Mexico Volcanoes: Wittmier & Team Reach Ixta Summit
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Will Ambler
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
A dozen bright eyed cyclops laboring through the labyrinthine network of undesigned trails, clinging to each breath knowing the next will have less to offer. A cough escapes. For some of us this is the highest we've been, for all, the highest in recent memory. More to go.
Many hours later our team reached the summit of Iztaccíhuatl under a warm sun and brilliant blue sky. No small feat. And neither was the return. Though the views of the day extended far beyond the dusty trail of the night. Deep glacial valleys whose soft rock has been reworked by more recent year's liquids- delicate degradation of cyclopean castle walls. A gently erupting neighboring volcano, dispensing its vapors toward the valleys below.
Now as we look back up through the haze, the bittersweet, almost somber, feeling of a difficult journey tholed holds the occupants of our van; pensive and grateful.
RMI Guide Will Ambler
