Entries from Mexico

Ahhh, Orizaba! The climactic conclusion to our Mexican Volcano sojourn. 

But before we recount the day I feel it important to regale the dear RMI blog post reader with events of this illustrious RMI sponsored event!

The trip begins with a meeting of strangers, aficionados of adventure if you will, led by our mountain guide whose skill and competence is only exceeded by his devilish good looks and excellent calves. 

After meeting in Mexico City, we headed to conquer La Malinche; our mission successful and quite moist, we Summited the beast and befriended a cadre of stray dogs- LFB you have a home in America whenever you see fit.

Our journey then took us to Ixta High Camp in a single day. After a few hours of sleep a few of us conquered the salacious Medusa of a mountain.

Our next two days we spent in Puebla. To be honest, nothing to report but everything was incredible! Unfortunately, it was over too quickly, and we were off to Orizaba.

After a brief stop at an old soap factory run by a lovely old man, we were off to Orizaba base camp….what awaited was an alpine start- for the uninitiated, alpine start is a euphemism for the following “I don’t care if it’s midnight, wake up we gonna go summit that monster”-……after 7 hours of suffering and straight uphill trudging at 5 am in the dark on a glacier with a steep pitch, Orizaba was conquered! The remarkable thing is everyone in our group made it to the top! We headed down back to the soap factory for dinner and now pack to head home on Sunday!

To our new friends I will say this….

It was a true pleasure getting to know all of you. Very rarely does a group of complete strangers absolutely click and find so many commonalities. From sharing jokes to gaining intimate knowledge of each other, it was an experience of a life time. Serendipity never ceases to amaze.

Sure Does!

RMI Client Joe Musial

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team checked in today at 6:49 am PST letting us know that the entire team was standing on the summit of Orizaba.  When they get settled this evening they will have a great summit day story to tell!

After a well-earned siesta and with bellies full of mole, we are off to Orizaba! We left this morning and have arrived in Tlachichuca. We are carefully packing and unpacking and repacking, making sure we have everything we need. After enjoying another nice lunch served by the wonderful Servimont staff, we are ready to hit the 4x4 trail up to Refugio Piedra Grande.

Upon arrival, we will go out for a "light" hike, enjoy dinner, and be off to bed early in preparation for an alpine start on Orizaba.

¡Hasta Mañana!

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team

Hola de Puebla! Yesterday, the team woke up early for our summit attempt on Ixta. It was a long day. After having some breakfast and hot drinks, we set out on the Ayoloco route. Crossing some difficult terrain on loose dirt, over boulders, and up a steep snow slope, we eventually made the summit just before sunrise! After enjoying the beauty of the morning sun, we descended back to high camp. Once we were packed up, we continued descending back down to La Joyita, enjoyed some lunch prepared by the wonderful Servimont staff, and loaded the van for our drive to Puebla. We all enjoyed a good rest and much deserved shower. 

Today we are enjoying the sights in Puebla for a much needed rest. Stay tuned for one more adventure as we make our way towards Orizaba tomorrow!

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and team reached High Camp on Ixta yesterday afternoon. It was a long day of travelling from La Malinche. 

This morning with an alpine start the team reached the summit of Ixtaccihuatl.

Congratulations to the team!

Monday, November 4, 2024 - 5:44 pm PT

Today was the bees knees!

After our rainy hike yesterday, we popped onto the same trail to attempt the summit of La Malinche. On the way up, we got more comfy with one another telling a plethora of jokes. We found that we all have a similar sense of humor. It was a steep climb of 4,500 feet in 4.3 miles, picking through screen and boulder fields, but we all made the summit and nobody threw up or passed out, so that's a win!

We rested on the summit and then started slowly making our way down the loose dirt and rocks. We finished out night with beer and a hot meal. Off to Ixta tomorrow!

RMI Climber Emily Bowling

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Hola amigas y familias! Thank you all for tuning in to our blog; we are officially underway here in Mexico. After everyone arrived in Mexico City last night, we had an informative team meeting, savored a delicious dinner that included Nutella pizza, and enjoyed some of the local Dia de Muertos festivities. 

This morning, we had an early breakfast and began our van quest towards the volcanoes. Arriving at La Malintzi, we got checked into our rooms and headed out promptly for a hike up Malinche towards the treeline. Just as we were enjoying the scenery, CRACK! BOOM! Lightning, thunder, rain, hail. It was enough to call it a day and head back down the slippery slopes. Hungry and ready for dinner, we plan to hike to the summit of Malinche tomorrow. Buenas noches!

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team

Summit Success on Orizaba!

Our week of soggy climbs and long walks up closed access roads paid off yesterday. Around 9:30am, we all walked onto the summit of Pico de Orizaba!

When we woke around midnight, the gusty winds pushing us around in camp made a summit seem iffy. But as we left camp the winds died and we climbed under beautiful starry skies. The sun rose as we made our way up the Jamapa Glacier toward the summit, and gave us the classic pyramidal shadow of Orizaba over the valleys and towns bellow. 

Everyone pushed hard as we passed 18,000 feet, and as we walked onto the summit, we were alone in the sun to take photos and take in the spectacular views of many of Mexico’s large volcanos. 

Congratulations to Norbert and Etienne on their strong work this week, and a successful summit of the third tallest mountain in North America, and the tallest of Mexico’s impressive volcanoes!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

Friday, October 11, 2024

After our rainy summit of Volcan La Malinche, our team was pretty excited to see sun pop up in the forecast. We headed toward Volcan Iztaccihuatl (Ixta) excited for our next summit. 

At our regular food and water pit stop in Amecameca (my favorite word) our local guide Allan had some bad news. The rains from Hurricane Milton had caused the park service to close the road, and we would have a 9 kilometer hike to our normal parking/basecamp area.  This was sad to hear, as it made a summit of Ixta a hard proposition. But we quickly brainstormed and decided we would trek to basecamp, then get as far up Ixta as possible. This would give us great altitude training for our biggest goal, Orizaba at 18,500’. 

The next day we hiked through pleasant tall grass meadows and pine trees and camped at our normal basecamp at 13,000’. In the morning we woke to a ‘practice’ alpine start at 3:00am, and were finally greeted by stars and the moon. 

On our climb to 15,500’ we watched a colorful sunrise and Volcan Popocatepetl puffing away across the valley. All in all a spectacular altitude training day. 

Trekking back through the pine tree meadows, everyone was excited to get to Puebla for pizza, a nice night in a hotel, then to our final volcano, Pico de Orizaba!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

We woke at our quiet mountain cabins on the side of Volcan La Malinche to a cloudy sky, but minus the rain we had experienced most of the trip. 

After a quick breakfast we started up the trail, rain shells at the ready. Our forecast was for rain showers, courtesy of Hurricane Milton only 200 miles away. And as we neared 13,000 feet the rain started. But Etienne and Norbert weren’t too concerned with a little rain, and we pressed uphill, staying mostly dry in our Gore-Tex. 

We summited in a light mist, with sun poking through. 2 climbers, 1 guide and 3 dogs(2 from our cabins, one from part way up the mountain, so not sure if she gets a summit). 

We made it quick on top, and as we started downhill, Milton made its presence known, and we were soon in the heaviest rain I’ve seen outside of a tropical rainforest. But we kept our cool, and with tired legs and absolutely soaked through, we made it happily back to our cabins in the forest. 

With a good night’s sleep and now dried out clothing and gear, we’re off to our next challenge, Volcan Ixta, with an improving weather forecast!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch