Feilz Año Nuevo

              Life is good but business is slow. Tourism has hit a new low as the drug traffickers widen the scope of their killing spree, including American consulates and state officials. It’s hard to entice people to come vacation in México when the only news about the country usually involves a mass killing or City of God style shootout. No I promise I haven’t seen any shootouts or massacres. Drug traffickers don’t like climbing mountains so there’s no need to worry. Despite all the bad news we had a group stick to their plan and make their way down south for an adventure.

          The group was small, only three clients, but well matched and excited to be México. Since business has been so slow and there were only three clients I was only able to work the first half of the trip which was summiting Iztaccihuatl.  Israel, one of the mountain leaders, and I would take the group up Izta and then he would continue on to Pico where he would meet up with HM. I guess since Israel has a wife and new born baby he “needs” the money more than I do (just want to make sure the sarcasm came across).

In addition to being my first trip of the New Year, this would also be the first time I had driven long distances in México City and in the southern states. The only thing more nerve racking than being responsible for people’s lives on top of a volcano is being responsible for their lives while driving in México City. When I went to pick up the car I of course had no way to check the route because my internet was down so I was running on instinct and directions that I was told might not work if certain streets are closed, which is very common. As HM handed me the keys he added, “Oh yeah and the transmission is a little weird, you’ll see.” Mm fantastic, a weird transmission and uncertain directions, this can only end well. I got in the car and HM had forgotten to mention that the gas gauge is broken so I thought I was about to run out of gas the whole time. Luckily it did in fact work out well and I made it home with no problems. When I got back home I was met with a group of people getting ready to go out and celebrate a friend’s birthday. I didn’t have to get up too early and we agreed to not stay out too late so I got ready to go out. I probably would have skipped it had I known I wouldn’t get home until 5:00am.

            I woke up at 9:00am to Los Cardinales, a group known for their classic Mexican love songs, blasting in my face. My window is right on the street and as a result anything that happens outside might as well be happening in my bed. I got up and finished packing my bags. After stopping to buy a few last minute supplies I headed to the hotel and met up with Israel and the clients. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed out for Amecameca. This was probably the most nerve racking part of the entire expedition. After swerving in and out the crazy drivers, piles of rubble and rock in the road and other various obstacles we made it safely to Amecameca.

            After arriving at the hotel everyone unpacked, took a nap or flipped on their tvs. After about twenty minutes one of the clients ran into my room with a mixed look of shock and wonderment in his eyes. “Come here quick” he said. I walked into his room and he had found the free erotic channel on his tv. “This is on normal tv” he asked in amazement. “But its so graphic” he said. “Welcome to México”. After that moment their group would be known as summit team channel 22.

            The next morning we made the drive up to the Altzamoni Hut and unpacked our gear to prepare for the acclimatization hike. After a successful hike we made our way down, ate a gourmet meal of instant mashed potatoes, soup and chicken and went to bed. The next morning we woke and everyone was feeling good except for one client. He hadn’t slept a wink that night and when he finally got out of bed his feet and face were swollen which didn’t bode well for his hike up to high camp. We gave him a dose of Diamox and Israel took him on a short hike. He came back from the hike feeling 100% better and ready for the day. We packed up our gear and headed up to the hut for high camp. After grabbing the 20 liters of water we had stashed on our hike the day before we made it to the Grupo de Los Cien hut at 4,700 m. That night we had a peaceful rest with the mountain mice which every once in a while you can feel scurry across your chest.

            Unfortunately the next morning at 3:30 am I realized my mug and bowl had toppled over and both were covered in droppings from the little mishka (Russian for mouse). After thoroughly cleaning everything out I hesitantly ate my breakfast praying I didn’t get a highly infectious mouse shit disease. We headed out by 4:30 am and made our way up the knees. At the top of the knees we gave one of the clients a hit of oxygen because his core body temperature had dropped from hiking up with so few layers. The sun didn’t come up until we were dropping down onto the belly or what is left of a rapidly dying glacier. We made it up to the summit within a couple hours and everyone was both excited and exhausted. I crossed the chest with one client to what is technically the true summit but is really only 2 or three meters higher. It is an hour trip for a very slight gain but he was determined. After returning to the group we made our way back to the hut, packed up and headed down to the cars.

