The movie largely takes place in central Mexico,
and shows scientists studying the volcanic activity in the region, with Pico de Orizaba erupting in the background. (It then goes on to muddle the regional history, showing Mayan artifacts they somehow found in the Aztec's central Mexico.)Really, the eruption was just a cheesy cardboard cutout with a candle burning behind it -- fumes billowing out at a rate of speed that would implicate the presence of a super-vacuum sucking them up into the sky.
Having climbed next to an erupting volcano, I must call their bluff.
***
Dave and I flew down to Mexico City on November 7th, with two back-to-back volcano trips lined up and some serious fine dining to do.
Our first trip was with Andrey and Victoria from Vancouver, B.C. and Emilia and Gary from L.A. Sort of. Except that Andrey was really from Bulgaria (and has great stories from his days working in a tomato processing plant when Bulgaria was part of the communist Eastern Bloc); and Emilia and Gary were both Armenians who spent much of their lives in Russia and met in Los Angeles.
I love my job. Guiding turns up people from the most fascinating walks of life.
As the trip got started, conversation wandered from the healthcare debate (Victoria is a pediatrician in Canada, and has found many advantages in her country's public healthcare system, where everyone gets the same coverage), to communism, to mountaineering.
Gary and Emilia had just gotten married the day before they flew to Mexico City. This trip was their honeymoon -- and, I do believe, the first newlyweds I have ever guided! Emilia had only started hiking this year, and generally prefers to wear high heels, so this would be a very new experience for her. From hiking Mt. Whitney only a month prior to climbing an 18,500ft snowy volcano with us would be quite a jump. And Emilia climbed as if it was her second nature, a smile quick to emerge at any point. Finally, at 18,000ft, we got a complaint out of her: "Well, I'm a little tired." No surprise at 9am when we've been up for 8 hours already. Phew, she's human.
The climb went smoothly for the most part;
unfortunately, Victoria was hit hard by the altitude just above 15,000ft. We found out a day later that her acclimation had been largely curbed, and her altitude symptoms exacerbated, by a cold. But she toughed it out as long as she could, and the moment she recognized that the pace she needed in order to feel halfway decent as we climbed, would not be a pace that would get her or anyone else to the summit that day. A very hard but admirable decision on her part. I scrambled back down the scree with her to get her back to the hut, and decided to try to catch up to the rest of our party in order to assist Dave who now had a larger rope team.I managed to catch the team at the crater rim, allowing us all to summit together. The weather was impeccable, and we enjoyed several minutes relaxation on the summit.
***
Our second trip was with three friends from Nevada City, California (northwest of Lake Tahoe). Tom and Rob work together in geotechnical engineering, and Peggy, Tom's wife, is a nurse. This trip would also include Iztaccihuatl at 17,000ft as an acclimating peak.
La Malinche was again first on tap for our acclimation regimen, and we were again accompanied by five or so dogs to the summit.
We then drove up to the hut on Izta, which lies at approximately 13,000ft. Here we spent a day acclimating (read: reading, watching movies, sleeping, eating, wandering around aimlessly, and just generally trying not to do anything too active) before heading off at 2am for the summit.
Izta is more of a very long hike than a climb, per se. As such, it is not the most technically interesting volcano to climb, but with Popo erupting in the background (and closed to climbing for the time being), it is by far the most scenic and geologically fascinating, complete with dulled thud sounds in the distance.
I
learned much about the anatomy of a volcano on this climb. Rob and Tom were able to point out old flows and plugs, eying ribs of basalt that reveal where the lava flowed into the volcano -- now uncovered by centuries of erosion.
Despite the threatening clouds we saw move through on our rest day, we had impeccable weather for our summit day, and spectacular views from Mexico City to Pico de Oriazaba, our next (and final) goal.
With the successful ascent of Pico de Orizaba, Tom and Peggy would complete their goal of reaching 18,000ft or above on every continent (excluding those without peaks so high). So, with mountains such as Russia's Elbrus, another high peak in the Andes, and Kilimanjaro already under their belt, they were well prepared for Pico de Orizaba.
Orizaba was yet another smooth summit day
with this team. Rob excelled on his first high altitude climb, smiling the whole way. And the consensus on the difficulty of the climb: more difficult than Elbrus, and generally a physically demanding climb due to the variation -- from scree hiking to rock scrambling (where there used to be glacier coverage only 20 years ago!) to steep snow climbing.But perhaps the best part of the 9-day course is our stay in Puebla. Between Izta and Orizaba, we have a full rest day in Cholula and Puebla, and a very healthy appetite. Puebla is at the heart of mole poblano country, and a very cosmopolitan city rich with complex and fascinating histories. The ideal contrast to the demanding nature of the climbs, and an adventure in exploration in its own right.
***
Our next trip will be another 9-day Mexico Volcanoes climb beginning January 2nd. Until then, we'll be taking advantage of the slowest month of the year, out on the rocks and the slopes -- on a "professional development retreat," if you will.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment