REVIEW

Today it’s Thursday and Malin is still in Norway. Have had the BEST of time with Lars, testing gear, hiking, winter camping and just having TOO much fun to ever want to go home again.

Today’s note is however about the development in Argentina. Malin has called the ambassador of Argentina. They told me it shouldn’t be any problem. Mendoza is a wealthy city and one of the safest to be in. Malin will however fly into BA and there can be some trouble, however if you stay away from the main street and the congress, then it shouldn’t be any problems.

All for now

Today it’s Thursday and we have now entered December. YEA!! Julia and Malin are hard to talk to, cause all they have in their mind is Aconcagua. We eat, sleep, breathe, work and study with it in our mind!!!!!

News so far is that we got our stove and that pretty much is the last thing we need to have in group gear. Otherwise Julia is rethinking about getting a new sleeping bag, Malin has just got her crampons and gaiters.

Malin was supposed to go to Norway with Christian and Peter in mid November. However instead she got sick and had to stay home in bed with a terrible cold. The guys did however bring SCALE’s tent and it seems to be working just fine. A few adjustments need to be done though.

Malin is however still going to Norway, but this time up to Bergen with Lars. Running in her VEGA boots, walking with crampons, test winter camping in the tent and just have fun is pretty much what is on the schedule.

Julia will be camping and hiking this weekend in the Adirondacks, with a few friends. Julia is anxious to find some snow and ice to try out her crampons and ice axe. The weekend calls for snow and some cold weather which Julia is looking forward to. Malin is so tired of +5C and rain. Some cold weather and snow is what we want now.

We have also got in contact with another team arriving to Mendoza about the same time as us. So hopefully we can share a bus to PTE Inca and make deals about mules with them.

In conclusion we are over ecstatic and we can’t even begin to grasp that it is so close now. YEAAAAA.

Lots of love

Malin and Julia.

Both Julia and Malin are busy with work and school. However they both have hard concentrating on other stuff than the Expedition.

Team SCALE have through internet gotten in contact with the 5th grade at Frankfurt International School in Germany. They are learning about Expeditions around the world through different times. SCALE are helping them with information and their thoughts about the SCALE Expedition. Check it out here

56 days and counting…..

Today it’s the 16th October. It’s Tuesday and I just got in from another hike with my backpack. We are leaving in 69 days, little more than two months. It feels so close and still not close enough. We are so excited that we have trouble focusing on our every day life. We work, sleep, eat, train and dream with Aconcagua in our minds. 69 days to go.

The last months have involved some extensive changes in our plans. The first dilemma that hit us was problems with Malin’s flight tickets. To begin with we planned to leave on the 27th of December and fly to Santiago. Julia and David had no problem getting tickets, though Malin could not find anything. At first she booked her ticket on the 28th, however this delayed the entire climb with 2 days. Malin tried different solutions, among others to fly to Buenos Aires and from there take a bus to Mendoza. At one point Malin didn’t have any flight tickets at all, due to her travel agency making a mistake. With panic in her eyes, Malin told them to get her a flight ticket, or else….. Finally after some work Malin had a ticket with Swissair leaving the 26th of December and going to Santiago. Things couldn’t get any better.

The second thing that worried the team was David’s knees that had given him some trouble for quite some time. David was definite rethinking if he was going or not. Julia and Malin started to discus what to do if that happened, though they both had their heart 100% set on the climb.

Then one afternoon hell broke out in the world, as the team saw two planes crashing into World Trade Center in New York. What kind of world are we living in? Is this a safe world to be travelling in? Malin and Julia were still so sure about this climb, they were not going to let some terrorist come in the way for their trip.

However this stubborn thought didn’t quite turn out to be easy to keep. A late afternoon Malin turned on the news and saw how Swissair let the world now about their financial trouble. Malin once more had trouble with her flight tickets, and up to today she still doesn’t know which day she is leaving or with which airline. Malin has several tickets booked with Air France, Lufthansa…... Either way she’ll be there.

The 12th of October became a sad day as David let the team know he wouldn’t be able to make this trip. The team was now down to two, and were suddenly a girls team. Malin and Julia were fast back on their feet and now we are planning more than ever. In the male dominated adventure world, it’s exciting that for once to be a girls team.

We are getting sponsors and increasing notice about our climb. All our gear seems to be working out and our training is increasing for each day that passes by.