            Back in Amecameca everyone had their celebratory cerveza and crashed hard into their beds. The next morning I took Israel’s car back to México City and the group headed to Puebla to meet up with HM and get ready for Pico. My trip back to the city was flawless until I made a slight turn on the freeway and ended up about an hour and a half farther south in the city than I wanted to be. It was a long trip back to my house but a lesson well learned. The trip was a success and now I am in the market for more work.                         

                            

Nevado de Toluca - The First Expedition

The first expedition was a large group of 10 clients and 5 guides including myself. It was a long trip as well, 15 days total. The leader of both trips was Hombre Chistoso or HM. This expedition was my breakthrough into the guiding world and it was all thanks to HM.  

            I took the subway to División del Norte where I met HM and we got ready to head to the airport to pick up the clients. We finally caught a taxi after struggling for about a half hour because we apparently looked sketchy. We stood at the exit from baggage claim with our signs and slowly picked out the climbers from their oversize expedition bags. I stayed later to pick up a straggler after HM had left with the other clients. It ended up taking about two hours more than expected because the airlines had lost a number of bags, including a large expedition bag. After struggling with security I finally left with the client in hopes that his bag would be sent the next day. That night we all ate dinner as a group and then walked back to the hotel. They spent the whole next day in México City while I prepared my gear for the coming expedition(s).

           

          On Monday morning I left for HM’s house with my expedition bag and backpack filled to the brim. I got some looks on the subway which could have been due to the ice axes strapped to my pack. HM’s sister who I will call Pato was the designated cook on the trip, at least for the first leg of the trip. After preparing the food and tetris packing (that is packing a car strategically using your skills from tetris) the cars we headed out for Nevado de Toluca where we would take a number of acclimatization hikes. After arriving at the hut which is located at the base of the extinct volcano we played a game of soccer at altitude. Needless to say the guides won. We ate well as usual and prepared for the short hike the next day. We hiked up above El Lago del Sol to El Pico de La Aguila (Ealge’s Peak) which is just above 4,600m. After returning to the hut we made dinner and prepared for the next day. That night a group of 22 Italians arrived at the hut and would follow us for the rest of the trip just one step behind. At around 4:00am a group of four arrived looking for their friend who had not come home from the peak the day before.

            The next morning the paramedics and helicopters were out looking for the missing man. We headed out and told the party we would help them search while on our hike. About an hour into the hike we got word that man was found. Apparently he made it to the summit and then descended on the wrong side of the volcano bringing him into an entirely different town. He had spent the night in the other town but had not called anyone to let them know he was ok. That day we made it to the summit and descended back to the hut, not to the other side of the volcano. One of the guides, Beluga Whale, is a smoker. It is priceless to see people struggle to the summit completely out of breath and then have BW sitting at the top smoking a cigarette, practically balancing his checkbook at the same time. 

Iztaccihuatal: On the Way

         

          The next day we drove to the city of Toluca which was so covered in security it seemed like a Policía Federal ice cream social. This was due to the Bicentennial Birthday of México and the 100^th Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. There were a number of upcoming events in the city which required heavy security. We spent that night in Toluca and the next day headed to Iztaccihuatal. We spent the night at the Alsamony Hut at the base of Izta. After the clients ate dinner and headed to bed we sat around swapping stories and jokes. One of my favorite stories came from BW who worked at a youth camp in Southern México during the summer. There were a number of problems with the general layout of the camp including the fact that the bathrooms were about 15 minutes walking from the dining hall and were located right next to a major road. One night the cooks made a meaty chili from some apparently questionable ingredients. Less than twenty minutes after eating the chili the children were running from the dining hall desperately trying to make it to the toilets which couldn’t handle the numbers or the quantity and quickly began to overflow. The campers began stopping en route to the toilets and dropping their pants wherever they could. The effect of this was that other campers began vomiting as well. Like a scene from a movie there they were, 65 young campers with explosive diarrhea and uncontrollable vomiting spells sprinting to the port-a-potties which were already overflowing. The camp counselors and directors had a meeting after that about what went wrong which included five “porques” or “whys” for the camper’s unfortunate night. If only I had known that my next trip would end with me thinking of my own “porques.”

