Entries from Mexico

'Un clima raro' -strange weather- has been the theme of our Mexico Volcanos trip.

Though it’s the ‘dry season’ we had a full winter ascent of Ixta, and as we pulled into high camp at Pico de Orizaba with a forecast of a clear calm sky, we instead were greeted by a dark cloud deck streaming over the mountain at what we estimated to be 40+ mph. Not ideal for a 18500ft volcano. 

But Team Mexican Koala has proven quite hearty and as I poked my head out of the tent at 12am, a clear starry sky and a light breeze greeted me. Classic Orizaba!

We left camp with 6 of 9 climbers (something has been working through the group) and as we fought freezing winds and bone-chilling temps it looked like we would pull off a sunny summit!

Having not had a summit view yet, we spent almost 45 minutes on the Orizaba summit taking in the cloudless sky and expansive views of Ixta, Malinche and a sea of other Mexican volcanos. A perfect end to our week! 

Congratulations team Mexican Koala-3 for 3 on summits, and a full week of Mexican adventure!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

After a restful couple nights in Puebla, team Mexican Koala has arrived in Tlachichuca to prepare for our ultimate challenge, 18,500ft Pico de Orizaba!

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful rooftop of our Hotel Colonial to do some sunset Snow-School Review, then everyone got to explore their favorite culinary adventures. 

Reports from the mountain are great route, good weather, and cold! 

Wish us luck!

Team Mexican Koala was in high spirits on the van ride to Ixta Base Camp. We played “What’s That Song?” to our guide Joe’s epic 80’s playlist, and even managed to get phone reception for a bit to send quick updates to family and friends.

Once we arrived at base camp, the team refueled with soup and chicken tacos, then made our way up to high camp at 14,500 feet. The scenery was unreal, and some of the most beautiful any of us had ever seen-tall yellow prairie grass dotted with pine trees across massive mountainsides, and the Popo volcano belching ash and smoke. 

After an alpine start, the team tagged the summit of Ixta, even with Mother Nature throwing us a curveball in the form of a full-on whiteout and a quarter inch of rime ice on helmets, backpacks, sunglasses, goggles, eyelashes, everything……

Huge thanks to our incredible guides, Joe and Bailey, for getting us up and down safely!

Now we’re looking forward to a hot shower and a rest day in Puebla before our summit push on Orizaba.

RMI Climber Matt Hirschberg-Team Mexico Koala

Leaving Mexico City, team Mexican Koala - our girl Bec flew all the way from Australia - was excited to tackle our first volcano, Malinche at 14,501. 

Our van ride went smoothly and before we knew it we were enjoying the crowd-favorite bbq meat towers at the Malinche cabins restaurant. Our weather was cold but clear, and folks went to bed ready for an early-ish morning. 

Alarms went off at 4:30am, and unfortunately Bec’s long trip from Australia had her under the weather. But the rest of them team rallied for her and left the cabins in the dark. At around 13,500’ we walked into a moody mist cloud, and with our army of mountain-dogs, around 11am, we climbed onto the summit just in time for a sun break! 100% for those who left the cabins!

More meat towers yesterday evening and a good night’s sleep and we’re off to Ixta!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

Our excited team of climbers met face to face for the first time last night in the lobby of our lovely Hotel Geneve in Mexico City. They have been messaging excitedly on WhatsApp for months, so even the Bills' heartbreaking loss to the Broncos couldn't stifle the excitement (our thoughts go out to Micheal). 

After a logistics chat we headed of to the local taco spot. We have a great crew and everyone is excited for our week to come. 

Off to Malinche and our first climb!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

A day wandering among the colonial walls of Puebla leaves us relaxed and ready. A short drive and we're in Tlachichuca. After what feels like a much longer drive, we're at Piedra Grande. The road into the mountains is scarcely maintained and yet constantly ridden. Reminiscent of Ixtaccíhuatl's trails, there are a great many random intersections, deep ruts, protruding rocks, and washouts. The locals clearly hold scant regard for instructive signage, and thankfully, our driver needs none. We have one of our favorite meals of the trip at camp at 14000' -- more meat, cheese, veggies, and tortillas. And then it's time for bed.

