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At last night’s dinner the evening ended with our friend from down under from a time zone very far in the future, still yet to be determined instigated a game of rock-paper-scissors between the Rock Wallaby and the Kangaroo. The Rock Wallaby won the fierce battle and humbly I’ve succumbed to defeat commencing the start of writing this blog. 

This morning as soon as we started out in Hectors Sprinter van a war between Canada and USA almost broke out 5 minutes into our ride when my new friends started picking at my Canadianism’s. When Woody tried to claim Canadian Maple Syrup’s origin to Vermont, the line was drawn…. The Maple Leaf is on our on our flag.. end of debate!!

We arrived in Tlachichuca and were graciously greeted by Dr. Reyes at his family owned 150-year-old Soap factory turned hotel. We got our gear sorted, had delicious lunch and all started to pile into trucks until we noticed JP all cozied up in the comfy truck. After some very harsh bullying, JP made the walk to the back of what we now call the Mobile Mexican Sauna exchanging places with Kat even though he has fake motion sickness….Koodo’s to JP! 

As we took off we noticed one of our guides who I will remain nameless sitting in the front seat of the air conditioned truck ready to fluff his pillow for a nap.. We named him marsh mellow Ben… opps SOARee Ben!  In case you were wondering how we made out in the locked from the outside Mobile Mexican Sauna… ask TK, the air is clean, cleans all your pours out… he was waiting for the air break after one hour and so on every 15 minutes until the end of the trip… our cries for help writing on the humidity drenched windows which may be an UN violation?!?!  All fun, just kidding!

We finally made it to Orizaba high camp at an elevation of 4300 meters.  We set our tents up and went for a true “stretch the legs” 2.5km hike. Topped off by one of the best mountain dinners ever!

Tomorrow we are going to follow the Process following the precise Dom-units fueled by bore up to the Orizaba summit.  

P.s. I’m scratching my head why we don’t fly in and out of Puebla.. 

Climber Rich Morrison 

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 11:53 pm PT

Things are so far wiring well in our favor. The Glacier below us was in a cloud and snow today, the elevations above chilly and windy, but our zone was perfect for a short return to our cache to grab all our food and fuel and move them up to our camp. Mission accomplished, we spent the afternoon resting in the tents reading, playing cards, and snacking. It was a well deserved break after three hard days of moving. We'll see what the weather brings us tomorrow. We might rest again, or we might move a cache uphill to 13,500'.

RMI Guides Pete, Matias, Chase, and team

Relax and chill! Today's main goal was resting the body for tomorrow's move to Camp 1. The team enjoyed warm naps in the tents (maybe a little too warm at times), reading books, playing cards, listening to music, and watching Netflix. The winds stayed calm all day which was a nice change from the rather windy days we have had. A highlight of the day was most certainly the dessert at dinner, a slice of cake. The flavor could not be pinpointed but is guessed at possibly lemon, coconut. Regardless of the actual flavor it was delightful. Tomorrow we leave Basecamp and the delicious dinners and desserts we have been enjoying, along with all the amenities. We will trade our plastic chairs and tables for rocks and dirt. But it also means that we are moving higher up the mountain and are that much closer to our goal.

Talk to you from our new camp tomorrow,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

Well, it wouldn’t be an international climbing expedition without some unexpected adventures. So as we drove up a mountain pass outside Mexico City on our way to our first volcano, La Malinche, and our minibus motor essentially exploded, team Mexico Volcanoes took it all in stride. 

Three hours of quality suntanning time later, our new van arrived, we gear exploded and were on our way. 

We were greeted at our cabin resort with everyone’s favorite dinner, a tower of meat, cheese and grilled cactus. The Torre de Carne righted any troubles of the day, and everyone went to bed ready to get up early and climb 14,500’ La Malinche. 

Our summit day dawned clear and beautiful and we made great time up the lower part of the mountain. People started to feel the elevation around 13000’, but the stoke was high, and around 12 noon our entire climbing team stood on the summit of La Malinche!

We celebrated at dinner with yet another tower of meat, and got ready for our next volcano, 17,159’ Iztaccihautl!

RMI Guide Joe Hoch

The team has arrived in Talkeetna with all of our bags!

Yesterday, we spent the day doing the hard work of packing for a three week expedition. It's hard to visualize how much you'll actually need and hard to come to terms with the sheer weight of the equipment needed for a Denali Expedition.

There are no porters here. We have to carry everything we need on our own backs, but that is what makes Denali special. You can't pay your way to the top.

We’re currently loading up the planes and trying to fly to Basecamp. Wish us luck! 

RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli, Seth Burns, Nicole DePetris and team

PC: Dominic Cifelli

Thanks everyone for following along and once again, a shout out to Farmer Dave for all the encouragement!

Climbing Orizaba is never easy. We ended up having a great weather day and route conditions were also favorable. But it still felt like a hard push after the long week of being rained off of big mountains and spending hours drying gear. The team can take pride in their perseverance and their summit of Pico de Orizaba, the third highest peak in North America.

Last night we celebrated in Tlachichuca at the Servimont hostel, where there is always a nice meal and cold drinks. Most people were in bed by 8pm, it was quite the party. Now we are on one final bus ride, to the airport this time, and will return to normal life tomorrow. The muddy, dusty gear we are bringing home will remind us of the good times we had in Mexico.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier