Trip Summary: January 8 - January 17, 2016
1) Fly into Mexico City and travel to Puebla
2) Day climb up Standard Route of La Malinche (14,636 ft)
3) Travel to Tlachichuca and stay at Joaquin Canchola Limon's hostel
4) 4WD trip up to Piedra Grande hut base camp at Pico de Orizaba and short hike
5) Summit attempt on Pico de Orizaba (18,491 ft), turned around and 4WD trip back to Tlachichuca
6) Travel to Puebla and explore Puebla city
7) Travel to Toluca and explore Toluca city
8) Climb at Nevado de Toluca (15,354 ft) and travel to Mexico City
9) Visit Teotihuacan Pyramids and explore Mexico City
10) Explore Mexico City and fly back to Houston
Map of our trip to Mexico. Red = bus, yellow = rental car, blue = taxi, and pink = 4WD vehicle.
Alan and I had been thinking about Pico de Orizaba as a climb that was definitely in our future in our pursuit of the sport of mountaineering. During our trip to Colorado last summer, we decided to go this winter. We talked about gear and possible trip itineraries, but it wasn't until we purchased our airfare in November that it started to feel like it was really going to happen. Training began in earnest - I began running and climbing stairs, and when I traveled to Minnesota for the holidays I continued training by running, cycling, and cross-country skiing. I felt that I was in better shape than I was at the beginning of our other trips, but I feel my overall fitness should be improved substantially in the future to better cope in the mountains.
We reserved a spot with Joaquin Canchola Limon's hostel in Tlachichuca for our trip to the mountain, along with a 4WD trip up to base camp, a hotel in Puebla for the first two nights, and a rental car for the second day before we left. When I returned from Minnesota, I spent a day at home with my girlfriend Rachel in Austin and then packed up my gear and drove to Houston to meet Alan. We bought a 70m dry rope and cut it in half, and took the 35m with in case we decided to rope up on the glacier. We also bought trip insurance, that included evacuation coverage and extensive baggage coverage.
Volcan La Malinche (14,636ft) - day climb up the Standard Route near Puebla, Mexico
Steak, onion, and serrano pepper tacos at Tok's.
We had scheduled an early flight on Aeromexico out of Houston, but we were delayed due to heavy fog. We arrived in Mexico City 4 hours later than expected, and hopped on an Estrella Roja coach bus to Puebla. This was my first time in Mexico, and I spoke very little Spanish. Alan spoke a little more than me, and between the two of us and Google Translate (and hand signals and helpful bilinguals) we managed to get by without any major problems. Once we arrived in Puebla, we took a taxi to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott Puebla Las Animas. After checking in, we walked to a nice park a few blocks away called Parque del Arte and watched the sunset over the Popocatepetl (Popo) volcano. On our way back, we picked up some bottled water and climbing food at Walmart, and then grabbed a delicious dinner at Tok's before heading to bed.
Our Volkswagen Jetta rental car at the trailhead.
The next morning, we packed up our daypacks for climbing La Malinche and took a taxi to Avis car rental where we picked up a brand new Volkswagen Jetta. After some confusion between Google Maps and the directions we had printed from Summitpost, we arrived at the Centro Vacacional IMSS La Malintzi, a resort at the beginning of the trail. We started our climb at noon, and followed the Standard Route through the forest up the mountain. There were probably over a hundred people climbing through one steep section of the trail in the woods. Many people were setting up camp at the base of the mountain or participating in youth group activities.
Looking down the trail on the ridge of La Malinche.
Once above the treeline, the number of people climbing dropped significantly. We missed an opportunity for easier going up to the first ridge, and climbed up a scree slope that was somewhat hard going (although not as bad as Sneffel's). Once we had gained the ridge, we followed the ridge close to the summit. A little after our agreed turn-around time of 3pm, Alan and I stood about 100ft below the summit. We dashed up to the top and grabbed our pictures and took in the view. We could see Pico de Orizaba in the distance, as well as Popo and Itza in the other direction. A Russian woman we met at the top was ill-prepared for the cold, and Alan lent her his gloves as her hands were cold. After only 5 or 10 minutes at the top, we headed back down at a running pace since we wanted to make it back to the hotel before dark. I ran out of water on the way down, having consumed about 4 liters, and became somewhat dehydrated. I drink quite a bit more water than Alan - I attribute this to my perspiration rate and asthma. The descent was without incident, and we arrived back to the car at 5:30pm. We had summited in 3.5hrs and descended in 2hrs, quite a fast pace.
Alan and I at the summit of La Malinche at 14,636ft!
Fiery sunset over Popo and Itza as we drove back to Puebla.
We started driving back towards Puebla with a sense of purpose, with Alan at the wheel and I navigating. We missed a turn and ended up taking a different route back. We were less than a mile from the highway and entering the small town of Hidalgo when the street ahead was blocked due to a festival of some kind, and a man began yelling at us in Spanish directing us to turn around. We raced back to the other road, and made our way back to the highway. I used Google Maps instead of the Summitpost directions, and we took Autopista Puebla-Tlaxcala toll road, which ended up being faster. We were treated to a beautiful fiery sunset over Popo and Itza during our drive. We ended up driving a half hour through the dark, fortunately without incident, making only one stop to fill up with gas. We had a little issue with the gas attendant, as he refused to fill up the car with regular gas, which had a green handle. It wasn't until I insisted he fill up with the red handle, that he eagerly topped off our car with premium gas. I had thought the green handle was diesel, as in the States.
Once back at the hotel, we made another run to Walmart for some more water and food, and then went to Mi Viejo Pueblito for dinner. There, I had the best fajitas I've ever had, with steak marinated in worcestershire sauce and fajitas served on corn tortillas. It was a great way to end a successful climb.
Pico de Orizaba (18,491 ft) - climb up the Jamapa Glacier Route from the Piedra Grande base camp hut
Joaquin Canchola Limon's hostel.
The next day we checked out of the hotel and returned the rental car. We caught a cab to the CAPU bus station, where we hopped on a second-class Autobus Valles. The bus stopped at the side of the road at overpasses to pick up new passengers, some of whom aggressively attempted to sell various food items or pharmaceuticals. Most of the towns we were passed were quite impoverished, with nearly all houses built from cinder blocks. I saw many stray dogs wandering around looking for food. Generally they were friendly, and sometimes travelled in pairs. A little over two hours later, we arrived in the town of Tlachichuca, and the bus driver dropped us off in front of (heads up: their website in the link is hacked at the time of this post) Joaquin Canchola Limon's hostel. After knocking a few times, Maribel opened the door and warmly welcomed us. She spoke English quite well. We settled in to our bedroom, and went to check out the street market that was bustling with people and delicious smells and the sound of Mexican music.
Bustling street market in Tlachichuca.
The vendors were selling fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly butchered meat, street food, second-hand shoes, toys, clothing, and general houseware items. We walked back to the hostel via a side-street, and picked up some food at a general store. I made a quick trip back to the market to pick up some tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, avocados, potatoes, canned corn, and canned black beans. We cooked everything in a pot and had a delicious lunch in Maribel's kitchen of vegetarian tacos and chips and salsa verde. We cleaned up and took some time to relax, before Maribel served us a delicious dinner.
The 4WD Jeep we took up.
I went up to the roof to watch the sunset and take in the view of the mountain. It was hard to believe we were here. Pico de Orizaba looked like a real mountain. It was big and covered by glacier. I felt the massiveness of the mountain and the foreboding that goes with it but I also felt that it was doable. I felt that we had the gear and the skills and a reasonable acclimation itinerary. Before we went to bed, we checked the weather one more time. It appeared that the weather was good the next day, but then very snowy and windy for the next two days during our planned summit attempt. Alan and I talked about how this could affect our plans, and then we went to bed, eagerly anticipating our trip to the mountain the next day.
We slept well and woke up to roosters calling well before dawn. It was as if the roosters were even more eager to start the day than we were. I had a bit of a headache when I woke up due to the altitude, but it subsided quickly. We assembled our gear, and Maribel served us a breakfast of sliced bananas with honey and cooked ham with beans and tortillas. Joaquin introduced me to one of his pet birds, which playfully bit at my finger with its oversized beak. Before long, some of the workers started firing up the 4WD vehicles in the compound and checking under the hood, and then rolled two of them out into the street. The third one, a black Jeep, rolled to the middle of the compound, where we loaded our gear a little after 10am. We said goodbye to Joaquin and Maribel, and started our journey in the jeep with Joaquin numero dos. As we drove out of town and up through the forest into the National Park, I played a continuous game of opening and closing the window for ventilation in the hot jeep that filled with exhaust fumes vs. dust blowing in from a farmer plowing a field or another vehicle driving down the dirt road. Eventually, the road demanded that we switch to 4WD, and Joaquin stopped and got out of the vehicle to manually engage the transmission.
View of Pico de Orizaba from Tlachichuca.
The ride was now much slower and noisier, and we jostled around on the bumpy road, sometimes climbing hills so steep that you could not see the ground over the hood. We rose above the treeline, and Pico de Orizaba loomed much closer. As we rounded a bend, we could see clouds below us, with tree-covered peaks jutting through. As we looked ahead, we could now see the Piedra Grande hut in the distance, and in very quick time we arrived.
Piedra Grande Hut at 13,977ft at the base of Pico de Orizaba.
Once at the hut, we settled in to the second top bunk since the lower bunks were occupied. Two other teams of climbers came down the mountain from acclimation climbs and we chatted for a while picking up some good information, especially from Ross and Mike. At this point, with inclement weather forecasted the next two nights, Alan argued for a summit attempt that night. He pointed out that we had already had some time to acclimate from climbing La Malinche, and if we chose to wait, we would sit in the hut for 3 days and the climbing teams would be gone, leaving us alone on the mountain with an unmarked trail in fresh snow. I had concerns about moving too fast on our schedule and not being acclimated, but I agreed that we could climb to the base of the glacier and if we felt good, we could continue on to the summit. We gathered our gear for a day hike and then began ascending the standard route to check out the trail. We ascended to ~15,000ft and took in the view. The east was socked in with clouds from the Gulf, and we could see La Malinche across from us. With it being late in the afternoon, we stood in the shadow of the mountain. We felt good about making an attempt that night, and scrambled back down to the hut. We made dinner on Alan's campstove of mushroom soup, which wasn't really that good. After preparing our packs for the climb and filling our reservoirs and bottles with water, I went to bed around 7pm. To avoid going outside in the strong and cold katabatic winds, I peed in a bottle whenever I felt the urge. Despite closing my eyes and being exhausted, I hardly slept at all. It was an uncomfortable night, and I waited both with eagerness and dread at having to get up at midnight.
Me during the acclimation hike up Pico de Orizaba.
Alan and I woke up at 12:15am in the darkness. The other two teams were also up, making their preparations for the climb. Neither Alan nor I had slept well. I had a headache, and was concerned about what this meant for my acclimation. It did not subside after eating breakfast and drinking water, but I stopped noticing it with the anticipation of the climb building in my mind. Once I was fully dressed and my pack loaded, Alan and I stepped out the door of the hut at about 1:15am intending to attempt the summit of Pico de Orizaba by the Jamapa Glacier Route.
It was completely still. The powerful winds that had gusted well over 50mph earlier that evening were gone. It was cool, probably about 30 degrees, but it felt warm without the wind. The outline of the mountain and the Jamapa Glacier were faintly lit by the starlight. We began walking up the aqueduct that leads up the mountain several hundred yards, and walked through the memorials to climbers who have died on the mountain. I had taken time earlier in the day to look at them and read the plaques. Now they felt eerie and I hurried through that place, not wanting to look at them.
Alan and I at the Piedra Grande base camp hut on Pico de Orizaba after our acclimation hike.
Ross and Mike left before us, and had left a trail of wands marking the trail that was of great help. They made their wands from bamboo sticks with orange reflective tape attached as flags. We could see their headlights in the distance. The second climbing team left not long after we did and passed us up early on. The first thousand feet of climbing was pretty uneventful scrambling up a rocky slope. We soon encountered snow, and some sections felt steep with huge drop offs to one side. I had to stop once or twice to shed layers, but as we ascended, I had to add layers as it got colder. At this point I was still drinking regularly, and blowing back the water in my reservoir tube to prevent it from freezing. I also made myself stop a few times to nibble on some crackers and an energy bar, and I told Alan I was feeling about 90%. At this point, I felt the summit was achievable.
We came to a point where we could not see the next wand and had to choose whether to go left or right. Footprints led in both directions. By some reasoning, we chose right, and ascended up a steep snowfield. Before long, I could see the Sarcophagus looming overhead. We were climbing right up to it! I remembered from the Summitpost description that you should be alright climbing up through the Labyrinth, as long as you didn't do something stupid like accidently climbing the Sarcophagus. I pointed this out to Alan, and I knew we were going the wrong way. The slope we were standing on consisted of loose gravel frozen in with snow and ice. Alan pointed out that the whole slope was ready to slide. I had a vivid vision of the rock beneath me slipping in a rockfall that would immediately engulf me. We didn't want to stay where we were very long, and we couldn't continue forwards as the Sarcophagus presented steep cliffs. We took a minute to debate our options. This is the point where I think the altitude really began to affect me. I felt that I had expended too much energy in our ascent to where we were, and I did not want to go back down to take the other trail. Instead, I argued that we should traverse, since in doing so we would not lose any altitude and we would eventually find the trail. I took the lead at this point, and turned left to traverse a steep snowfield. The footprints we had been following did the same. I hadn't taken my ice axe out yet, and I felt very vulnerable on the snow slope without it. We reached a ridge crest at which point we took a brief rest, and I retrieved my ice axe from my pack. I went on ahead, scouring the terrain with my headlamp, looking for footprints that would indicate the trail. Finally, I saw it, and I yelled back to Alan. We completed the traverse, and found what was obviously the trail and another of Ross and Mike's wands. We continued to follow the trail, and passed the high camp location. I was pretty cold at this point, and I stopped to put on my snowpants. When I had tried on all my gear ahead of time in Minnesota, I had failed to foresee that I wouldn't be putting all my gear on at once. Rather, clothing is added sequentially in layers as you need them, and my snowpants did not fit over my boots and did not have a side-zipper. This forced me to remove my gaiters, boots, and jacket to get them on, which took a lot of time while perched precariously on a steep snow slope. By this point, I was having serious doubts in my ability to summit due to the fatigue I was feeling.
Alan during our acclimation hike up Pico de Orizaba.
We were nearing the lip of the glacier, and had just one last steep section of the Labyrinth to ascend before reaching it. It was obvious from the steepness and the boot tracks that crampons were required. I had given up on reaching the summit at this point, and I really wanted to turn around as the fatigue was starting to become overwhelming. We were both reluctant to give up, and we retrieved our crampons from our packs and decided to attempt to climb up to the base of the glacier to have a look around. However, I really struggled to get my crampons on. I sat there in the snow, fumbling with the straps, as Alan watched me. Reality finally began to set in. We needed to turn around. I could sense the disappointment in Alan's voice. As for myself, I was also disappointed, but having already given up the summit mentally, I now wanted to get moving and get down. We turned around at ~16,000ft at ~5:30am, and the nighttime darkness was still complete. The view from where we were was stupendous. The lights from Tlachichuca and other neighboring towns were amazing to behold, and the air was crystal clear. I had a sense that we were very high up, and I knew this meant that we had a long ways to go down. And knowing that sunrise wasn't for another hour and a half was depressing as well.
We began downclimbing. Alan led the way, navigating by way of the trail marking wands. My condition deteriorated rapidly. I was now showing all of the classic symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), with headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion, and stumbling. I felt that I just wasn't getting enough air with each breath. I stopped eating and drinking. When I forced myself to take a drink from my reservoir, I found that the tube had frozen solid. I stopped to pull out a water bottle from my pack, and big ice crystals had formed in that as well, but I was able to drink it. It wasn't easily accessible, however, so I probably became dehydrated. I didn't eat at all during the descent. When the sun rose, I hardly took notice. I became focused on the descent, wanting to get down as quickly as possible. I stopped several times and just sat in the snow, exhausted. I had to summon an enormous reserve of willpower to keep moving. I knew I was in danger, and I knew I had to descend fast. Soon, I felt some tightness in my chest, and voiced my concern to Alan. I was worried it might develop into HAPE. I had dexamethasone and Diamox in my pack, but I was worried about taking it because I feared a possible allergic reaction to Diamox or that the side effects would further hinder my descent. In hindsight, my worries were ill-founded, and I should have begun treatment as soon as we turned around if not when I had woke up with a headache.
Me and the Jamapa Glacier and summit of Pico de Orizaba.
With the sun illuminating the mountain, it made it much easier to follow the trail, but it also revealed just how high up we still were. I began to feel uncertain as to whether I would make it down alive, as I had never had AMS before and didn't know exactly what to expect or what I was capable of. As we descended, I began to feel the air get thicker, and some of my symptoms abated, but I was still exhausted, most likely from lack of food and water. I began to feel good about making it down, and Alan went on ahead. He descended quickly, and it turned out he was suffering AMS as well. I saw him walking on the aqueduct back to the hut, and I realized that I missed his company. But I also found myself hoping that he would be fixing mac and cheese for lunch, and I realized that he could watch me through the hut windows. While some of my symptoms had reduced, I now noticed that my vision was deteriorating and I was feeling more exhausted. I began to be concerned again, and forced myself to keep moving. I remember looking at the scene in front of me, a panorama that would look beautiful in a photograph, with the tree-covered peaks jutting through the clouds, and realizing that I didn't care about it at all. I wanted to be out of that place, and safely back down in the hut. I reached the aqueduct, and finally felt that I was going to make it down. I walked through the memorials and began to cry. Alan approached me as I neared the hut and took my backpack and ice axe in a kind gesture. The first words I spoke to him were "This is stupid." At this point I didn't know he had also suffered AMS, so I felt that I had failed him and our expedition, even though AMS is something that was beyond my control without having more time to acclimatize. When we stumbled into the hut, I smelled the mac and cheese and was immediately grateful that Alan had gone ahead to prepare lunch. My appetite had returned, and eating that hot bowl of mac and cheese restored my energy. Ricardo, a local hired by Ross and Mike to watch their gear, made me a cup of hot tea. I felt much better, but was still exhausted, mentally and physically. It was a little after 9am. We had been on the mountain for 8 hours.
I took a short nap, and my energy returned. Mentally, though, my resolve had been completely shaken. I even said that I wanted to quit mountaineering. I openly asked the question of whether this was a sport worth pursuing, with its inherent risks, and Alan and I talked about it quite a bit. I knew that I should wait until I had a clear mind to pass judgement, but Alan stressed that it was important to take note of how we felt in that moment. I had to summon more willpower to make it down the mountain than I've ever expended before. In the following days and weeks, I have further developed my thoughts on the risks involved in mountaineering and its worthwhileness as a sport to pursue, as well as the takeaway lessons from this experience. I will share those in a section at the end of this trip report.
At that time, we did not want to stay and try to climb Pico de Orizaba anymore. We both agreed without any discussion that we would head back down to Tlachichuca that day. When the two other teams returned from their successful summits, we exchanged stories, and packed up our gear. Joaquin picked us up in the jeep, and we piled in with Ross and Mike. Once back at the hostel, we took time to rest and shower and organize our gear, before enjoying a delicious dinner with Mike and Ross. We learned a lot from our conversation with them, and they offered to climb Mt. Shasta in California with us this summer. We went to bed, and the next morning after breakfast we said our goodbyes and hopped on an Autobus Valles back towards Puebla.
Exploring Puebla City - visiting the Cathedral, Amparo Museum, and Centro Historico
The Cathedral in Puebla.
Arriving in Puebla in the early afternoon, we took a taxi to the beautiful Hotel Colonial. It was a rainy day. We visited the colonial era Puebla Cathedral and the Museo Amparo, one of the most important historical museums in Mexico. In the museum, there were many exhibits, and not being able to understand the language made the experience interesting with every exhibit being unexpected. There was one room with ancient artifacts next to another with a film of women shaking their boobs. We had no idea what to expect as we rounded the corner into another gallery. The rooftop of the museum afforded picturesque views of the Centro Historico district, and we counted about 20 churches in the surrounding blocks. We then went to dinner at the El Mural Restaurant, an upscale restaurant where we were served 4 courses - rolls and soup, chips and salsa, an appetizer of quesadillas, and for the main course I had chicken mole poblano and Alan had some type of burger that was then drowned in a brown sauce. We explored the street vendors and shops of the Centro Historico district at night, and I bought a scarf/blouse for my girlfriend. We then went back to the hotel, and went up to the roof to enjoy the beautiful view before heading to bed.
Nevado de Toluca (15,350ft) - climb up a ridge on Pico de Aguila from outside the crater
View of Nevado de Toluca from the road during our taxi trip to the mountain.
