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| Iztaccihuatl Volcano Mexico, MX | |
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| | Iztaccihuatl Volcano Mexico, MX | | | |
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Iztaccihuatl Volcano Mexico, MX
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| Hike & Climb | 6.00 Miles |
3,742 AEG |
| | Hike & Climb | 6.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 3,742 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | Iztaccihuatl Volcano (17,160ft) was to be the first real test of this climbing trip. On the morning of December 28 my two new Czech friends and I headed out to Paso de Cortes from Cholula, Puebla and start what we had planned to be an easy two night climb up this beautiful mountain. We quickly realized we would have to trim down the climb to a one night stay at the Grupo de los Cien hut due to all of us carrying all of our unneeded gear for this climb. We were fortunate enough to have met Don Carlos, a taxi driver and mountain climber at the trailhead's parking lot who kindly let us use his Nissan's trunk to store our belongings.
By the time I got my backpack mountain ready it was already 2PM and we quickly had to get going climbing up to the hut located about three miles away but at 15,780 feet of elevation. The previous day's rain at La Malinche had also dropped plenty of snow at Iztaccihuatl and after about an hour into the climb we had to continue with our crampons on due to the large amount of people walking on the trail and turning the snow into ice. The trail up to the refuge was divided into three stages, after passing the second stage and putting our crampons on our boots nasty weather conditions (thick clouds and strong winds) started moving in making the climb all but the more interesting!! One would think, three miles walk would be an easy task but with the altitude and strong winds our job became much harder and with each passing step the amount of snow increased. Finally after a 4 hour walk I caught my first glimpse of the refuge just as darkness was setting in.....what a relief.....IT WAS BEYOND COLD!! We arrive at this tiny hut designed to hold about 15 climbers at a time and come to a place filled with 35+ people and all the good spots already taken but luckily Don Carlos and I were able to grab the last two spots on the top shelf just below the roof. This hut was filthy, with mud all over the floor from all the melted snow, there was garbage from people's food items everywhere and believe it or not plenty of mice waiting in there for their turn to feast on people's food. Needless to say I was pretty tired, set up my Thermarest and 0 degree bag and after eating dinner I went to lay down and hope to sleep for our 4AM summit alpine start. 4AM came around and i could still hear the strong winds hitting the refuge's sheet metal walls, even with this we decided to have some breakfast and start getting ready......We then started our climb under very dire conditions, slowly Don Carlos and I climbed for over 45 minutes and the strong winds seemed to be getting stronger the higher up the mountain we were and we were reaching the steepest part. That is when after a one or two minute break and some talking we decided to pull back and head back down to safety. Don Carlos knew that once we reached one of the summits and became completely exposed to the elements we could be in potential trouble. Reluctantly we started our descent with me following his lead.....afterall he had known this mountain for over 30 years. Once back at the hut we waited for some signs of weather improvement but when it came it was too little too late. At about 9AM we grabbed our packs and started to make our descent and about 3 hours later we made it back to La Joya, the trailhead. At the point where we decided to turn back around my GPS read an altitude of 16,622ft just a few hundred feet shy of the summit but over a mile and half away from it. |
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