Pico de Orizaba Details

January 3, 2003. Scotty and I hiked La Malinche the night before, leaving about a half hour before dark and summiting just 3 hours later. We descended in just less than 2 hours, and got some sleep. In the morning, we began the drive to Tlachichuca, and from there to Villa Hidalgo. We found Tlachichuca easily enough, but we had some trouble finding Hidalgo. Many of the natives of the area do not speak Spanish, but rather some native Indian language, and communication was a problem. Eventually we arrived in Hidalgo via trial and error on numerous dirt roads, and continued past for a few miles until the rental car started bottoming on the water bars. We found a parking place, and began the hike in, opting not to hire one of the outfitters out of Tlachichuca, partly in the name of economy, partly for acclimation.

We started hiking at about 11,000', and a little over 2 1/2 hours later we arrived at Piedra Grande at just under 14,000'. We were amazed to see a VW bug parked outside the hut, and learned that the road from the southeast is much better than the road from Tlachichuca. In fact, shortly after our arrival at Piedra Grande, a Geo Metro with 13 inch wheels and a 3 cylinder engine pulled up to the hut and disgorged some native climbers and their gear, so the road must really be good that way. I wish we had known beforehand.

We decided to sleep in the tent rather than the hut to be sure we were able to rest undisturbed. As soon as the sun went down, it became miserably cold, and the wind picked up, making it worse. We bundled into the tent, set the alarm, and drifted off. The alarm rudely woke us as scheduled, and we geared up and headed out. The first part of the trail is a concrete path on the top of an aqueduct that used to milk the Jamapa Glacier for meltwater. The path then zig-zagged up a narrow, rocky chute which opened up into the area known as High Camp. There were a few tents at High Camp, but no activity as we went by, because the occupants had left before we arrived. The altitude was not much of an issue, not nearly the issue I had expected it to be, never having climbed above 14,600'. 15,000' passed uneventfully, as did 16,000', and 17,000' was just a white spot on the Jamapa Glacier. I still was not overtly suffering from AMS, I had no headache or any other symptoms, just a bit of sluggishness. From the toe of the glacier, we could see the summit, and it did not look to be that far, but it took forever to finally arrive there. The higher we went, the slower we went. I had brought a hydration pack to drink from, but the supply line froze, even though it was inside my jacket. Need to get one of those insulating sleeves if I am going to continue an alpine career.

Even at the summit I still felt no ill affects, just lethargy, and we shot some photos and headed down. Going down was better, but the first 1000-1500 feet were a little slow. After that, it was a cruise and we made decent time. On our descent, just below the glacier, we passed a group of 5 or 6 Mexicans heading up, and they had one pair of crampons and one ice axe between them. I don't know if they made it or not, seems unlikely. On our arrival to Piedra Grande, we learned that the arrival of a 4WD was imminent, and we paid $20 US to get a ride down to the car. In respect to the summit, 18,000+ feet was quite anti-climatic. For some reason, I expected an epiphany that would clarify my desire to attain summits, but in reality, it was just a steep, hard-won walk. For Scotty's perspective on this peak, check out his trip report.