Iztaccihuatl or Orizaba?

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Squirrellysquirrel
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Re: Iztaccihuatl or Orizaba?

Post by Squirrellysquirrel »

If you aren’t acclimated, I’d say eat the tickets. I saw too many attempt the peak and bonk too early to experience any satisfaction with the climb.

For others with acclimatization: If training in Colorado, which I do within the San Juans++, I was able to do La Malincha in half a day with early start (altitude training if such is necessary, I simply wanted to goat the top); a day in between, Iztaccíhuatl with a midnight start (loved the diversity of the terrain: be prepared for Class 3 scrambling, glacier/crampons, and majestic views); and then, with a day in between, the following day did Pico De Orizaba with another midnight start with similar terrain to Itza. I had a guide service, would recommend, to save time and to effectively and efficiently move through the city and into mountain towns with accommodations and basic foodstuff... great and enthusiastic staff. I share this because such climbs can be completed within a small window if that’s what’s available to you. Climbed peaks in 2018, glaciers are melting and a place to surely visit. :0)

Of the two, if you haven’t climbed a high volcano yet, go for Orizaba! It’s an incredible feeling being so high atop a mountain with so little around (the sunrise is pyramidal) and the apex is humbling because you look into the bowels of the earth at the same time. I’m a volcano nut now and seek out such as often as possible. Beats sitting atop at mountain (albeit beautiful) because of the interesting juxtaposition of planetary positioning. ;0)
"The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus." ~ Bruce Lee
curt86iroc
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Re: Iztaccihuatl or Orizaba?

Post by curt86iroc »

jbealer wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 1:42 pm
curt86iroc wrote: Tue Dec 31, 2019 10:50 am day 1: fly to mexico city, rent car and drive to la joya
day 2: summit izta, drive down and relax
day 3: drive to piedre grande hut
day 4: summit orizaba, drive back to mexico city
day 5: drive to airport and fly home

compressed, yes....possible...yup! we fully plan to abandon izta if the orizaba weather window looks small or if time becomes a factor.
5 days yes, you said 3. we were gonna try and fit it in but summit day was to long.
ended up skipping Izta due to popo's activity and some "logisitcal" issues. orizaba is an easy peak to bag in a long weekend. coming from denver, we had 0 issues with altitude.
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jbealer
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Re: Iztaccihuatl or Orizaba?

Post by jbealer »

curt86iroc wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:29 am ended up skipping Izta due to popo's activity and some "logisitcal" issues. orizaba is an easy peak to bag in a long weekend. coming from denver, we had 0 issues with altitude.
Glad to hear you had a good summit! we are gonna go back this Dec i think for Izta and then some beach time!
No Mountain too steep, No trail too long....
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TaylorHolt
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Re: Iztaccihuatl or Orizaba?

Post by TaylorHolt »

One thing I did to help acclimatize prior to my Orizaba trip was sleeping in my car a few nights on Loveland pass the week before my trip. Not sure how much it helped, but it certainly didn't hurt. My summit day was two days after arriving in Mexico, and I didn't have any issues at 18,491.

As for Izta vs Orizaba, I loved both, but I'd have to say Izta was my favorite. I liked the climbing more on Izta, and the lights of Puebla on one side, Mexico City on the other, and the glow from the Popo's caldera at 3am were pretty spectacular.
“If you're bumming out, you're not gonna get to the top, so as long as we're up here we might as well make a point of grooving." -Scott Fischer
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