Alan and I had talked the previous day about wanting to do some more climbing while we were in Mexico, and we looked into climbing Itza and Nevado de Toluca. We chose Nevado de Toluca, mainly because of logistics. The next morning, we took a cab to CAPU and found a bus that would take us to Toluca via the Mexico City del Norte Terminal. We had a little glitch since we missed the bus, but an hour later we got on another bus. Once in Mexico City, we hopped on a bus to Toluca. We took a cab to the Hotel Colonial Toluca, which was quite empty. We had a very large room overlooking the street, and once we settled in we walked around the downtown district and took in the sights. We went to dinner at La Botticella and had one of the best pizzas we've ever had. They also served bread with flavored butter in the shape of a heart, and we enjoyed a few glasses of Mexican cerveza.
Trail through the woods in snow.
The next day, I woke up and had some GI issues, but it quickly resolved itself. Our cab driver from the previous day, Francisco, came and picked us up a little after 7am. We drove up towards Nevado de Toluca, and took in the beautiful view. The air was clear, and the mountain was covered in fresh snow. We pulled up to the entrance to the park, but we could not drive in. A squad of tactical military police were blocking the road. It was unclear to me exactly what was going on, but what we figured was that they were waiting for their boss to arrive to officially open the park, and we could not pass until we bought a permit for the vehicle. After waiting for over an hour, they finally let us pass. We drove up the mountain but unexpectedly had to park much sooner than we expected. We had hoped to be able to drive up the road all the way into the crater, but it was blocked off. We had pretty much given up on being able to make the summit at this point, having been delayed by the park opening and given where we were starting our trek. It was 10am and we agreed to meet Francisco back at the taxi at 1pm. He was going to stay and wait for us. As we started hiking, I saw a sign for the crater of Nevado de Toluca... 17km away! I was now worried about whether we would actually even make it to the mountain. I took Diamox preventatively, and took my albuterol inhaler before starting our hike.
Alan climbing up the steep snow slope on Pico de Aguila.
After hiking up through the snow in the woods, we came to the treeline and the mountain felt within reach. We could see why the road was closed - it was covered in fresh snow. We reached a snow slope and decided to head towards the summit of Pico de Aguila (15,157ft), the second highest peak of Nevado de Toluca. We intended only to reach the high point of a ridge before the summit, on the outside of the crater. From there, we hoped to be able to see the crater lakes within the volcano. We hiked up through the snow, and soon I had both my trekking pole and ice axe in hand and was kicking steps up the steep snow slope. Little crystals of ice rolled down the wind-scoured crust that had formed on the top layer of snow. It was pure fun. The mountain's beauty was breathtaking to behold. I would never have expected to find a place like this in Mexico. I felt like I was in the Alps. The rock was black, and the mountain was completely covered in snow. It rose far above its surroundings, and the air was so clear you could see perfectly across Mexico City to Popo and Itza in the distance, 75 miles away! The rain and snow from the last two days had blown in from the North, clearing away the smog and pollution that usually plagues Mexico City. The rhythm of the motion of kicking steps and the movement of my trekking pole and ice axe was a wonderful thing. I felt good and full of energy.
Me at the ridge ~14,300ft.
Alan at the ridge of Pico de Aguila on Nevado de Toluca.
Before long, Alan topped out the ridge, and as I neared it I could feel the wind picking up. Once I stood up on top of the ridge, I was blasted by a roaring continuous wind of 40-50mph, and we both quickly took shelter behind a boulder. Fortunately it wasn't very cold, but the wind was crazy. It was noon, our agreed turn-around time, so we knew the summit was out of reach. We took a few pictures and videos, and spent a few minutes enjoying the view and the feeling of the powerful wind. I put on my goggles and facemask, and after a quick bite to eat, we began our descent. The route we had come up was quite steep, and we opted to climb down the slope on the other side of the ridge as it was more gradual. We both tried glissading, but the icy crust burned my bum so I started walking down instead. I was able to stomp through the icy crust with my La Sportiva Nepal boots, but Alan was having a hard time breaking through and kept sliding. He chose to glissade more than me because of this, and ended up tearing his pants. We made it back down to the road in good time, and once again found ourselves running down the trail to the parking lot. There were now hundreds of people here, hiking on the trails, horseback riding, and driving with 4WD jeeps. We met Francisco at the parking lot, and he was excited to see our pictures. We then left back for Toluca around 1:30pm.
Me at the ridge of Pico de Aguila on Nevado de Toluca ~14,300ft.
