March 8th Mountain Trip Pico De Orizaba Expedition
The Star Mountain, a snow caped 18,000 foot volcano. Pico De Orizaba is a great mountain and a perfect preparatory objective for the seven summits. With a summit push that reminds me of Pig Hill on Denali, our team dug deep and reached the summit of North America’s third highest mountain. The best part of an expedition is the journey you take along the way, and on this trip each day was a new adventure.
Day 1:
After half a day of travelling the whole crew was now in Mexico City. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico Zocalo. A beautiful hotel in the historic center of the city. After checking out the festivities for International Women’s Day, we grabbed some local food and went to bed. 
Day 2:
It’s awesome doing trips in the same time zone, as jet lag can make expeditions hard. We woke up feeling recharged, went to breakfast in the hotel and prepared for our day. Today’s objective was to climb Cerro San Miguel, a hike located just outside the city in a forest park. We hiked through dense pine forests on a good trail all the way to the 13,000ft summit. This was our first acclimatization hike, and a good shake out from travel. At the summit we saw the volcanoes closest to the city. The crew did awesome, chatting and taking in the views the whole way up. We celebrated a good first day with some team dinner, having some of the best tacos I have ever had!
Day 3:
After our last night in Mexico City, we packed up to make our way towards La Malinche. On the drive out we visited the ancient city of Teotihuacan. One of the largest cities of its time. We explored the pyramids, learned about the ancient culture and were able to buy some souvenirs for folks back home.The architecture was still intact after so long, it is incredible to think of what humans have been capable of doing. We headed out towards La Malinche, without any sacrifices of team members.
We reached our next resort at the base of Volcán La Malinche. A nice mountain resort with cabins, views and more good food.
Day 4:
We woke up at 4:30 and prepared for our second acclimatization hike. Being greeted by a pack of dogs helped the early morning sleepiness. We set off for Volcán La Malinche, a 14,500ft volcano. This hike felt like climbing any of the great 14ers back home in Colorado. Setting off in the dark, with dogs by our side, we hiked through old growth pine forests for a few hours. We got above treeline and had views of our objective for the day, as well as first looks at our final objective for the trip, Pico De Orizaba.
After five hours, we made our last moves up talus and some class 3 scrambling to reach the summit. With sweeping views, Mexico City to our Northwest and Pico to our Southeast, the crew celebrated another summit with our canine companions!
We made our way down, had lunch and left for San Miguel Zoapan, the small town at the base of Pico De Orizaba. We stayed in a climbers lodge and got a good night sleep in preparation for our final summit push.
Day 5:
Waking up to roosters, the crew had breakfast, and packed only the essentials for our push. We drove about an hour and a half on 4wd roads to Refugio Piedra Grande, our basecamp. We drove through dense pine forests and Orizaba peaked out every now and then. The forest gave way to the alpine and we had views of our final objective.
At basecamp, we ate food and hiked around. All while having views of the ice capped summit.
Day 6:
Today marks the start of our summit push. After breaking down camp, we hiked 2 hours up to our high camp. While most climbers attempt the summit from basecamp, having 1.5 miles and 1,500 feet less to climb on summit day set our team up for success. It also allowed us to practice crampon and ice axe technique.
After reaching high camp and resting for a bit, we hiked up about 20 minutes to get to the snow. We practiced crampon technique in the sunlight. The crew was feeling stoked as our final push neared.
We went to sleep around 6 pm and tried to sleep as our tents battled high winds.
Day 7:
We woke up at 2 am, to a blood moon. A full moon and a lunar eclipse on a mountain is a magical feeling. Tired and chilled by continued high winds, we pushed for the summit. The push has rock, snow ice and a final push up the glacier. With our path illuminated by headlamps, we pushed through the labyrinth, this 1000 vertical foot maze of rock and ice gives the upper glacier.
We made it to the final glacier as the sun started to rise. A fiery haze illuminated the glacier as we roped up. In teams of three we made our way to the summit. The small crevasse, icey path and high winds added to the adventure of the summit push. Once we reached the rim of the volcano, we were able to warm up out of the wind. And after one last push we reached El Cumbre de Pico De Orizaba. Stoked the team celebrated, took photos and were even able to call home!
We descended to base camp, then back to the climbers lodge in San Miguel Zoapan. After showers and siestas, the team celebrated with a team dinner.
Day 8:
After a good night’s sleep, the team is off to their next adventure.
Pico De Orizaba truly is a great mountain. It’s pretty awesome when you can sleep in beds most nights, eat incredible food, be accompanied by dogs and then push for a summit. The acclimatization hikes set our team up for success and learning about the culture along the way was an added benefit. Our team was strong and each member cared for each other, which was evident in the group conversations and story telling that was present the whole trip. With a strong team dynamic, our team was successful on our final summit push. Thank you to our team for the camaraderie, the local team for helping in our push, and for those of you back home that support us in our pursuits for summits and self discoveries. Congratulations team, I look forward to our next adventure!
