Howdy and Buenos Dias! It's good to be back on U.S. soil. This is just a quick post to summarize the trip. A more detailed report will follow. Hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day and restful weekend.
Our plan was to climb the 3rd highest peak in North America, Pico de Orizaba, at 18,400 feet in elevation. It is not considered a very technical climb although there is some fairly steep snow/ice (50 degrees?) leading up to the glacier and then some areas of near 40 degree glacier near the summit. About half the climb is on the glacier, so it calls for crampons and ice axe.
We did Ixta (7th highest peak in N. America at 17,200 feet) as a warm up, and frankly it seemed harder due to the constant up and down nature of that climb. We probably had more vertical gain on Ixta than Orizaba.
There's so much to cover that I can't possibly do it all now. Let's just say that it was a successful trip, everyone summited and a good time was had by all. I'm still recovering from a nasty cold, so I gotta keep this short.
Here's a few pics to whet your appetite!
Popocatepetl (17,887 feet) is closed to climbing. It looked like she was going to blow at any moment!
Paulina and Victor climbing up to the Knee on Ixta.
You can faintly make out the trail traversing below the first peak and the traversing the ridgeline beyond.
Alex sets out across the glacier towards the summit ridge on Ixta.
One of 3 summits on Ixta (17, 187 feet).
3 comments:
Nice hat! I bet some one really smart gave you that :)
How are things at CT? Looks like you had an exciting Thanksgiving. I was in DC re-scanning all the museums. It was good fun.
Chi
Steve, Great shots of the Mexico trip! I can't imagine being on that traverse trail. Seems like you would just slide right down. Amazing shot of the volcano. I'd be a little nervous it might go off. Cant' wait to see the rest of your photos.
Flo
Very cool!
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