Cosmovitral Botanical Gardens in Toluca.
Once back in Toluca, we made a quick stop to check out the Cosmovitral Botanical Gardens. They are beautiful indoor gardens, the walls and ceiling being made of stained glass windows. After that, we took a cab to the bus station and took a bus back to Mexico City del Norte Terminal, and arrived after dark. We took a taxi to Mexico City Hostel in the Centro Historico district where we had a 1-bed room reserved. After depositing our gear, we looked for somewhere to eat as we were starving, and I'm ashamed to say that we ate at the Chinese buffet next door to the hostel. We walked around the Zocalo and the Cathedral, and explored some of the streets at night, before going to bed for the night. Exploring Teotihuacan and Mexico City - visiting the Pyramids, Cathedral, National History Museum, and National Palace
The next day, we checked out of the hostel and walked our gear over around the corner to Mundo Joven Hostel Catedral which we thought looked like a more interesting place to stay. It was right behind the Cathedral. We checked in and stored our bags, and then looked around for a market near the Zocalo. Not finding any, we walked to a Metro bus station and took the bus to the Mexico City del Norte Autobus Terminal, where we met Alan's friend Alan Fernando (who I will refer to as Fernando to avoid confusion) and his girlfriend. We got our bus tickets, and I attempted to use an ATM to get some more pesos, but they were all broken. We rode the bus to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, and by the time we got off, Fernando had made friends with some other tourists and someone who knew the history of the Teotihuacan Pyramids very well. We travelled as a large group, but with the guy acting as a tour guide speaking in Spanish, and Fernando having to interpret in English, we moved extremely slowly. We soon left the group behind, and Fernando was an excellent tour guide and had an extensive knowledge of Mexican and Teotihuacan history. We walked through the central plaza and citadel, and climbed a pyramid to view one directly behind it with well-preserved sculptures of the snake god they worshiped. We then walked down the Avenue of the Dead as vendors tried to sell various items.
Alan, me, Fernando, and his girlfriend at Teotihuacan.
We took a few side trips to climb little pyramids or explore the ruins of houses, before climbing up the Pyramid of the Sun. It is quite a massive pyramid, and the view of the valley from the top was beautiful. We then walked further down the Avenue of the Dead and explored the reconstructed Palace of Quetzalpapalotl and the Room of Pillars, before climbing partway up the Pyramid of the Moon (access to the top was not allowed then).
La Gruta, the lively restaurant near the pyramids in a grotto.
We then followed Fernando out a side exit by the Pyramid of the Sun and walked down a road where increasingly large caves and tunnels appeared in the hillsides. Before long, we arrived at La Gruta, the coolest restaurant I have ever been in. It is nestled in a giant grotto, and as I descended into the candlelit and torchlit space, listening to the Mexican music playing as traditionally-garbed dancers performed on stage, it was awesome to take it all in. I had a delicious dinner of tortilla chips and green and red sauce, wild mushroom, cactus and tomato soup, ant eggs on homemade blue corn tortillas, cactus fruit juice, mixiotes made with seasoned mutton, onions, and cactus in red sauce and wrapped in paper and slow-cooked on hot coals, with black beans, Spanish rice, and homemade blue corn tortillas, with sea salt and extremely sour Mexican limes to finish. After this experience, we went back to the entrance to the Pyramids, but they were closed. We had to walk around to the bus station. We took a bus back to the Autobus Terminal, and Fernando and his girlfriend took us on the subway and we said our goodbyes. Once back to the hostel, we checked into our separate rooms, which we had to share with 3 other people, and took a quick shower. We explored for a bit and then enjoyed some cerveza at the hostel's rooftop bar.
Mexico City Cathedral.
