Orizaba December '16

[Col_Forbin]

Anyone thinking about making the trip to Mexico next December? Really excited about setting this goal, and I am potentially looking for partners.

I would also love any tips, but I know there is a plethora of threads I can scroll through.

[CorduroyCalves]

I'm interested in going back. Message me offline and I'll tell you anything about my January trip you'd like to know.

[ulvetano]

My plans for an April trip have fallen thru, so yes, I'd love to try to join next Dec.

[CorduroyCalves]

Been checking flights and Southwest has 'em in December for ~$300. I know the lay of the land from the last trip and I'd love to go back but would rather not go alone.

[mtn_nut]

I went last year and had a successful climb around the end of January. Let me know if you want any suggestions.

Highlights
- the lonely planet guidebook was very useful. Get one. It looks like they are releasing an updated version later this year. You really don't need anything else for guidebooks. I have a GPS track of my route from around 15k feet to the summit if you want it.
- the Cancholas are awesome. We showed up without a reservation, they asked for $100 USD for stove gas, two breakfasts and a dinner, one nights stay in the hotel, and shuttle service both ways to Piedra Grande. Maribel took dollars and pesos and speaks english well. Joaquin Sr. drove us, and while his english isn't very good, he was very entertaining. They took us up the same afternoon we got there.
- After the climb, we saw both Cantona and Teotihuacan. Both we pretty cool, but Cantona was a better experience. Its a beautiful place, where Teotihuacan is very touristy. I would go back to see Cantona again, but i think seeing Teotihuacan once was enough.
- We also drove down to Cuetzalan after Cantona. I wish i would have had better weather because the little bits we could see though the clouds and mists looked amazing. Also all of the roads in Cuetzalan (other than the highway) are made out of stone, and are very slick when wet. There were a lot of stuck cars when it rained in the morning since the roads are also very steep.
- You can stay for free at the climbers hut at Refugio de Altzomoni, the large government building near la joya, the trailhead for iztaccihuatl. The sunrise from there is one of the best I've ever seen.
- The only bad food we had was the free breakfasts at the hotel in mexico city. Otherwise all of the food was delicious.
- Malinche is a pretty climb, but very popular on the weekend. We were able to park for free just uphill of the restaurant near the gate. We encountered an armed ranger/police a few times, lastly at nearly 14000', and they almost didn't let us summit because it was too late in the day, as we didn't start till just after lunch. It took some broken spanish/spanglish/english to convince him we were safe and had enough warm clothes. We also camped for free along the road that goes around the mountain towards San Isidro Buensuceso, which had great views, as we saw areas that looked like they had been camped in just off the road before (fire pits, etc), but we were woken up in the middle of the night by police, who said something in spanish, decided we weren't doing anything illegal i guess, and then left.
-driving around wasn't much of a problem. We got a rental car, and outside of mexico city, the driving was pretty descent. The 2wd jeep patiot had enough clearance that we didn't scrape much on the giant speed bumps. the closer to mexico city, the worse the drivers were.
-Pre-loaded google maps and a Garmin Nuvi in conjunction with each other worked out great, although the nuvi was wrong sometimes, where google maps was always right.
- We attempted to drive up Perote, but the cobbles on the road were so bad i thought the car would get damaged since the tires didn't really look that great on our rental, so we turned around. If the tires had looked better or i was more patient driving slowly, i'm sure it would have been pretty.

[antivoyage]

Hey Col!

It's a fantastic trip and great way to test yourself in higher altitude conditions.

Straight off the bat, December is holiday season in Mexico which could be a blessing or a curse depending on how you play it. Transportation and hotels can get booked up making off-the-cuff travel planning more challenging, but the celebrations are amazing to participate in. With six months to go, why not try a little social engineering and see if you can make some contacts in Mexico City or Puebla? Many of the Mexican climbing organizations maintain active Facebook groups and if approached delicately with an eye toward interchange between clubs, I imagine they'd bend over backwards welcome climbers from the North.

Things kick off between December 9-12 with the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a cultural symbol that spans Mexico's Catholic past with revolutionary politics. Parishioners from around the Pico de Orizaba climb to the summit with torches lit in town chapels between those dates. Shortly after, the nine days leading up till Christmas, known as the 'novena' are an occasion for house and parish parties with ponche, piñatas and fireworks. I spent one Christmas acclimatizing in the hut (which attracts locals like lightning rod over their winter break), but if you find yourself in lower parts 'romeritos' is a traditional Christmas dish using an ancient herb that grows alongside the canals of Xochimlco.

There are the two dueling climber's hostals Concholas vs. Reyes as well as the also-ran Hotel Gerar in Tlachichuca. If you plan for a light and fast ascent, there's no reason you can't walk, perhaps availing yourself of guide Roberto el Oso Flores' Orizaba Mountain Guides Hostel in Zoapan at ~3,000 m to break up the walk / ascent. Freeing yourself from the 4x4 means you can go on your own schedule and descend into a lush rainforest on the Veracruz side with thermal baths and a wholesale change of scenery.

Coscomatepec, Veracruz is a much more scenic crashpad for a night upon your descent and nearby towns of Cordoba and Orizaba are hubs for Mexico's fancy bus lines that could shoot you to Veracruz in a couple of hours, or if you're feeling adventurous you could jump down to Oaxaca's Pacific Coast. The 30º C / 85º F white sand beaches feel like cheating after the cold and rigor of the climb. Start your search around Puerto Escondido (a surf town, wonderful in it's own right), but the small beaches to the south play host to some pretty fantastic New Years Eve parties that could have you dancing on the beach till dawn to acts and with crowds drawn from DF looking for a winter respite before their vacations close out on Ephiphany or 'Dia de los Reyes', complete with King Cakes and... more house parties on January 6th.

If you can't tell, I'm a fan of Mexico and of this climb. I've been tweeting periodically about this climb with a mix of travel and climbing info @antivoyage if you want to stay in touch. Safe travels!

[Trotter]

I'd be interested.