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

October 6, 2024 - 11:38 am PT

After a breakfast with a great view of Mexico City at a little place we found, the Mexico Volcanos team is headed to the rustic cabins at La Malinche. 

The weather has been a bit rainy, but we expect sun later in the week and we're excited to get on our first volcano tomorrow!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch