FELIZ NUEVO AÑO from El Pico de Orizaba, the tallest peak in Mexico and the third tallest peak in North America at 18,491 ft (5,636 m). What a way to start out the New Year!
DAY 5 – Summit Day
Our summit start began much earlier than necessary. Our guide insisted we start at 1 a.m. along with everyone else who was there to summit that day. Why? …more on that later.
There really wasn’t a lot of picture taking beyond the string of lights below us and another one above.
Today was much less windy than the day before but still bitter cold and almost miserable. Our guide instructed us to walk Pole Pole style (pronounced “po-lay, po-lay”, meaning “slowly, slowly’ in Swahili). This pace took us an hour longer to reach the top of the Labrinth, the half-way point at 16,100′, where we had hiked yesterday to acclimate. It was frustrating, but Eric and I were glad we’d gone off on our own the day before to see this maze of rocks in the warmth of the sun.
Jamapa Glacier
By 4:40 a.m., we reached Advanced Camp at the foot of the Jamapa Glacier. We had climbed 2,607 feet in 1.7 miles after 3.5 hours of Pole Pole. It was still dark but could see no one camping here. We quickly put on crampons, thicker gloves and another layer before continuing on with lots of lamps ahead!
Pictures don’t do it justice, but the sunrise was beautiful as it slowly lit up the horizon.
These views are probably the only good reason to start this climb that early.
The steepness of the Jamapa Glacier is captured in this shot. I tried to make sure the camera was perfectly even with the horizon. That’s about 30 degrees.
The pyramid shadow of this volcano reminded me of seeing that for the first time on Mount Hood.
Final Push
The final push was less than a mile but also another 1,800′ of elevation in that short distance.
We were roped up but really didn’t need to be. The snow was hard-packed and icy in places, but minimal crevasse danger to worry about. The only risk appeared to be slipping on a surface and slope angle that would have been difficult to self-arrest. Being tied together in conditions like that actually makes me more nervous! I also don’t remember seeing anyone else tethered together either.
We finally reached the summit a few minutes after 8 a.m., seven hours from when we started.
It was cold and windy at the top. We barely took the time to snap a few pictures. I wished we had started later to have spent more time in the light of day and warmth of the sun. That would have been much more enjoyable. It’s not like we had to get up there while the surface was still frozen to avoid eminent danger. I bet it would have been safer to climb that slope after the surface had softened a bit.
I didn’t even notice if you could walk around the rim to get a better view into the crater.
The Descent
Going down was a breeze. Gravity did all the work! We also didn’t get roped up for the descent.
We were off the glacier in no time and almost to the top of the Labrinth when we looked back at what we had just accomplished. We were so stoked!
Back into the Labyrinth, we descend through this maze once again.
We noticed a few other camps as we made our way back down to Piedra Grande: Camp1 on a flat spot at 15,000′, another at 15,600′ near the start of the Labyrinth, and Advanced Camp at 16,700′ next to the toe of the glacier. Even though it was dark when we saw it earlier, Advanced Camp was the largest.
Final stats: 4,460 feet of elevation in 5 miles. Ten and a half hours from when we started put us in basecamp at 11:37a. That gave us plenty of time to eat lunch, pack up and drive down to Tlachichuca.
DAY 6 – Rest and Relaxation at Servimont
It was January 1st and we were happy to be back at Servimont. We got to sleep in, savor another delicious breakfast and enjoy a day of rest and relaxation. I logged in to work for a few hours from my laptop and then wandered around town. We replenished our bottled water supply from the same convenience store, tried more street food and made calls home to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
Next up: Izta!
