for Rocky, Stu, Spencer, and I arrived and we all
cleared
customs with all of our food. Shane and Kaley had their baggage
broken into at
Mexico City (presumed) and their down clothing and Gortex were
stolen out of
the bags. The thefts were not noticed until customs in Mendoza.
They have
been able to rent new gear.
We all ate together at a great restaurant. When we arrived we
thought that we
were not properly dressed in shorts and t-shirts because the place
looked quite
upscale. In the end it was a fantastic meal, all you can eat with a
meat
spread unequaled by any restaurant I had ever been to, all for about
5$ each!
We have confirmed that the Sat phone worked, but it is hard to get a
signal in
the city.
Tomorrow we get our permits at 10:00 AM and then start making our
way to the
mountain.
All is well... God's speed.
Keith
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