Iztaccíhuatl or other peaks near Mexico City?

[mtnjim]

Remember, this only works if the road is open to Paso de Cortes. If it isn't, you've really wasted your time. Did the guy in the hostel say where they got to? Could 4800m be the hut? Or maybe a little above? Make sure they went up the Arista del Sol route, Paso, La Joya, the Puertas, the hut, and not a tour out of San Rafael/ Dos Aguas.

[nomad_games]

4800m is about where the hut is. Guy isn't around anymore to ask him

[CorduroyCalves]

Did anyone find any news about Paso de Cortes? All I can find is: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/popcatepetl/news.html From that info I'm guessing that the road is likely closed, but I'm only guessing. Maybe check out the webcams in the morning when it's light. I would hate to mislead you, but if you're only there for a week-end or so... gee, I dunno.

As far as handling the altitude, there's no way to tell til you try it. Most people can handle that kind of altitude well enough. A few can't. Assuming you are acclimatized to 14k here in CO, it's really unlikely that you'll have any problems other than minor discomfort, if that. If the road is open, I'd say go to Izta.

When I reached out to people on the Senderismo Mexico FB page, someone said it was open. Who knows for sure, though.

[mtnjim]

You should have microspikes or crampons or an axe with you though you may not need them. Izta's a fun mountain, much more enjoyable than Orizaba.

[nomad_games]

I have most of my gear including crampons. the guy at Reuben's Deportes said ice axe wasn't necessary right now.

[MountainHiker]

I found Izta can take more energy than Orizaba because of all the up and down in both directions at elevation. To give you an idea there is a map of Izta in my summitpost trip report.

Trip report
http://www.summitpost.org/iztaccihuatl-utm/377355

Map
http://images.summitpost.org/original/377336.jpg

[nomad_games]

I went. I'll try and do a trip report later and post some photos here maybe. It was awesome and I learned a ton. Perfect day. Didn't have any probs with altitude until I had been at 16500+ for quite some time. About the time I hit the glacier I started getting really slow and wonky frok altitude. Add in that the rental crampons were garbage, and that I definitely needed an ice axe, and I called it a day at 16800. Still one of my favorite hikes and super glad I went. Stoked to go back and do the others along with it.

[mtnjim]

Great! This must be a personal altitude record for you. And it's another 1400feet or so more than Toluca. A little more time to acclimatize would probably do the trick.
Probably next time.

JimS

[nomad_games]

Yeah, new PR. By about 2000 ft. I'm really happy with my trip and have no regrets. Would have loved to grab the summit but now I have a reason to come back. And tickets are stupid cheap through the winter. I flew into DF from NYC (there for work in December), stayed the night and spent the next day in the city, drove to the gate at Paso de Cortes late at night, slept in the car, drove up to La Joya in the morning and climbed that day. So another day and i think I would have been fine.

Learned a ton though. For instance, what it feels like to be standing on an ice sheet slope that drops away probably 1500 or 2000 feet with no axe and not trust your crampons. Not a good feeling. Also that while I did my first 12 14ers without poles, I don't believe I'll be doing that anymore. Also, I need to learn Spanish again. 10+ years of not using it and I barely remember anything.


Alll in all an excellent trip. Taking it easy in Coyoacan today and headed back to NYC to finish up a project so I can get home to Golden.

[nomad_games]

Oh, fwiw, Popo was barely smoking and the road was quite open. Also, Izta was completely dry, not a speck of snow other than the glacier. Very dry, "everything I own is saturated in dust now" type dry.