Pico De Orizaba (18,500 ft in Mexico) info needed

[chugach]

Hey,
corduroycalves, I sent a pm (or at least tried). What are you all looking at doing when your down there-any other peaks? I've only been to 14000 feet on rainier, Tetons etc but am looking at going to Nepal to climb next fall as well as Peru (if anyone wants to join me?) so I need to get up some high peaks to see what up. -in other words, the altitude will be a new thing for me but not the technicality at all. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Kevin

[antivoyage]

Mike,

There are three recent books on the mountain, one of which is my own.

1. Mexico's Mountains by R.J. Secor was last editioned by Mountaineers Books in 2001. The author had an injury in 2007 and I hope he has fully recovered and will re-edition it sometime soon. It is a great resource. You might look for it second hand.

2. Mark Horrell wrote Volcanic Activity which covers much of the same ground as R.J. Secor's book, but in a more personal tone. It is available for a buck here: http://www.markhorrell.com/books/diarie ... volcanoes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3. I took the summer out to write Climbing Citlaltépetl . I won't shill it, but I'll leave a link: http://amzn.to/1hMd48T" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . I also recently posted a trip report on this site that is a kind of mash up of several trips to the peak with a focus on getting from the Mexico City airport, which is generally the cheapest to fly into, to Tlachichuca: http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=16648" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .

As other posters have said, you don't need a book to climb this or any other mountain, really. Others may disagree, but I believe they can help and I hope that climber's beta and books can coexist peaceably.

If you have any questions or want to shoot me a PM or reach out on twitter (@antivoyage), I'll do the best I can to help out with any questions you may have on travel in Mexico, preparations or details about the climb.

Apparently December is the ideal month to climb pico de orizaba. However, I'm having a hard time finding any detailed info about the climb.

If you or anyone you know has climbed it, please let me know.

[CorduroyCalves]

Hey,
corduroycalves, I sent a pm (or at least tried). What are you all looking at doing when your down there-any other peaks? I've only been to 14000 feet on rainier, Tetons etc but am looking at going to Nepal to climb next fall as well as Peru (if anyone wants to join me?) so I need to get up some high peaks to see what up. -in other words, the altitude will be a new thing for me but not the technicality at all. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Kevin

Kevin, just sent you a PM with some more detail.

[Shooter]

I'd love to do this trip but I don't think I could pull it off in January because of work deadlines.

Is there a group going in December?

[dr_j]

So I have no on-snow experience (crampons, etc.), and very limited Class 3 experience. Looks like this is out of my league? I guess Izta or Toluca is more suitable?

Here's another question, I won't be at 14K for a while, what the best way to keep up that acclimation?

[antivoyage]

The consensus on this mountain is that it is steep, but non-technical. That said, I think it would be a little irresponsible to have this mountain be your first experience on crampons.

Cramponing technique is very easy to pick up. A phenomenal resource would be something like Glenmore Lodge's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/glenmorelodge (search for winter skills)

This is a non-exhaustive list of suggested experience I published in my guidebook:

[*]Hiking any time of year that involved travel on snow or ice.
[*]Route finding in rocky mountainous terrain.
[*]Experience with camping and hiking in weather a little south of freezing.
[*]Basic experience with walking and climbing in crampons.
[*]Ice axe self-arrest

If you're located in Colorado, this is something you conceivably train for over the winter and try to find a group of friends or partner who could complement your skill set.

I bolded the last item because roping up is one of the big questions facing climbers. Most do not, but if you're climbing unroped and take a tumble, the ice axe is your only protection. Be sure to learn how to use it, rope or no.

Izta is also glaciated so you'd want to train the same for it. the Nevado de Toluca is a rock scramble.

If you have the inkling to do some climbing in Mexico, I highly recommend it. Travel in the country is a blast and the scenery from the isolated volcanoes afford wide views over the entire country. Some say you can see the Pacific from Orizaba. I've always had cloud cover, but the Gulf of Mexico is clearly visible... It's like looking down a map and a pretty unique experience.

So I have no on-snow experience (crampons, etc.), and very limited Class 3 experience. Looks like this is out of my league? I guess Izta or Toluca is more suitable?

Here's another question, I won't be at 14K for a while, what the best way to keep up that acclimation?

[antivoyage]

Quick answer: a hypobaric chamber or you can ease your way up the mountain / pop pills and acclimatize like everybody else.

Acclimatization is an intricate series of changes your body makes over time: increased breathing, change in blood chemistry and certain kinds of vaso constriction/dialation that are not yet perfectly understood by the medical community.

Once you acclimatize to a particular altitude ~80% that adaptation has been shown to stick with test subjects for about a week. Save for training at altitude or living / sleeping in a low-oxygen environment such as hypobaric chamber (there are bed tents available) you'll have to tough it out.

Here's another question, I won't be at 14K for a while, what the best way to keep up that acclimation?

[susanjoypaul]

Here's another question, I won't be at 14K for a while, what the best way to keep up that acclimation?

I sincerely suspect that one's ability to acclimatize at elevation has a lot more to do with genetics than with training.

I spent over an hour above 18K' on Orizaba, and a long time over 17K' on Izta, and hours above 20K' on Chimborazo, and never suffered the symptoms of altitude sickness at all. Even after not climbing to altitude for about a year, I ventured above 13K a couple of years ago and still - no altitude sickness. I'm not going to say that training won't help, but I do believe that some people just naturally acclimatize more easily than others, regardless of their training or fitness.

On the other hand, I'm slow, because I was born with an inordinate percentage of slow-twitch muscles (and was royally gypped in the fast-twitch department) so all the training in the world is not going to make me particularly fast at high elevations (or anywhere else, for that matter) - but I can stay up there a very long time!

Susan

[CorduroyCalves]

I sincerely suspect that one's ability to acclimatize at elevation has a lot more to do with genetics than with training.

This is what worries me the most about our trip. I've spent a lot of time getting in shape and I'd hate to get up there and have issues with the elevation. Life at 14K is fine and don't have any issues; I'll just try to stay hydrated and hope for the best.

[LoveThisSite]

FWIW, diamox is an option to consider. I took it for a few days before my actual climb and had absolutely no issues at all... I stopped taking it once i summited Izta, and had no issues with altitude for the rest of my climbs, including Orizaba.

[USAKeller]

This is what worries me the most about our trip. I've spent a lot of time getting in shape and I'd hate to get up there and have issues with the elevation. Life at 14K is fine and don't have any issues; I'll just try to stay hydrated and hope for the best.

FWIW, diamox is an option to consider. I took it for a few days before my actual climb and had absolutely no issues at all... I stopped taking it once i summited Izta, and had no issues with altitude for the rest of my climbs, including Orizaba.

I agree with the Diamox suggestion to consider. I didn't take it for Orizaba - and had zero altitude issues there - but we did as a team for Denali and the only [mild] side effect that I experienced was the diuretic aspect for a few days. It seemed to regulate by the time we got on the mountain.

[moon stalker]

If you plan to take diamox try it before your trip. Some people are allergic. I have not taken it on any of my high altitude trips. I found out the hard way while training for Denali that I'm allergic to it. You do NOT want to find that out while on a mountain.