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.

The Rope Team, the Summit and the First Recorded Volcanic Activity Since 1846

We spent that day reviewing basic safety and skills for the clients and then prepared for our early departure the next morning. After cooking dinner, cutting prusik loops and doing a variety of other things we headed to bed. HM asked me for Topron (the strong medication I had used on Izta) and I was once again excited that it wasn’t me. We once again had our alarms set for just before 2:00am to prepare breakfast. The night was peaceful apart from some loud snoring which is to be expected. We woke up at 1:50am, ate breakfast and headed out by 3:00am. Everything went smoothly up to the edge of the glacier where we roped up. I was running my own private rope team of one client. As soon as I had tied my client and myself in my bowels began doing some warm-up somersaults like a gymnast getting ready for his vault routine. “I hate you so much gastrointestinal tract.”

We began the slow march up the glacier. Despite the gymnast in my bowels I kept a slow and steady pace for the client while constantly clenching my muscles and holding back the urge to run up the glacier to freedom. About 20 min from the top GI the gymnast started the finale of his routine. It took every ounce of concentration and muscle control I had to focus on the slow and safe ascent of my client. We reached the crater edge which is about 10 minutes from the summit and she asked if we could take a break. “Oh sweet Jesus yes we can!” I tied her off on the crater edge and quickly walked out of view to the opposite side of the crater. What I didn’t realize was that the other two teams were already at the summit and had a clear view of me the entire time. Luckily I think everyone was either too tired to notice or too embarrassed for me to say anything. Either way I was fine with the situation. And so it was recorded on that fateful day in November of 2010, Pico de Orizaba saw its first activity on the crater rim in almost 200 years.

            My client and I happily reached the summit and everyone made a safe trip back down the volcano. We spent that night in Tlachichuca and the next day we packed everything up and headed back to La Ciudad.

        

Introducción

Hello, Hola, Hallo and Pozdrav! My name is Steve or Esteban and if you are reading this blog chances are you already know that but just in case you didn't, now you do. Well I want to start by saying that I always made fun of people who wrote blogs and didn't think I would one day become a "blogger" but here I am writing a blog. Having said that I can now write without ridicule. In order to respect people's privacy I am not going to include real names in my blog except for my own. In addition I don't feel as though I need to censor myself so if you are unsure in your ability to read the occasional vulgarity you should read this anyway because it's funny.
            I graduated from college with a degree in Spanish Literature and Psychology. Isn't it obvious I knew exactly what I wanted to do? I knew I wasn't about to start a job working nine to five in an office nor was I on track to becoming a Psychologist so I made the next logical step and moved to Mexico City, Mexico. I live for adventure and that is in part why I am here. I wouldn't be here without the love and support of all my family so I must thank them profusely. I now find myself in La Ciudad de México trying to become a mountaineering guide in an increasingly dangerous country. Needless to say I was one of the few obvious American citizens on my flight into México City. Tourism seems to decrease following massacres in a country which makes my job far more difficult. Well I can only hope that the Mexican drug lords will decide that a life of crime and murder isn't all that its cracked up to be. Until then I will have to order straight from Colombia. I guess I am obligated to point out the obvious and say that was a joke. From now on you have to pick those out yourself.

México

          Unlike my entry into Buenos Aires, Getting into México City was easy and flawless. My buen amigo who I will call Cookie Monster or CM, due to his addiction to cookies (at least two packs a day), picked me up at the airport and welcomed me into México! I have been staying with him until I find an apartment in the city and needless to say he has been more hospitable and kind than the staff of a five star hotel.  

11/4/2010

          Well I wouldn't truly be traveling or living abroad if I didn't get robbed or have diarrhea. Up to now I have yet to get robbed. The past few days have been great apart from this morning. We have been working out in the mornings except for last night when we went to a climbing gym in the city (El Onyx). I have been exploring the city during the days and looking for a place to stay that won't break the bank or leave me in a bathtub without my kidneys. La ciudad itself is as safe as any massive metropolitan city. It is beautiful in areas and not so beautiful in others. There are poor people, elite snobs and the large gap inbetween that constitutes the rest of the city. That is obviously a generalization but I'm not writing a book on the demograhpy of La Ciudad de México.

