|
Research Material:
Guide book: Mexico's Volcanos: A Climbing Guide, 2nd Edition, by R.J. Secor - buy it at:
http://www.amazon.com
Web Reasearch and Trip Reports: http://www.summitpost.org
Weather Watching: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/MXPA1826_f.html
A good overview of Acute Mountain Sickness, and how it happens:
http://www.basecampmd.com/expguide/ams.shtml
Notes or Research Material:
The guide book is clearly your best option for maps and drawings of the area. We were not able to find a
topographical map of this mountain; although it is rumored that there is a store in Boulder that has a copy.
The only thing to keep in mind about the guide book is that the last edition was 1991, and the route has
changed a bit since the glacier has receded. As for online trip reports, make sure you read several
summit reports. It seems that people seem to be somewhat dramatic about the conditions in a select
number of accounts. The difficulty, and the pitch of this route were much less than mentioned. Having
said that, or slope meter did measure 38-45 degrees in a few spots and we did not measure the steepest
section up high. A fall on the Jampa Glacier would be catastrophic if not arrested. A few of the accounts
that we read in preparation for our Orizaba trip made the route sound unclimbable in the time we were
going! You also must keep in mind that both comfort and experience levels vary greatly. In general, web
postings from fellow climbers are the most up to date information that you have to work with. A discussion
of the route, and slope measurements can be found here.
The Plan(our plan):
Day 1: Departure and Approach: Leave Denver on United 997, direct to Mexico City. Departs: 4:30pm
MT, arrives 8:54pm CT. Be at the airport 3 hours prior, according to United.
- Actual: Arrived in Mexico City at 9:00pm CT. We were one fuel bottle short. Important: You can
not fly a fuel bottle in your checked gear if it was ever used. They don't care how clean it is.
- We sat at the airport for like 2.5 hours since we got there so early.
Grab the first bus directly from the airport to Puebla. From there determine when we can get to
Tlachichuca in the morning and find accomodations.
- Actual: We caught a 10:30pm CT bus to Puebla, 4 points station. This is thewrong station if you
intend to go further. You want to go to CAPO. Bus fare was US$15/each and they had a movie on
it. We took a taxi to CAPO(40 pesos) and ended up negotiating a ride from Puebla to Tlachichuca
for 300 pesos/each. We left at 1:30am, and got to Tlachichuca at 3:45am. It was along, scary ride.
Once there, we found a room for 100 pesos/each and crashed to 9:00am or so.
Day 2: Get to Piedra Grande and then High Camp(15,700'): Connect with Sr. Reyes outfit, Servimont, at
around 9:30am, and make arrangements for transport to Piedra Grande. Gear is supposed to be packed
by 11:30 for a noon departure.
- Actual: After leaving our hotel about 9:00 am, we were lead to Sr. Reyes compound by one of the
hotel people. It was only a few blocks. We paid Sr. Reyes for roundtrip transport to Piedra Grande
(600 pesos) and lodging upon our return with 2-meals(500 pesos). Our stuff was loaded, and we
departed around 1:30pm, after breakfast. We bought water in the shop attached to the compound.
Day 3: Acclimatization & Route Recon: Replenish water supplies with ice, or filtered water. Scout to
16,000+ to assess glacier condition, and establish a route to follow through the Labyrinth. Also, spend
time up high to acclimatize to the extent possible.
- Actual: After a tough night, we did two hikes. The first was to 15,705' to melt water. This took a
couple of hours. The second, after some food and water, was to scout the route and acclimatize.
We reached an altitude of 16,235' and familiarized ourselves with the route to the glacier. The snow
was variable, from firm to corn. We spent all afternoon above 16,000', and brought ice down for
more water.
Day 4: Summit Day: The main objective is to reach the summit and return safely to camp. Upon return,
pack up and descend to PG for transport to Tlachichuca.
- Actual: Climbing in moonlight, we reached the summit on variable snow conditions. We did not use
our technical gear, although we carried it to the summit. The glacier went from corn snow to bullet
ice with the iciest portion near the rim. That said, one could have arrested a fall that day with an ice
axe, thus the reason for not roping up. That afternoon we returned to Tlachichuca.
Day 5: Return to Mexico City: Travel by bus to Mexico City and check into hotel.
- Actual: Leaving Tlachichuca at noon, we were in Mexico City by 5:30pm. Other than a mis-spelling
of the reservation name, there were no issues on the return trip. Bus fare was US$15 for Puebla to
Mexico City. The leg from Tlachichuca to Puebla was around US$4(lot's of stops).
Day 6: Fly home: Get to plane, fly home.
- Actual: No issues, landed in Denver just as the snow started.
|
|
|
What we would do differently:
- Fly into Puebla rather than Mexico City. Nothing is gained from the extra bus time, and the airfare is
not much different. Better yet, fly into Veracruz and return for a day at the beach. That said, we
have no idea how tough the travel from Veracruz to Piedra Grande would be.
- Spend one more day on the mountain. It is an awesome mountain, and one more day would have
been fun for attempting a tougher route. Also, going from Denver 5,280' to High Camp at 15,415' in
about 28 hours made for a miserable night of acclimatization. A night a Piedra Grande hut would
have been nice.
- Bring more cord to secure the tent. We did not have quite enough cord to take all the flap out. Tent
stakes were useless in the rock campsite.
- Take a video camera that works up high.
- Remember camera memory stick from home. Fortunately one of us did.
|
|