Iztaccihuatal: Round One

The next morning we headed up to high camp where we would spend the next night. We, the guides and porters, loaded our packs with the tents and food in addition to our gear for the climb. Luckily we didn’t have to bring crampons or axes due to the dry conditions. Within the first ten minutes of the climb I heard Beluga yelling behind me to stop. I ran back and on the ground was one of the clients bleeding profusely from his eyebrow which was split open. I was excited to use my new skills as a First Responder but had to contain my excitement. We stopped the bleeding, disinfected the cut and closed it up. The client didn’t complain once and I told him his pictures at the summit would look more badass this way, he laughed. We hiked up to the high camp which is at 4,500m, set up camp and spent the night there. That night it was apparent that one couple from the group was not going to be able to leave camp due to head colds and altitude sickness. We woke up at 2:30am to start boiling water for breakfast. 

We left camp at 3:45am and started the trek up to the knees (Izta forms the shape of a woman lying down:  head, chest, belly, knees and feet). We made it to the knees as the sun was rising and everyone was feeling good. We ascended towards the chest, which is the summit, after dropping down onto the glacier (at least what is left of the glacier). By 11:30 am everyone had made it to the summit and despite exhaustion people were happy. We descended back to camp, packed up and made it back to the base by 4:00pm.

        

          That night we slept at a hotel in Amecameca and ate dinner across the street at a delicious Spanish restaurant. After dinner we decided that we the guides were still hungry, so Beluga, Copo (another guide) and I headed out for street tacos and beer. The next morning we had breakfast at the same restaurant and I said goodbye to the group. I had to leave early in order to pick up another group from the airport in México City. I was to be a bonafide guide! The clients gave me my first tips as a mountain guide wrapped in a napkin from the restaurant. HM and I left for México City shortly after breakfast. This next group was to be smaller and the expedition itself was going to be shorter. Instead of acclimatizing in Nevado de Toluca this group would head straight to Iztaccihuatal. 

Episode I: A New Hope

We went straight from Amecameca to the airport where HM dropped me off with the passenger details and 1,000 pesos to get everyone to the hotel. Who knew it would be harder to find people coming out baggage claim in an airport than 5,000m up on a volcano. After collecting everyone from the airport I headed to the hotel to ensure that everyone was checked in and ready to go. That night I stayed at the hotel and didn’t have enough time to go home to wash clothes but I figured there would be time to do it on the road. After the briefing with HM we all headed to dinner and began talking about the upcoming days. That night I stayed at the hotel with another guide, Fosi Bear, so we could get everyone up and out in the morning. That hotel couldn’t wash my clothes because they don’t offer that service on Sundays. God is so vengeful.    

Iztaccihuatal: A “Porque” of My Own

That morning we headed to Amecameca where we stayed at the same hotel I had come from not a day earlier. Along the way we stopped in Teotihuacan to see the ancient Aztec city ruins and climb the pyramids. HM had headed back to the other group to see them up Pico de Orizaba. Fosi, the clients and I ate at the Spanish restaurant that night and prepared everything for the trip up to the hut at the base of Izta the next day. We ate a hearty breakfast the next morning and that’s when Cato, the final guide showed up. After breakfast we began the ride to the base of Izta and the Alsamony hut. That afternoon Fosi and the group went on an acclimatization hike while Cato and I ported the tents, stoves and food up to high camp. Paco, the hut dog, had excitedly followed us all the way up to the high camp. It could have been because we fed him along the way but who really knows. We spent the night at the Alsamony hut where we saw the first of many coyotes. It was after dinner that we put the leftover food out for Paco and unknowingly for the coyotes too. That night the coyotes stalked around the hut sending Paco into a protective frenzy. For as small of a dog as he is Paco stands his ground against the armies of hungry coyotes (I consider four coyotes to be an army).

The next day we woke up at a reasonable hour and hiked up to high camp with the group. After setting up the rest of the tents and stoves we began cooking dinner. Paco had followed us yet again up to camp and seemed to be settling in for the night. Fosi napped nearly the entire afternoon because he had been hit with the flu. Little did I know I would be hit with a flu of my own that night. After serving dinner, Cato and I ate dinner ourselves and I noticed a slight twinge in my stomach. I didn’t think much of it at the time. One of the clients had told me he was suffering from some diarrhea and didn’t know what to do. I gave him strong medications and sent him to bed thinking “Hah that’s shitty.” We washed the dishes and headed to bed with our alarms set for 1:50am. The coyotes scrounged through our site that night looking for any food scraps they could find. At 10:25pm I bolted upright in my sleeping bag and thought “Oh c’mon really! Fuck!” I could feel the volcanic activity brewing in my bowels and I knew I had to get out of that tent ASAP. I threw my boots on and ran out of the tent desperately trying not to shit my pants. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to put my gore-tex pants on so I was in fact only wearing boxers. I barely made it to a spot far enough away from the camp before I threw down my pants. I felt like the poor campers sprinting to the port-a-potties clinging to their dignity. It was while I was crouched behind that rock that I heard the coyote cries. “Oh c’mon you have to be fuckin kidding me” I whispered to myself. I shined my petzel out into the darkness and as I scanned I was met with three sets of glowing eyes and then a fourth about a foot away from me. Paco was standing right next to me staring at the coyotes. There I was wearing nothing but mountaineering boots and a gore-tex jacket, crouched behind a rock with the freezing wind whipping at my legs, surrounded by coyotes and a little black guardian. I started laughing to myself and couldn’t stop. I medicated myself and hoped for the best. I got up two more times that night but things went a lot smoother. I also saw the client at one point during the night and gave him another pill for the morning.

I woke up ten minutes before my alarm beeped and took another pill. Things were feeling good enough that I felt I could guide people up a volcano with a few minor stops. After everyone had a hot cup of something and some oatmeal we headed out for the knees. We made good time and made it up to the upper hut (4,780m) within an hour and a half. That was where Fosi decided the flu was too much and couldn’t go on. Cato and I led the group from then on. At that point I knew I had no choice but to guide, activity or no. Luckily I wasn’t hit too badly during the day. Everyone made it to the summit and couldn’t have been happier. Even Paco made it to the summit and managed to eat my sandwich when I wasn’t looking. We made the descent down the Ayoloco route which was littered with large boulders and loose rock. Everyone made it down safely. One client was feeling the effects of High Altitude Cerebral Edema on the descent and I stuck with him in order to ensure he made it safely the whole way. We made it down but due to his ataxia he did not realize that he had large blisters on one of his feet. Unfortunately it wasn’t until after we had descended and he had already ripped the skin off the blisters that he told me he had them.

Paco, The Hut Dog, on the Pecho (Summit) of Iztaccihuatal

Ahhh…Clean Clothes

                            

          Once back in Amecameca everyone showered and we headed out for a dinner of pizza and beer, a Mexican classic. We all ate too much pizza. I personally had 11 slices and struggled to fall asleep that night. The next day we ate breakfast and headed to Puebla for our rest day. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the heart of Puebla which luckily had washing machines at the top level. I finally got a chance to wash my heavily used clothes. The hotel is known for its amazing cuisine, especially its mole. We ate and slept well preparing for the trip to Pico. HM arrived the morning we were to leave for Pico and we all ate together before our departure. We made it to Tlatchichuca in the early afternoon and started the two hour 4X4 ride to La Piedra Grande hut.