Entries from Mexico

Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Today was a huge day of logistics, travel and climbing uphill to Ixta high camp!

We started early knowing we had a few hours in the car. We said goodbye to our friends at La Malintzi (especially all our new sweet dog friends) and hit the road.

Clear skies prevailed and we had views of Ixta and Popo all day. When we were almost to the national park, we noticed plumes of clouds coming off Popo! So cool to see an active volcano.

We got to the base of Ixta, repacked our bags for the climb and started hiking. With heavy packs and over 12,000ft it was tough walking. Everyone did great and we made it to high camp in three hours. 

After an early dinner, we laid down in our tents as soon as we could knowing that the alarms would go off sooner rather than later - Ixta summit here we come!

RMI Guide Jess Wedel and the team

Monday, February 24, 2025

Malinche day! And Melissa’s birthday!

Well, well, well we had another wonderful day in the mountains. 100% of the team made it to the top of Malinche and we were rewarded with amazing views.

It’s rained every afternoon since we’ve been here so we got an early start on the trail. We were sent off in the dark by a pack of friendly doggos. The trail went up and up through majestic trees and eventually we saw the pink of the sunrise peaking through the canopy. We continued on and before we knew it we could see the ridgeline of Malinche.

The views were amazing - Orizaba shining bright to our left and Ixta and Popo on our right. The skies were clear but there’s been some recent snow so we took our time through steep icy rocks just before the summit.

We celebrated with team photos and enjoyed the moment up there before we headed back down to La Malintzi for the night. 

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Josh Geiser and Los Chivos

P.S. ONE FINAL FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS TO OUR GIRL MELISSA!

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Hello!

This morning, we woke up, ate breakfast and shuffled our duffels back down to the lobby. After a few hours on the road, we arrived at La Malintzi, a beautiful resort nestled at the base of La Malinche. It was a bustling Sunday afternoon, filled with hikers and campers enjoying the outdoors.

We stepped out of the van and took a leisurely stroll on the trail. We desperately needed to stretch our legs and breathe in the fresh, invigorating air. As the weekend traffic cleared, we found ourselves playing like carefree children on the playground. We bounced up and down on the teeter totters, laughing and laughing. It’s always good to let loose and be silly!

After checking in to our cozy cabins for the night, we headed to dinner. Since we were one of the only groups left at La Malintzi, we enjoyed a leisurely meal with soup, the most incredible guacamole we’ve ever tasted, rice, tortillas, and carnes asados. The food kept coming out to the table, and we couldn’t get enough.

With our bellies full and our spirits high, we are all settled in to sleep, preparing for our early morning adventure to climb Malinche.

RMI Guides Jess Wedel, Josh Geiser, and Los Chivos

Hola from Ciudad de Mexico!

The American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air is off to an exciting start - the team has been arriving over the last few days and I am happy to report that everyone made it.

We spent the day exploring this vibrant city, enjoying endless tacos al pastor and some of us even ventured to the Frida Kahlo museum. 

Tonight we had our first official team meeting. We talked about the itinerary, gear, but the most important part was hearing about all the reasons why this trip matters so much - raising funds and awareness for the American Lung Association and climbing mountains while doing it. The connections to the cause all stem from love, from grief but the team is all united by a need to do something.

One thing is for certain, it’s going to be a special climb with a really special group of people.

Tonight, we sleep with the sounds of the city outside our windows, knowing tomorrow we’re off to our first of three mountains - La Malinche.

RMI Guides Jess, Josh and “LOS CHIVOS” 

Three for Three on Mexico’s Volcanoes!

A week of hail storms, dark clouds and lightning was nice and all, but as we drove closer to Tlachichuca and were treated to a stunning view of 18,500 foot Pico de Orizaba backed only by a blue sky, it felt like spring break. 

We were running early and carried that luck all the way up the two hour 4x4 road to Piedra Grande, our Orizaba high camp at 14,000 feet. Dinner was at 4:30pm, and bed time came early at 5:30pm. This allowed us room to at least claim that we’d gotten some good sleep when tents were rattled at 11:30pm. 

As we climbed under a bright half moon with light winds it seemed like cheating. After single-pushing on Ixta what we’d normally do in two days, a simple 4,500 foot climb was coming easy. That is until we hit the 17,000 foot mark and things started to grind. 

But just as things were getting tougher with the elevation, Orizaba gave us all the classics. An amazing sunrise, the pyramid mountain shadow and finally the false summit with only a short walk to the true summit. 

