High Adventure - An Expedition to the Ultra Mountains of Central Mexico

Along the Cerro las Capillas route.

Bob cannot sleep, the hard floor stealing his body heat. Then at 2 a.m. Bob gives up and skillfully prepares a fire.

Meanwhile, I barely squeeze into the same 'bivy sack just loaned to Rob. It's extreeeeeemely uncomfortable, our collective perspiration lining the bag's interior.

We endure the morning's small hours until first light. A meager food supply remains, and we share it by the fire before heading down the final, thankless 4 miles.

I ask the stranger we've hired for hacking a path.

"Pole"

Pole is the uncle, and has climbed Cerro La Joya 25 years ago.
So he too comes - as our impromptu "guide".

The slopes are thick with brush; the skyline ridge riddled with limestone cliffs.

Bob does not feel it can be climbed in a day and there is neither level ground to camp nor water enroute for an overnight effort. The rest of us are ambivalent. Again, there is absolutely no information available apart from what can be learned by talking to these locals.

Bob Packard and I already have many Mexican ultras from several previous journeys. These previously climbed peaks are not, with a pair of exceptions, suitable candidates for our efforts. The remaining ultra peaks fall into two categories - five that are relatively unknown to the climbing community; and five which, as the major high altitude volcanoes of central Mexico, are well-documented and often visited.

Rime ice at 14,000 feet on Volcán La Malinche. (DG)

Six ultras comprise our Part I core itinerary. Duane Gilliland and Rob Woodall join Bob and myself for this portion. It is a most uncertain game we play, with nearly no documentation apart from Nevado de Colima which, at some 14,000 feet, is well-known and climbed. A combination of Google Earth satellite imagery, GPS-enabled technology, local knowledge and Spanish are required to realize our goals.

Luck plays a role, as does plain old perseverance - and we are most fortunate indeed as described below.

Adam (left) and Rob lift a water hose under Cerro Tancitaro so Bob's vehicle can pass. (DG)

Four more ultras define the Part II core itinerary. Bob has already climbed them all, and so returns to the United States. Greg Slayden now joins Duane, Rob and myself. I invite two newcomers to experience the higher-than-Mount Whitney climbing arena, Collin Kamholz and Ryan Courtney.

I institute a rigorous acclimatization schedule as the main goal is Pico de Orizaba - at some 18,491 feet Mexico's highest peak, highest in Mesoamerica and third highest in North America. We MUST sleep and exercise at progressively higher elevations by climbing peaks of appropriate altitudes.

However being prominence-oriented climbers the most attractive attribute lies elsewhere: Orizaba is Earth's seventh most topographically prominent mountain and thus on the Earth Fifty Finest list. It is, therefore, the chief climbing goal of our expedition.^6,7

Decorated restaurant interior near the Cerro Ajusco trailhead. (DG)

I have already climbed both Orizaba and Volcán Ixtaccíhuatl. Hence I remain with the Part II group largely for the convenience of my Spanish and to share in everybody's good time.

Two ultra peaks are removed from the original itinerary owing to drug-related safety concerns. Their time slots are filled with prominent Mexican state highpoints, a list which Bob Packard and I pursue. In-time we learn that Volcán de Tequila IS feasible, leaving only one ultra unvisited.