Hand painted signs on a vet shop in Tlachichuca. |
Orizaba dominating the sky over Tlachichuca. |
We stumbled upon some sort of women's rodeo practice (maybe?). |
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Grazing sheep and their herder, Orizaba looms above. |
Dust devils over Tlachichuca as Orizaba and Sierra Negra are in the clouds. |
The Piedra Grande hut, ~14000ft. |
Inside the Piedra Grande hut. |
The hut in heavy cloud cover. |
Finally the crater rim is visible! |
Clouds rolling in from the east. |
Steven doing his Aguirre impression in front of the latrine... |
Dinner time! |
Beautiful morning light. |
The road ahead in the morning. |
We set out for our acclimatization hike! |
First rest, the hut below. |
Steven and Javier taking in the surroundings. |
Steep slippery area on the way up. |
Final rest for the day, ~16000 ft. |
The beginning of the Labyrinth, it looked daunting. |
Clouds at sunset. |
New arrivals headed up to the hut. |
Summit day, 2am start! |
First break, relaxing in the moonlight. |
The moon lighting up the sky. It was so bright it obscured most of the stars. |
Another short break on the way up. |
The Labyrinth lit by the moon. |
Crampons on, ice axes out, the hike up the Labyrinth commences. |
The Jamapa Glacier. |
Sunrise beginning as we start out on the glacier. |
Hiking up the glacier near sunrise. |
The mountain shadow is forming, here it is above the horizon still. |
The mountain's shadow looms above the other volcanoes. |
Sunrise light hits us! |
The mountain's shadow creeping across the valley floor. |
Getting steep! |
Long shadows on the glacier. |
Starting to get rough now... |
We're roped in now, given the steep angle of ascent. |
The valley below. |
Our water was starting to freeze! |
We HAVE to be almost there, right?? |
YES! The crater rim. |
However, we still needed to climb up that and beyond to the summit. |
Intense sunlight at 18000+ ft. |
The crater was spectacular. |
Ice formations on the west face. |
Steven's Garmin watch tells us the elevation is 18520! |
Our guides, Javier Leyva (left) and Roberto "Oso" Flores (right). |
Steven and me on the summit. |
Posing with my ice axe and my iris (the company I work for) branded Nalgene bottle. |
My Nalgene froze! |
Victory. |
Crater rim and the mountains below. |
The Large Millimeter Telescope on top of Sierra Negra, ~15000ft. |
The Volcanoes of Mexico. From left to right: Popocatepetl (actively erupting), Iztaccihuatl, and Malinche. |
Our climbing buddy Chris chilling at the summit. |
Steven relaxing at the summit. |
Clouds below. |
Beginning the descent. |
One final shot of the crater from the summit. |
Descending the crater rim. |
Final shot of the crater. |
Descending the glacier. |
Awesome high altitude clouds above. |
Taking a short break. |
Javier looking tough. |
Steven descending the glacier above, he was... delayed. |
Oso descending off to the edge. |
Steven descending. |
The Jamapa glacier during the day. |
Anvil clouds forming in the distance, toward Veracruz. |
The trusty crampons and ice axe that got me to the summit! |
Javier looking badass while taking a break on the descent. |
Almost there! |
Success!! L->R: Chris, Oso, Javier, Me, Steven. |
What a mountain! |
Orizaba on the drive home. |
A crater lake the next day. |
Orizaba looms. |
A rattlesnake eating a lizard, what a thing to see! |
Cantona ruins. |
A ball court in Cantona. |
The plains of Cantona. Pizarro peak on the left. |