Mexican Volcanoes II

Introduction

It had been since 1993(!) since I had last visited the Mexican Volcanoes and my 14 year old son Kessler expressed some interest in climbing them.    My friend Steve Jackson also expressed interest as well and he had two kids (Caleb and David; ages 8 and 11) that wanted to come too, so December 2016 sounded like a good time to make the trip.    

On my previous trip, I went alone at age 18.   The trip report is below:

Mexican Volcanoes at Age 18

This time we would try to climb other volcanoes that I hadn't climbed yet.    For eveyone else, it would be new territory.

Here is the story.

December 19: Iztaccíhuatl 

We arrived in Mexico City the night before.   We weren't going to meet Steve Jackson and our other friends until December 20, so Kessler and I headed for Amecameca. 

Kessler and I had planned to climb Iztaccíhuatl over two days, spending one night at the Albergue/Altzomoni Lodge. We made the fateful decision to leave the tent back in Amecameca, which was a big mistake! Since we were only planning on an acclimatization hike today, we arrived at the La Joya Trailhead late morning. It was there that we found out that in order to stay in the lodge, we had to get the key back in Amecameca! Since we were supposed to meet friends in two days, we didn't have time to go back and get it! (Later we found out that we may have been able to retrieve a key at Paso de Cortes?).  We contemplated sleeping under the stars or up at one of the huts, but we had brought our suitcase with us. We didn't want to leave it out in the open. We found a place to hide much of what we had and started up the mountain. The weather was perfect, but with a bit of wind and we made our way quickly up the mountain. We made it up to "The Knees" a.k.a. "Las Rodillas" at about 5000 meters before it was time to turn back. The Knees is only about 200 meters lower than the main summit, but it would have been a long walk to get there. We did well considering the very late start. There was a little snow around, but not that much. We descended back down the mountain to La Joya, where we caught a ride back down to Amecameca in the back of a very crowded pickup. It wasn't comfortable, but we were very grateful for the ride. 

December 21:   Cholula

After travelling to Puebla the night before, Kessler and I met Steve, Caleb, and David in the hotel.   We all headed to Cholula to see the great pyramid there.   It was quite interesting, even if not as visually impressive from the outside as the ones at Teotihuacan.    After visiting Cholula and the pyramid, we headed back to Puebla.

December 22: La Malinche

 Today, Kessler, Steve, Caleb, and David climbed La Malinche. It was Steve's, Caleb's, and David's highest mountain to date.  We decided to do the entire trip in one day from Puebla in order to stay on the trip schedule and to avoid lugging around all our gear. We took a taxi to the trailhead and started up the mountain mid-morning. Things went rather well and we made the summit in 4.5 hours. The weather was clear and the views from the summit were really great. After enjoying the summit, we descended to the trailhead. Since we didn't know where the bus picked up, we walked the road down to the next intersection and waited there.  Eventually the bus picked us up at around 5 PM. We rode the mini-bus down to Apizaco and then found a bus back to Puebla. It was well after dark before we reached the hotel.

December 24: Cofre de Perote 

Kessler, Steve, Caleb, David and I climbed Cofre de Perote today. We didn't start until late morning because all the buses the day before to Perote were already full!  We had planned to arrive on the 23rd, but since the buses were full we saw the sites in Puebla instead.   We didn't leave Puebla until the morning of the 24th.    As soon as checking into a hotel, we caught a taxi ride to El Conejo, where we started our hike. Rather than following the cobblestone road, we found trails in most places that avoided the road, including one that was modified for mountain bikes, but seemed to be long abandoned (by bikes).  We made our way to the summit area and found the steep cement staircase and handrails to the top of the summit block. There was one patch of old snow on top. The weather was great and the views were fantastic. The radio towers on top were a distraction though. After climbing the peak, we descended the mountain and about half way down to El Conejo, we caught a ride back to El Conejo in the back of a pickup truck. After reaching El Conejo, we had to walk towards Perote. We walked all the way down past El Rancho Nuevo before flagging down a taxi. Kessler had to run ahead quickly in order to catch it. Because of the late start, it was a long day.

December 26:  Pico Orizaba Day 1

The previous day we travelled to Tlachichuca by bus and relaxed around this small town.    The two adults in the group had colds/flu, but we (Kessler, Steve, Caleb, and David) all felt excellent otherwise. The weather was great as well and the winds were light. We arrived at Pierda Grande in the early afternoon. We all decided to hike up to the Glacier Jamapa at 4900 meters/16,074 feet. The route through the upper part was icy, but things went rather smoothly. On the way down and with crampons, I got a bad blister on my big toe. It was really painful on the way down. We arrived back at the hut just after sunset.

December 27:  Pico Orizaba Day 2

The mountain gods were not with us today. Because I had the flu, I didn't sleep hardly at all the previous night and was tired. The weather wasn't good and it was snowing and raining. It was very windy as well. My blister on my toe was pretty bad at all. The other adult in the group was also sick and we had three kids with us, ages 9, 12, and 14.  All this we could handle, but as we were trying to rest for the upcoming climb at night, about 100 people suddenly showed up at the hut and campsites, which dropped the chances of getting any rest at all to zero. I also didn't want to infect the entire camp and hut with my flu. With all of the above problems conspiring against us, and with out driver already at the hut, we reluctantly decided to head back down. This was unfortunately since we were all strong and well acclimatized. It was a difficult decision, especially since Orizaba had been on my list for a long time. Unfortunately, we wouldn't have enough time for a second attempt on this trip.

December 30: Teotihuacan

After visiting the sites of Mexico City the day before, Kessler and I explored Teotihuacan. We "climbed" to the top of several pyramids and then walked the entire Avenue of the Dead. It was an interesting place and the pyramids were fascinating.