Three Volcanoes

I've gone up three volcanoes in the last month or so. First Ajusco with my wife Pily. It's a pretty easy run up from the parking area, though there wasn't exactly a trail the way we went. It's technically in the DF (Distrito Federal), but remote and nearly 13,000 feet.

Pily on the slopes of Ajusco.

Two weeks ago we drove off to Tlaxcala to climb La Malinche, the fifth highest peak in Mexico. Summiting took about four hours and coming down another two. My fellow ASF teacher Aaron Mines was the trip planner. All was great but the traffic coming back to the city was incredibly horrible. Close to two hours to get home once we were in the city.

Aaron on La Malinche.

At the top of La Malinche.

On April 2 we drove through Amecameca to the base of Ixtaccihuatl, the third highest peak in Mexico. We camped at just under 13,000 feet and it was about 25 degrees F when we woke up at 2:30 am.

We were on the trail by 3 am. This is necessary this time of year since there are frequent afternoon storms. The day before there had been a nice one, and going very far up would have been impossible. By six we were in the metal albergue, and decided to snooze a bit and wait for daylight. A good idea, since after that we needed crampons, and the trail is very steep.

It was my first time using crampons, and the experience was scary. I'm sure it would have been scarier without them, though.

Ixta is a woman lying on her side. The peak is her breast at just over 17,000 ft. I made it to the knees, by far the highest I have ever been on land. The altitude felt great, but I think living in Mexico City has made it easy. Every day I trek up hundreds of stairs on my daily commute. That helps me to be in great shape, but the pollution does its best to keep me down...

The view from the Knees. You can see La Malinche and Orizaba as well as slash and burn agriculture.

Dos alpinistas. Popocatépetl is in the background, and has been smoking a lot. Before dawn you can see the red in the smoke.