Climbing the Volcanos of Mexico

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Mexicos Volcanoes Never say never is probably a good title for this story. In January of 1987 I had attempted to climb the major volcanoes of Mexico. I didn't really have the time of my life and the news release after the trip had a quotation stating, "I've never done anything that hard in my life" and "I would never do it again." So much for fortune telling.

In 1989 my future husband and I met and a medical conference. Lucky for me the speaker was late and we started talking about similar interest in flying, skydiving and finally mountain climbing. He expressed an interest in climbing Longs peak (14,255') in Colorado. I told him how much work it was but he persisted. In May of 1990 we went out and climbed it quite successfully and I guess you could say "Edmund Hillary" was reborn. Stan loved to climb and I really enjoyed the mountains this time around. That summer we climbed Mt. Whitney (14,494') in California. In May of 1991 we decided to get some formal training and enrolled in an alpine mountaineering course in Bellingham, Washington through the American Alpine Institute. It was a week long course that covered rock, glacier and ice climbing. Because of heavy snow fall we did not get to summit Mt. Baker but agreed we would be back. In September we venture back to the area and did summit Mt. Baker (10,778') and later in the week Mt. Rainier (14,410'). Both peaks are substantial climbs with lots of crevasses and glacial travel. We really enjoyed the challenge.

That brings us to the most recent adventure of the volcanoes of Mexico. We decided to get some high altitude experience and one of the best places is the volcanoes with their summits being the 7th, 5th and 3rd highest in North America. This trip would have no guides but us. We prepared ourselves in our own ways. I use the services of the Blessing All Star Program and had James Gragg develop an individual program based on my VO2 max. and anaerobic threshold tests. I do interval work on my bike for around 90 minutes a day using a heart rate monitor to measure progress. Stan does a program of using a stair climber, running outside, and doing lots of pushups and sit-ups.

We decided to attempt Ixtaccihuatl (17,343') first. Most climbers skip this peak because of the long route to get to the summit. Because we would be out for numerous days we had heavy packs. Stan carried around 70 pounds and I had around 45 pounds. We used this peak to acclimatize to the altitude by allowing 3 days to make our way up and down. Our first camp was located around 14,000'. It became obvious fast no one does this route anymore mainly because of the difficult and long approach. The next day we climbed to 16,000' and camped. We would have a good shot at the summit from this location. The weather looked bad at the usual start time of 3 a.m. so we started out at around 7 a.m. when it looked a little better. We got to around 17,000' but the weather turned bad and we descended in near "white out" conditions. It took around 6 hours to get back out to the road where we had a driver waiting. We made very good time considering the horrible weather and getting lost once.

After a rest day at the Tlamacas lodge (13,500') we were ready for the next mountain of Popcatepetl. We were joined by a lone climber from Germany and departed the lodge at around 4 a.m. The wind was fairly strong in the morning and we hoped it would calm. The sun was out but the wind continued to increase all day. By 11 a.m. we reached the crater rim and were very careful not to get blown inside. If there was ever a place that looked like hell it has to be this crater. The steam rises out of vents all over the inside and the sulfur smell is overpowering. It is a very impressive site to say the least. The continuation of the climb follows the rim of the crater up the height of 17,881'. As we climbed, the wind was absolutely incredible. At time it had to be close to 80 mph. We reached the summit at 12:15 p.m. I was freezing and Stan helped me put more clothes on. After a short lunch and rest we started to descend down the volcano. At around 3 p.m. we were going to stop at a ruined hut and have another bite to eat but the wind really strong. A gust nearing 100 mph lifted us up as we tried to walk. The volcanic dust was "sandblasting" us as we tried to stand. We struggled down the route and finally got to the lodge at around 4:30.

The lodge here has really been run down over the past couple years. The restaurant is closed, there is no running water, and the bathrooms only operate on weekends. After a week without a shower we decided to go down to a small village of Amecameca and find a room. Of the two hotels only one had water and it was only cold. "Oh well, what's one more smelly day." I did heat some water without stove in the middle of the room to get some hot water to wash up with.

After an overnight in Puebla and of course a nice hot shower we were on to the final volcano, Orizaba. Next stop was Tlachichuca where we found Senior Reyes. He runs a service for climbers out of his compound. We spent a night there on bunks. The compound used to be an old soap factory so it has a very pleasant clean smell!

Reyes charges $15.00 per night which includes breakfast. Senor Reyes offers a bunk house for sleeping, warm showers and toilets, and transportation to the huts at 14,000 feet on Orizaba. Transportation leaves daily at around noon, but I recommend staying in Tlachichuca at least one night. It's a great little place with some of the best food in the world. You'll need to acclimatize anyway. Tlachichuca is at 9,000 feet elevation.

We hired a truck to take us up to the hut located at around 14,000'. Senor Reyes charges $50.00 per person round-trip from Tlachichuca to Piedra Grand. The weather really wasn't good but we only had a couple more days in Mexico to climb so we took a chance that the weather would get better. We got up at around 2 am to very high winds. I went outside to check the weather and saw many clouds which prompted our decision to stay in. One three climbers left at around 3:30 a.m. and in the light of day we saw them up around 16,500'. The weather was getting worse and they turned around soon after. The choice to stay in was a good one for us because of the brutal weather. We all thought the hut was going to collapse because of the severe winds. A truck would be coming in the afternoon to pick Stan, another climber and myself up. On the way down we stopped in this primitive Indian village of Hildago. The truck driver wanted us to meet his mother and have a beer. We hopped out of the truck looking totally out of place in our climbing gear. Around the corner, we walked into a little room with a fire on the dirt floor. It was very smoky and dark and after my eyes adjusted I could see this was the kitchen. The driver got us a couple beers and then "mom" cleared the table and pulls out this pan with fried parts in it. I was trying to figure out what it was and the driver made a sound like a pig. "Well, that clears up the problem of identifying the species." The old lady motioned for us to try some. I looked at Stan and he dug right in. The other climber and I watched him eat a piece. It was sort of like "Mikey" in the Life cereal commercial, "He likes it!". We broke off a piece and put it in a corn tortilla "mom" had cooking on the coals. I can't figure out how she didn't burn up anything by placing the food directly on the fire. Actually the entire experience was great. I asked permission to take some photos and then we all shook hands before departing.

In general the trip was great and we are already planning to go back to summit Orizaba someday. Stan and I make great climbing partners and love the mountains. The next adventure is a huge one. We are going to Mt. McKinley (20,320') in May. The climb is expedition style with heavy packs and sleds and will take around 3 or 4 weeks to complete.

As of February 1997, both the Tlamacus lodge and Popo were both closed due to the continuing volcanic activity of Popo. It is currently illegal to climb Popo.