Trip Reports

Mexican Volcanoes 2019 - 100% success on all four volcanoes

Multiple summits in Mexico, October 2019
Trip Report

Written by Leader Adele Pennington, October 2019

The first gathering of the 6-membered team was over breakfast in Mexico City. An all-male team that had a few mountains under their belts. One could say it was a mature team but this wasn’t so evident with their spritely movement and outlook on life! As the festival of the dead was underway there was plenty of entertainment on the streets with the main road being lined with sixty-four large skulls of which one member insisted taking a picture of every one of them! A visit to the Teotihuacán Pyramids which boasts the third highest pyramid in the world was good for acclimatisation as well as being culturally captivating. 

Toluca was the next port of call where we had a further gain in altitude and a super afternoon exploring the town which hosts a glass museum and many interesting churches. Time for city tours was now over and the next two days had us pushing hard on two peaks of Toluca Nevado 4600m; an extinct volcano with stunning lagoons filling the caldera. It was just too much for one team member who had to shock the shy of us and take a skinny dip whilst the more reserved were satisfied with a paddle. Two days topping out on these two summits as well as sleeping at 3785m was perfect preparation for Iztaccihuati commonly known as the “The Sleeping Lady” 

An overnight stay at Metepec on this night was fortuitous as the town was alive with live music with David Bowie’s greatest hits being sung by one band. Video evidence of one team member dancing in front of the stage did its rounds within the team but as we say what goes on tour stays on tour. 

Now ready for the Sleeping Lady, (Itza)Ricardo one of our guides described the route via her anatomical features, School boy humor couldn’t be held back as he described that the tippity top was on her breasts. Ascending to Itza’a high camp was not dissimilar to walking in the Peak District but once on the ridge high camp boasted a super view-point with Popapacatal venting in the distance. Being all of a similar generation plus or minus 15 years we discussed seeing pictures of this volcanoes in our geography text books and singing the song.

Popacatapeti is a big Volcano far away in Mexico

Popacatepeti,old, Pipocatepeti goes bang.

Sizzle Sizzle bang! so you won’t forget that.

Summit morning was clear and a warm air stream made us sweat as we scrambled up on to Ladies Knees at 5000m. A couple of team members may have felt that they were on their knees but as the sun rose Itza showed us her beautiful ridge and sadly retreating glaciers. The solar heat and negligible wind ensured a pleasant climb over the glacier and up the summit slopes. Luxuriating on the summit, many photographs of the stunning views captured the moment and food consumed in readiness for the descent which did have a fair bit of ascent in it. The ups seemed hard work and as we stopped to rest a massive rock fall from Itza Western flank tumbled rocks the size of cars over our ascent trail. Standing in silence stunned, and gazing from our safe place we changed our route back to high camp, picked up our belongings and made our way back to the road head. Dining out for a late lunch we clinked glasses to celebrate our 100% success.

After a hearty breakfast, we took to the road to arrive at the magnificent Colonial Hotel in Peurba. Being a Sunday the city was in full swing with street entertainers and markets. We relished in the atmosphere and took sanctuary in the Cathedral where I “Thanked God” that we missed the rock fall. 

In silence, we drove to the Orizaba Mountain Guides hostel which lies just below the mountain and is a frequent stopping place for many climbers.  It was obvious that we were mentally preparing ourselves for the last push and after final briefings and last-minute packing we bunked down for an early night. Pico Orizaba 5610m a perfectly uniform volcano with slopes of 30 degrees peeped out above the clouds as the sun rose in the morning. With a promising weather forecast, we drove up the rough track and walked in to the high camp at 4600m.  An afternoon storm brought some snow fall as we ate dinner and took to our tents around 6pm for a 2 am wake up.

Alarms went off in sequence and quietly we challenged breakfast not the easiest thing to do at this time in the morning. Spot on 3am the team ranked and in single file we made steady progress through the labyrinth to the toe of the glacier. There was minimal conversation and in our three rope teams we started our procession up the mountain. Perfect steps from each team member and eloquent rope work ensured more than satisfactory progress. Rest stops were kept to a minimum to make sure we maintained our body heat on this cold morning. As the sun rose the perfect pyramidal reflection of Orizaba developed and in 5 hours 30 minutes from camp the cheers of the first team topping out were heard. This rose spirits to my team who were a few minutes behind the leaders. Mandatory photos on the top but a little too cold to wait to share the summit with the last members of our team who were within sight of the top. Regrouping at the toe of the Glacier we made a speedy decent to high camp where Yuan was waiting with our specially requested Te Negra. Once back at the hostel we wolfed down a fine steak lunch before heading to the most beautiful St Barbara Hacienda where the lack of Wi-Fi and peacefulness allowed for us to enjoy a traditional Mexican dinner, some celebratory drinks and the welcome return of cheery chatter before heading back to the big lights of Mexico City.

Thank you to all the team members and our guides Ricardo, Max and Yuan who made this a very special and fascinating trip.

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