By contrast, the 1 AM start feels reasonable. Still, the no-longer sleepers lament their rude departure from the cool and languid maw of REM sleep as they force down coffee and tea, oatmeal and cheerios. Dustin shares a vision of the world come to a white end. The would-be dreamers ascend through darkness, treading an old aqueduct, just a bit too steep to be an enjoyable trail, past random spray paint memorials, curiously abiding, and finally to the mouth of the Labyrinth. Weaving through this violent mess of a glacier's last destructive efforts, we finally make our way up and out to the current moraine, sandy and desolate. The Glacier lies above. Eerily still, devoid of the chaotic structures we associate with living glaciers, this mass of ice sits like a ghost on the mountain: a commemoration of a period of cooler Earth and accumulation of snow. 

Hunched and hooded like dark penitents the climbers huff and struggle to raise each onerous step. Slowly the sun lights the land but shares no perceivable warmth. Our route takes us up the north side of the peak and we poor solar supplicants are left shivering in the gray penumbra. After a few false summits we reach the highest point of Pico de Orizaba, along the deep crater's rim. A few steps down the steep, dusty bank, the air is curiously still, and we settle in to glean what we can from the thin atmosphere and supplement with snacks and water from our packs. 

A fine dinner and a better breakfast are gratefully consumed by our weary team back in the ex-soap factory of Servimont. Now we're headed home. 

RMI Guide Will Ambler and team

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

"Hard weather says the old man. Wrap me in the weathers of the earth, I will be hard and hard. My face will turn rain like the stones." Cormac McCarthy 

In our efforts of acclimatization our team enjoyed frosty wet winds, an in-depth tour of the grand interiors of a cloud. Our climbers bedazzled in rime; hooded migrants iced for a birthday. Happy birthday Nate! The summit of Volcan Malinche reached and no grand views but the middle floors of our gaseous estate. Soggy and satisfied we descended through scree, sand, and mud. Lungs and legs the better for it. Welcomed by the quadrupedal locals back to our interim homes at La Malintzi, we find the sub cloud world refreshing and rewarding. Another feast at 10,000 feet. Another cozy night in beds and cabins. Onward now to Iztaccíhuatl. Vamos viajeros. 

RMI Guide Will Ambler

The Mexico Volcanoes team led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Will Ambler arrived in Mexico City on Saturday. The team headed out of the city the following morning to La Malintzi resort, located at 10,000ft. They enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and began their acclimatization process.  Today the team stretched their legs and lungs on a hike to the summit of La Malinche, 14,636', it was cloudy and a bit cold.  They will return to the cabanas at the base of the mountain for a second night.  Tomorrow they will make their way to the base of Ixtaccihuatl.

We did it! Everyone made it to the top (and safely back down) of Pico de Orizaba  - what a day! We climbed for the third time this trip in perfectly calm, bright conditions and then got to watch a storm build from a single wisp of a cloud.

100% on top for all three very difficult mountains is not normal. I wish I could say it’s good guiding but the reality is it’s the character and determination of this crew.

It’s not been smooth sailing, have I see the biggest blister in my guiding career? Yes. Have we depleted the Imodium reserves? Also yes. Did we have not 1 but two pairs of boots break apart in seemingly unfixable ways? Why yes, yes we did. (shout out to duct tape and voile straps)

But it speaks to the resilience of every person on this team. I see in each of these team members an understanding of what it’s like to go to the depths of pain and suffering and move in it and through it with grace. 

As we talked about at the beginning everyone on this trip has a connection to the American Lung Association - we climbed every step for the loved ones we’ve lost, for the hope of something and some cure someday. And in the midst of it all - pain and suffering - we found hope and a belief in ourselves that we could make it through - just one more step, just to the next break. Moment by moment we live in the mountains and in our lives - keeping hope alive for what’s to come no matter how we feel in the now.

Thank you to each of you at home that donated and supported these 8 team members to believe in something bigger than themselves (a world with clean air, a world where there is a cure for all lung diseases) and to have the chance to do something hard along the way.

And thank you to mis Chivos (I know you all are reading this!!) it’s been a trip of a lifetime getting to know each of you, your incredible stories, your compassion and care for each other (and every animal we came across), your willingness to let loose and laugh on playgrounds and your trust in Josh, Allan and I to push you and challenge you in all ways in the mountains.

With so much gratitude,

RMI Guide Jess Wedel