In 2007 and 2008, I took on a challenging goal: The Road Back to Mt. Everest. This was a year long journey where I attempted to summit Everest in 2008 plus raise $100,000 for Alzheimer's research. In preparation, I attempted Denali in June 2007 and Shishapangma in September 2007 then summited Aconcagua and Orizaba in January 2008 and finally returned to Everest in April 2008. In between I climbed more of my Colorado 14ers. Using a system of a digital camera, PDA and satellite phone, I sent dispatches directly from the climbs. You can read the dispatches.

Orizaba is the highest in Mexico and 3rd highest peak in North America at 18,880 foot, 5754 meter. But various sources quote the altitude somewhere between 18,400 and 18,900. The one week expedition was my first climb in Mexico.

Click here for videos of the climb.

Orizaba
January 2008 Trip Report
(click on any picture for a larger view)

My Colorado 14er climbing partners Patrick and Robert plus another friend Scott started planning the climb almost a year ago. It was to be a follow on to our successful Rainier 9 climb of 2004 and a training opportunity for me and a personal altitude record for the others.

We all arrived in Mexico City in late January 2008 and met Pete, a UK climber, Dave Elmore from Mountain Professionals. Another team from Australia and South Africa were leveraging our logistics. Soon our group of 15 climbers was on a large bus for the rural town of Tlachichuca.

The 3 hour ride went quick with nice views of Popocatepel (17,887’) and Iztaccihuatl (17,342’) – two other Mexican volcanoes. We had a better view on the return including seeing the steam rising from the active Popo!

Senior Reyes is a local surgeon and also runs a climber hostel in town. He was our host for several nights during the trip. His neat compound is an old soap factory run by his Father and Grandfathers. His staff served us tasty meals and the bunk house was clean and comfortable.

The town of Tlachichuca is small. We were amazed at how noisy it was into the early hours of the morning. The local “Artisan’s Market” was disappointing at best. We also found the locals wary and not very open to foreigners. With all the tension between Mexico and the US these days, I guess I understand.

I had read the hut was filthy and quite uncomfortable. However, I found it better than the RMI hut on Rainier. Yes it was made of stone walls and had nothing more than plywood for the platform style beds but the hut was clean It could sleep about 60 people on three levels. Like all huts, it was noisy at night. The outside area was a problem especially the toilet. It was placed on a raised platform with three sparse walls and no door. The issue was more sanitation than privacy.

We all settled in for two nights of acclimatization. This was important given we had experienced an altitude gain of over 6,000’ in a few hours. Everyone felt good except for Patrick who had a raging headache. This was not all that unusual given the altitude jump and a member of the South African team also felt bad and in fact vomited throughout the night.

The following day we moved to High camp with the plan to go for the summit early the next morning. Now three to a tent, we had an early dinner of roman noodles and tried to get some rest at an early 7:00 PM.

Rising at 1:00AM we quickly got ready with our layers, crampons, ice axes and a little food and water. We hoped to reach the glacier about dawn and summit a couple of hours later. Thankfully the strong winds had calmed down a bit however they were still blowing steadily around 10 m.p.h.

The route rises from High camp through a rocky section named the Labyrinth. This area is somewhat famous on Orizaba climbs for being challenging to navigate with many trails, rocky sections and snow troughs. We experienced one short section of steep class four scrambling but nothing serious at all. We had our crampons on at this altitude of 16,300’.

After three hours on the Jampa Glacier and five since we left High camp we reached the crater edge. Just in time to see the sun peek above the eastern horizon. It was a spectacular site! We took some pictures and enjoyed watching the shadow of Orizaba develop on the western plains of the Mexican plains. Also an amazing site!

The true summit was just a few minutes higher so we made the short trek higher only to be belted by high winds. The summit metal cross had been crushed by the winds and was in a heap. The caldera of the volcano was one for the most impressive site I have ever seen on a mountain summit. It was deep with tall jagged walls. There was a small emerald lake on the floor. With the soft light of the morning light, it was an inspirational sight.

Orizaba was a nice climb. It was fun to see Scott and Robert make the summit and Patrick set a personal altitude record. I enjoyed the climb and used it hone my skills I will need for Everest.