Pico de Orizaba

Date: 12/08/2023
Partners: Alex Neal (Junior), Jeremy Miller, Krishna Gandhi
TH: Piedra Grande Hut (13,878ft)
Summit Elevation: 18,491ft (Mexico High Point)
Distance: 6.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 4600ft
Duration: 7hr 55min (5 hrs up - 3hrs down)
GPX

An excellent adventure south of the border with an excellent crew!

Timeline:

Day 1

12/6 PM: Arrive in Mexico City via Areomexico. Watch out for high ski bag fees.
12/6 PM: Stay at Airport Hilton

Day 2

12/7 5:30 AM: Shuttle from Airport to Servimont in Tlachichuca (3+ hour drive)
12/7 10:00 AM: Shuttle from Servimont to Piedra Grande Hut (2 hours?)
12/7 PM: Hike skis to 16,000ft (2.5 hrs RT)
12/7 PM: Eat and 'Sleep' at Hut... all night fart concert

Day 3

12/8 3:30 AM: Start hike to Orizaba summit
12/8 8:30 AM: Summit Orizaba
12/8 11:30 AM: Back at hut
12/8 1:00PM: Shuttle back to Servimont in Tlachichuca
12/8 PM: Street food dinner, Tequila and Feast of the Immaculate Conception Festival
12/8 PM: Overnight at Servimont

Day 4

12/9 9:00 AM: Breakfast at Servimont
12/9 10:00 AM: Shuttle back to Mexico City
12/9 PM: Stay downtown, Street food, Tequila Museum, Lucha Libre, Unsuccessful search for Karaoke

Day 5

12/10: Pyramids, Anthropology Museum, 2nd night in Mexico City

Day 6

12/11 Aeromexico back Denver. Mexico City Airport and Aeromexico check-in process was awful. Build some extra time into your schedule.

Getting to the Mountain

Checkout Summit Post for some great info on getting from Mexico City to Tlachichuca (the town at the base of Orizaba). The driver they recommended was awesome.

Jesus Antonio Juarez Guzman (Antonio)
044-55-39080-242 cell
jajuarezgu@yahoo.com.mx

Once in Tlachichuca, we used Servimont to shuttle us between Tlachichuca and the Piedra Grande Hut at 14,000ft.

Servimont was a great! Their shuttle was dependable, their gear staging area was spacious, their showers were hot and clean, the food was excellent and the sleeping quarters were comfortable enough. A short walk to the town center.

40 Years Earlier

More Orizaba experiences from Colorado OG Mike Carr

Tom and I (with our brother and a friend) spent the night on the summit in 1981 and telemarked down the next morning on icy, crusty snow. The same day we drove to the coast and swam in the ocean!

Soft leather boots, long skinny skis, three-pin bindings, heavy packs on steep icy snow after a long night on the summit. What could be better! 😉

We did Popo and Ixta volcanos on this trip as well.

Mostly slept that high to see if we could with vague ideas about future trips. The sunset and sunrise moutain shadow extending out on the plains to the horizon were especially striking. I later pushed my sleep record to 7,000 meters but that was distinctly uncomfortable.

Tom, Mark Lance, Art Burrows and others really pushed telemark gear development thru their racing efforts. The pickle bucket boot support was especially entertaining to watch but also led to the first plastic boot. I was never much of a telemarker so the conditions we had on Orizaba terrified me but Tom styled it down the fall line.

Sad to see the decline in the snowpack. Two of us were able to spend the summit night in a tiny snow cave and we skied almost back to the hut. No established trails/walkways so the labyrinth was a navigation nightmare. We had a rental car that we abused - we got it almost to the hut before bogging down in deep ash. 40+ years ago - where did the time go?