Mummified Bodies found on Orizaba.

[susanjoypaul]

When I did it in 2008, I fully expected more snow, crevasses, and avalanche danger, from what I had read about the peak at that time. I spent weeks practicing crevasse rescue, and even hired a guide and roped up. Yes, I felt pretty silly once I got up there and the one "crevasse" we crossed wasn't even wide enough to stuff a toe into! I'm sure the conditions have deteriorated even more since then.

[MountainHiker]

When I climbed Orizaba in 1993 the route was to the left of where it was when I did it in 2006. The 1993 route aimed for the low point of the crater rim in between two prominent rocks. I crossed a bergschrund a few hundred feet below the crater. It was a wide step to get across, and I poked the edges to be sure it wasn't under-cutting.

In 2006 the route was to the right of the 1993 route and gained the crater rim closer to the summit. Senor Reyes explained the glacier not only receded, but lost a lot of volume higher up. This resulted in the approach to the crater becoming steeper as the glacier became more concave shaped.

Another property of the old route is the fall line drops to the left (east) which is away from where the labyrinth is above the aqua-duct route. So a fall will deposit someone farther from the present route than the old route was.

So in addition to the melting of the glacier exposing him to be found now, he could have been just far enough off the current route to avoid immediate detection.

[esagas]

I've been reading about the discovery in the Mexican press and it looks like the mummified bodies (two of them, so far) are those of a group killed in an avalanche in November, 1959. A party of seven climbers were trapped by the avalanche; three survived and four were killed. One body was recovered back then, and it was presumed that the other three (who were roped together) went into a two-meter wide crevasse that they had just crossed. From what I read, back then the glacier was huge (by today's standards). There was no Labyrinth and there were a couple of crevasses that had to be crossed on the way to the summit. This is still a developing story, and the info regarding their identities is based on the mummified state of the bodies and the clothes that they were wearing. A couple of Mexican families have claimed that they could be their long-lost relatives and DNA testing will be conducted once the bodies are brought down from the mountain.

[Scott P]

Here is one updated story (in English):

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mummified-moun ... rs-1490838" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm surprised that they showed close up pictures.

[MountainHiker]

Here is one updated story (in English):

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mummified-moun ... rs-1490838" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm surprised that they showed close up pictures.

This story repeats the less believable elevation of 4300 m. 4300m is around 14100'

This version of the story has the more plausible 5300 m.
http://www.milenio.com/estados/alpinist ... 52491.html

[Scott P]

Yes, 4300 would be too low. It appears that many updated stories are coming out now and put the elevation of the bodies at 5270 or 5300 meters.

If anyone is interested, here's a 1994 map that shows where the glacier was in various years:

orizaba.JPG (127.59 KiB) Viewed 2293 times

I assume that it is much smaller now than in 1994.

It's not surprising that the glacier will cough up more artifacts as the ice melts.

Here are some pretty neat 1942 aeriel photos of Izta and Orizaba:

Izta.JPG (56.01 KiB) Viewed 2281 times

Orizaba 1.JPG (35.26 KiB) Viewed 2281 times

[esagas]

Thanks for the map and the pics, Scott. They're a sobering reminder of how much the ice has retreated on the Mexican volcanoes. When I visited Mexico in 2012, I met these brothers that used to climb the volcanoes back in the 1970s, when they were just teenagers. They climbed routes like the south face of Pico de Orizaba and the "head" of Iztaccihuatl. Nowadays, these routes are dangerous talus slopes, totally devoid of permanent snow, and are rarely climbed because of rockfall.

[kaiman]

Wow what an incredible story thanks for sharing Furthermore. Also I really like those pics Scott, your first one of Popo from 1992 was pretty interesting too.

@ SteveClimber - I climbed Orizaba in November 2014 with esagas and we stayed with the Concholas as well. I actually took pics of the posters I think you mean and the copyright is actually 1976 not 2006. Regardless it was definitely a different glacier back then.

[Nelson]

Here is one updated story (in English):

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mummified-moun ... rs-1490838" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm surprised that they showed close up pictures.

This story repeats the less believable elevation of 4300 m. 4300m is around 14100'

This version of the story has the more plausible 5300 m.
http://www.milenio.com/estados/alpinist ... 52491.html

For what it is worth, the interview of the spanish officials responsible for the recovery says the remains are at 5,270 meters (17,286 feet).