We all stood on top of the highest point in Mexico and third highest point in North America in the warm sun with barely any wind. 

A great finish to a strong trip by all our climbers! 

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

Puebla Rest Day and Off to Orizaba

After our single push of Ixta, the Mexico Volcanoes team deserved a rest. We took full advantage of Puebla’s welcoming streets, cathedrals and parks and mostly lazed around for a day. 

Two nights of sleep, some light sightseeing, a gold plated brisket sandwich this time, and even some parking garage yoga later, we reluctantly packed the van back up and headed to Tlachichuca. 

We’re off to attempt our highest summit of the trip, Volcan Orizaba. Wish us luck!

100% Team Summit of Ixta!

Fresh off our successful summit of Malinche dodging thunder storms, our Mexico Volcanoes team pulled into La Joya, our basecamp for Volcan Iztaccihautl, to find dime-sized hail falling and lightening cracking just overhead. 

We overheard a trip report from some nice climbers who had camped at 15,500'. “Our hair was buzzing. We threw everything metal out of the tent, then the lightening struck! I still can’t feel my thumbs!”

This pretty well made our decision for us to not walk out into the storm to our high camp on a ridge. Easy decision, but it meant that summiting Ixta the next day would be anything but easy, and could only be done in a single push from La Joya. 

We discussed with the team that this would be a very long and demanding day, and they were all excited for the challenge. 

And they crushed it! We left camp at 1am and walked the normal three miles and 2,000 feet to high camp, then turned to the upper mountain, and no one flinched. Eight and a half total hours of climbing later we all stood in the sun on the 17,169' summit of Ixta. 

Our total time on the climb was a little over 14 hours, with somewhere around 5,500 vertical feet. Half of which we normally do in a big day the day before. Strong work by our whole team!

As we pulled into Puebla around 6pm for our much needed rest day, there wasn't an open eye in the van. 

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

100% Team Summit of La Malinche!

We arrived to La Malinche cabins at 10,000 feet under sun and puffy clouds. Everyone enjoyed a pleasant walk to stretch the legs, then went to rest and prepare for our big climb in the morning. 

Around 5:30pm our tranquil mountain setting was rudely interrupted by dozens and dozens of lightening bolts and thunder that was way too close. Then the heavy rain started and as we went to bed, waterfalls and lakes were forming around the cabin grounds. 

Surprisingly, 5 am brought a starry sky and perfect climbing temperatures! And as we made our way past tree-line at 12,800 feet, a rare sight greeted us-La Malinche covered in snow almost like the old timey photos in the basecamp restaurant. 

The team was expecting a ‘training hike’, not a ‘mixed snow and ice alpine climb’, but the new snow was good walking, and after a couple belayed sections on the summit block we all gathered for a quick summit photo. Quick! Because as we smiled for the camera, thunder clapped right above our heads and it was time to go!

We walked down through dime sized hail and more thunder, which will only make the meat tower at dinner taste that much better!

Well I am happy to report that our Mexico Volcanoes team all arrived safely as of last night. We met in the lovely lobby of our Hotel Geneve and had a nice chat about what to expect in the next few days. Followed by a classic dinner of local tacos. 

We’re headed this morning to La Malinche to begin acclimating to the elevation. 

Tomorrow we go for our first summit, La Malinche at 14,500’!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

As we slowly bounced our way up the 4x4 road to Pico de Orizaba high camp at 14,000', a thick wet fog started to coat the windshield and then our tents. I semi jokingly asked our local guide Allan when the fog would clear. ‘11pm’ he replied, laughing. 

Sure enough, when we woke around 1230am, we were greeted by a starry sky and cold! A 12,000' freezing level on an 18,500' mountain had us leaving camp in pretty much all our layers, and I for one stayed in my summit parka from camp to the summit. 

We were treated to great conditions on our climb of Orizaba. The Labyrinth, commonly a confusing and tricky walk through loose then smooth then loose rock, was all easy snow. And as we passed 16,000' onto the upper mountain, the cramponing was easy. 

Our team pushed hard toward the summit, and was welcomed by a beautiful sunrise and the classic Orizaba pyramid shadow over the lowlands. We gained the summit ridge, and warm sun greeted us at the top of Mexico. 

We spent a pleasant half hour on the summit, carefully made our way back to camp, and eventually were treated to a delicious dinner in Tlachichuca. 

Congratulations to the team on a long week and some strong climbing!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch