Top of Mexico!

Per the earlier post that I made on Friday, December 5, we have made it back from Mexico safe and sound. "Wow" is one word that I can say that sums up my feelings for the 9 days that were spent in another part of the world. I took notes every day and over 230 photos to assist in keeping the memories vivid. The following are just a few of my favorites. I could write all day, but will do what I can to keep it short and informative. I would like to thank my family, especially Kriston in giving me the opportunity and support to pull the pin on a long adventure like this right in the middle of the Christmas season, I am lucky.

From left to right - me, Bill Schalow, Tom Smith, Al Kraft, Tom Clow, Rory Beil, Troy Ivesdal and Kent Throlson. Seven guys that I consider good, trusted friends. I feel that a good friend is a guy that you can call at two in the morning if you needed help and they would come no questions asked. The photo is just outside of a little dusty Mexican town named Hildago, 4 hours NE of Mexico City, 12,000 feet elevation. In the back ground is our target, Pico de Orizabe, 18,500 feet.

Waiting for a subway in down town Mexico City. Of course all of us read the papers and listen to the news of how dangerous the city is. 30M people on the census with an estimated 20M off the books it is understandable with the concern but we watched each others back at all times and never really felt unsafe. We were a group of 8 American "gringos". I had a hard time finding a Mexican that came past my shoulder. We stuck out like sore thumbs especially with our 50 pound back packs, lots of looks for sure.
We spent the first two days of our trip in Mexico City. Our plan all along was to acclimate our bodies for the summit day. MC is at 7800 feet so yes we were in the city, but we were also almost 7000 feet higher than Fargo, so the acclimation process began the minute we jumped off the airplane. People absolutely every where, milling about and taking in the evening.
Our hotel for the first two nights was three blocks away from the Zocola or city square. The only other city square bigger in the world is the Red Square in Russia. We learned quickly that the Mexican people love to have "festivals". On this given weekend, the square was full of homemade snow for snowball fights and an ice rink with skating. All of us felt right at home with this cold atmosphere.
Sunday we made our way about an hour north of the city to the Teotihuacan Ruins. I need to do some more homework on the history of the whole deal, and in addition, all of the information on the signs was Spanish so I couldn't read it as we are walking through. In short, 2000 years ago the Aztec's came into the area and overtook another tribe. The results are pyramids and other ancient ruins that mimic what is and around Egypt, very cool. Not sure how they got this done but it was impressive.

The photo above was taken with a group of school kids that used us to practice their English. They had a list of questions they asked us; favorite color, zodiac sign, questions that we found unique but interesting. I am sure they had their reasons.

You were able to climb the 233 steps all the way to the top. Still solid as a rock.
I am a bread guy and the bread was abundant! Sweet bread, crusty bread, every type of bread. No butter required. We ate all of the local food; tortillas, chicken, frioles, pasteurized milk, fruit and did I mention chicken? Lots of chicken. Food was excellent!!!!
Not as many bikes that I was hoping for but there were bikes. To many people to ride safely. Many of the bikes had the mustache handle bars, this bike also had a beer holder.
On Monday we made out way out of the city and took a bus ride toward the mountains. Our first destination was a town of 10,000 people named Tlatchucula. We headed from the bus stop to the city square to take it all in before we bought food and other supplies for the mountain. We were not there 10 minutes before we started getting attention. Of course there was some type of "festival" going on. Vendors booths and all kinds of crazy stuff including fireworks randomly shot off throughout the day. The two boys above were busy ripping around having a good time, sweeties for sure.
It was a school day and the kids were presenting projects. Apparently there is a prep school near by, both boys and girls wearing uniforms. Groups of girls would walk by giggling wanting to take our photos, the boys were too cool. We felt like rock stars! I cannot speak a word of Spanish, but Tom and Rory were doing what they could to communicate. Great people for sure.
We hired a guy with a pickup to drive us to the base of the mountain. The photo above was our camp for two nights, 12,000 feet elevation. Nice and flat, no tents required. Temps dropped down to just below freezing at night, perfect. Our goal was to climb high and sleep low.

On Tuesday we hiked our way up to a hut situated at the base of the mountain, 14,000 feet elevation, about a 3 hour hike up, 1-1/2 hours back. We dropped gear and headed back to 12,000 feet. If you expand the photo you can see the road and the hut in the middle, Orizaba is in the background. A lot of climbers hire a guide service to drive them up to the hut. We stayed traditional and walked.

Tom Smith and Tom Clow at the door of the hut. The hut can accommodate over 30 people. When we stayed there on the third night there was 14 total. People from all over the world that have either already reached the summit or were going to attempt.
Two nights at 12,000 feet, one night at the hut at 14,000 feet and one night at "high camp" at 16,000 feet. The photo above is our camp kitchen at high camp. A high protein dinner of Uncle Ben's rice, we ate like kings, went to bed early and were prepared to hit the mountain at 0400 hours! I was excited, nervous and seriously looking forward to the summit attempt!

After an hour of climbing in the dark, we rambled our way through what is called the "labyrinth", we were close to the glacier that would take us to the summit. The photo does not do justice in how huge the glacier actually is - HUGE. Many times we were hiking at a 45 degree angle.

A group of 3 and a group of 4 were harnessed by rope for protection in the event of a fall. Again, the steepness and size are not evident in the photo. We were on the glacier for over 2 hours from 16,500 to 18,500 feet. 20 - 30 steps and you had to rest. Air was seriously thin and we were glad we took the time to acclimate to the conditions.

The summit! 18,500 feet, 3rd highest point in North America! Orizaba is one of a string of ancient dormant volcanoes. The center of the cone was a freaky dangerous looking place! We kept our distance but it was beautiful!
The crew of 7 at the top of Mexico. Bill Schalow decided to hang back at the high camp. Weather was perfect, sunny skies and light wind, we were seriously lucky. There was a group of locals that had reached the summit about the same time that we did climbing from the southern face. They were fun to communicate and take photos with. All of the preparation paid off, we made it to the top safely!
After about 1/2 hour on top we made our way down. Again we were roped in. This photo kind of gives you a sense of the sheer size of the glacier and edge of the cone.
Our goal was reached and we hiked from the summit all the way down to 9000 feet, long day for sure. The photo above is our parting shot from the mountain. All of the gear that we ported up over the week required picking up on the way down making our bags heavy for the last push.

We spent Friday night in a motel in Tlatchacula, guess what, they were having a festival - fireworks going off all night, it is all good. We were tired and didn't care how much noise was outside.

Saturday night, back in Mexico City. The Zocola was still celebrating which included snowmobile rides for the kids on fake snow. Polaris snowmobiles produced 3-1/2 hours north of Fargo, I found it a bit ironic.
Sunday morning, the day we head home we took the time to partake in a city organized effort to promote activity. The city closed off about 8K of busy streets allowing bikes, runners, skaters and walkers to safely ride the course. Great idea! Rory had done the research prior to our trip and is planning something in Fargo for the summer of 2010, I am on board for sure.

What do you think of the bikes? We had to unwillingly give up our passports for the privilege of riding a borrowed bike that barely rolled, funny and worth the risk as we had a bike!

To sum things up the trip was a great experience - exciting and educational every step of the way. All of us returned healthy and in one piece. We were not in the tourist part of Mexico that everyone hears about and heads for in masses to the beach. We were in the real deal and I loved it. We made the plans, did the preparation and met our goal. Tom Smith has been there before and was instrumental in helping us as a group with the language and logistics of meeting that goal, thanks TS!

There, sorry for the length. I left out a lot and am sure that I will think of other things that I should have written or did not get just right. Let me know if you have a question.

Cheers!