We woke before 8 AM a wash with a lingering sunrise. Hughes of pinks, oranges and blues, a stark contrast against the black volcanic dust around and below us at base camp. Within just a few minutes of the groups rousing the dust was above us too, as Popo erupted with fury, more violent than we've seen since arrival in Mexico, we watched as smoke and steam billowed into the sky, becoming a dark cloud inching in our direction while we hoped it was a good omen. lt certainly was a sobering one. A reminder that we are merely guests here in every sense.

We ate a hearty breakfast of refried beans, corn chips, eggs,  potatoes, and ham thanks to our team at Ixta base camp, coffee and tea were had as well. The anticipation and excitement among the group were as thick as the ash and at 10 AM we dawned our packs and jettisoned from the Basecamp led by our local guide Allan, 300 summits of Ixta, including many by running, with Dominic and Ben in the rear. We kept an eye on the clouds of smoke, but it didn't phase us on a spectacular and reasonably effortful climb to high camp at 14,500 ft we faced only a little
scree, and instead moved through an ocean of golden grass. Its fine blades seemed to hug us as we passed. People had the energy and breath to discuss life's most important philosophical questions like Buddhism, the true nature of millennials, and Gen Xers, and how one defines a soup versus a stew and what is chili and cereal with milk, and while we are still trying to determine the conversions for the Dominic unit, the climb was indeed three hours as promised, which was met by applause at high camp. We were greeted by the cheers, laughs and smiles of our incredible Porter team, who ran ahead of us to get camp ready for our arrival which marked personal high points for the majority of us.

We rested and relaxed, had a nourishing dinner of chicken Ramen, hot chocolate, cookies, and various preparations of, and some questionable, of spam, and after a final briefing retreated to our tents and sleeping  bags early in preparation for our Alpine start to the summit of Ixta.

RMI Climber, Eric Obscherning