I didn't sleep to well that night, as the person in the lower bunk came back around 3am and kept shaking the bunk bed. In the morning, we had breakfast at the hostel before taking the subway to the National Historical Museum located in the Chapultepec Castle. It is a beautiful building at a beautiful location, high on a hill from which you can look over most of Mexico City. By this point, smog had begun filling in the valley, and Popo and Itza were barely visible. We wandered through the museum, the most interesting artifacts being the flag of the Alamo taken after the battle, and some skulls from the giant skull rack of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan (which had 60,000-136,000 skulls from human sacrifice on it). We took the subway back to the Zocalo, and visited the National Palace before taking a taxi to the airport. Our flight wasn't until 8pm, but we were hoping to go standby on an earlier flight. I had a great time in Mexico, but it was time to go home. I felt I had been away from my girlfriend Rachel for too long, and I looked forward to seeing her again. When checking in with Aeromexico, we were told that the earlier flight was full and we couldn't go on standby with the class of ticket we had, so we ended up spending 7 hours at the Mexico City International Airport. I visited every single shop, about 3 times each, looking for a gift for my girlfriend before I finally found something I liked. We ate lunch at Chili's, and grabbed a beer and watched the football game at a cafe. We finally boarded our flight around 7:30pm, and arrived back in Houston 2.5 hours later. We picked up our luggage and made it through customs without hassle, and Alan's mom picked us up and drove us back to his house. I drove back to Austin the next day.
Skulls from the Tzompantli of the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan.
It had been a fun trip, and although we failed our objective of climbing Pico de Orizaba, we learned a lot and had a lot of fun, and achieved the primary objective of making it back home, safe and sound. Mexico was good to me, and I can't wait to go back! I really enjoyed the city of Puebla more than anywhere else we stayed. The drivers there are reasonable, and you don't feel like you are constantly about to be in an accident like in Mexico City. The city is beautiful and fairly clean. I would also like to go back and climb Pico de Orizaba again someday, and visit Nevado de Toluca. I would spend more time in the mountains next time, and less in the city. Reflections on Risk and Lessons Learned
I believe that mountaineering is a worthwhile sport, and can be enjoyed relatively safely. However, the mountains demand the utmost respect, because mistakes can be fatal.
I believe that our decision to attempt to summit Pico de Orizaba at 18,000ft only 14 hours after sleeping at 8,500ft was reckless. We felt pressured into making the decision because of a weather window, but we could have waited it out. Our decision was based on the flawed logic that we were acclimated to 14,000ft after climbing La Malinche, but our quick ascent and descent meant that we only spent less than an hour above 13,000ft, and were not above 10,000ft for more than 5.5hrs. I believe that the headache I had the morning we left Tlachichuca meant that I was barely acclimated to 8,500ft, and once we ascended to the hut at 14,000ft, we should have taken at least one if not several days to acclimate. I have learned to respect the altitude, and I now understand firsthand the effects and rapidity of the onset of AMS. In the future, I think it is of utmost importance to pay careful attention to the signs your body gives you as to whether you are ready to ascend or not. Not sleeping and a headache are sure signs that ascent will have to wait. Hydration and food intake is also important, and having taken Diamox for two days while at Nevado de Toluca, I will not hesitate to use Diamox or dexamethasone if needed. I will also make sure to use my albuterol inhaler to help alleviate asthma and improve my performance. And I believe that further improving my overall fitness will help with endurance.
I think the ability to visit these beautiful and inaccessible places in the mountains through the sport of mountaineering is a worthwhile endeavor, but great care must be taken. Altitude sickness is largely preventable, barring a sudden development of HAPE or HACE, by monitoring your body and being willing to turn around. There are objective dangers such as rock slide, avalanches, and falls, but these can be reduced by using the appropriate gear and skills, and avoiding areas prone to such dangers.
How do you rectify participating in a sport for pleasure that has so much capacity to be fatal? I have struggled with this question for some time. In the end, I don't have a good answer, but I believe it is possible to be safe while climbing in the mountains. Often, I think the risks are misunderstood, and through experience and training, the risks can be reduced to acceptable levels. Of course, each of us decides what our acceptable level of risk is. Risk is a complicated thing - it is composed both of the probability of an event happening, and the severity of its consequences. Most people would call something that has a high-probability of occurring but only a moderate injury resulting as risky, as well as a situation that has low-probability of occurring but whose consequence is fatal. This complicates the dialogue about risk.
As Alan told me, accidents happen. You can do the utmost to be safe, but it is undeniably still a dangerous environment and unforeseen variables can still overcome you. But this is with anything in life. Going forwards, I want to continue to practice mountaineering, but with caution and willingness to learn. It is important to recognize when mistakes are made and to learn from them, so as not to repeat them. It is also important to train and learn the correct skills, so as not to repeat mistakes others have made that may have been fatal. The allure of the mountains is hard to describe, but to me, it is worth some risk.