Pico de Orizaba (Primer Ascenso) 11/6/2010-11/8/2010

    
          This expedition was my first trip above 15,000 ft or 5,000 mts and I was an assistant/aspiring guide on the trip. The party consisted of CM (Cookie Monster), myself and our client Luis who was also a friend of CM. The night before we left for Pico, Friday night, we prepared all our gear. I sharpened the edges of my crampons and ice axes, double checked my gear and packed my bags. The days leading up to the weekend I had been having "digestion issues" (diarrhea). The only thing I could think of that would be worse than altitude sickness would be uncontrollable diarrhea at 18,000 ft probably combined with altitude sickness anyway. You will find out if either of these things happened.

  Saturday morning we woke up at 6:00am to double check the gear and get ready to leave. Luis picked us up at CM's house and invited us to a café. After an amazing cup of café in the centro of the city we started the 4 hour drive to Tlachichuca. It only took us 2.5 hours to get there. Luis has what he likes to call an aggressive driving style, I would agree. We arrived at the climbers hotel where the 4X4's leave to go to the base of Orizaba. The hotel is a compound within Tlachichuca with various rooms, a dining area and garages for cars and 4X4's. After eating an amazing meal at the compound we loaded up the 4X4 behind a group of Russians also getting ready to leave for the base. At first the drive seemed to be all to easy and you wonder why you are in a 4X4. It becomes quickly apparent why you can't drive up there yourself. The road is filled with large muddy ruts and sections steep enough that a 4X4 has trouble ascending. The drive up to La Piedra Grande refugio, the hut at the base of Orizaba, takes around 2 hours. The hut is at 4,200 mts, nearly 14,000 ft. We decided to set up our tents and spend the night outside el refugio. That night we hiked up about a 100mts to where there was enough snow to practice basic ice climbing safety (self arrest, rope ettiquite, etc). Afterwards we ate a dinner of soup and noodles and I set my alarm for our early departure at 3:00am. We got into our tents at 8:30pm but I couldn't fall asleep until 11:00pm because I was too excited (not sexually).

         I woke up at 1:50am before my alarm could start beeping and we got up to prepare for our departure. After oatmeal and coffee we double checked our gear and headed out. I hadn't taken ten steps when headlamp died. It wasn't the batteries which I had changed the day before, it was simply because it was old and apparently not acclimatized to the altitude. Needless to say I now have a very reliable headlamp and a backup. I hiked the first hours watching CM's light until around 6:00am when there was enough light to see. On our way up we passed a climber, David, fumbling around his tent and quickly discovered he was suffering from HACE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema). His incredibly sensitive party had left him in his tent in order to summit. Luckily there was a couple there and someone was already preparing to take him down. We made sure he was safely on his way down and then continued up. We passed the party that had left David and informed them of their obvious responsibility for him. Two of their party started descending in order to make sure he was okay. It was around that point we put on our crampons and roped up.

          The sun was finally coming out and the cold was not as biting. We ascended up to the glacier making short rest stops along the way. Once at the glacier it looks as if it could be ascended in an hour or so. In fact it takes about 4 hours for the average person because at that point you are above 15,000 ft. We began the ascent up the glacier and about an hour in Luis began asking how any meters were left. We were about an hour from the top when Luis said "No me voy" or "I can't go." He was out of gasoline and each time we stopped he fell asleep. After some pushing by CM we continued on with the goal of the crater in mind. Luis suffered the rest of the way but made it to the crater rim.

             There he sat down and said "this is my summit." He insisted that Armando and I go the final 200 mts to the top. After assessing Luis for any signs of HACE or severe altitude sickness we decided that we could quickly and safely summit without him. We secured him on the rim and made a very fast ascent to the summit. We made it quickly to the top, took a picture and then descended back to Luis all in about 10 minutes. Once at the rim we had Luis drink more water, eat what he could and then we began the descent. It was 11:30am at this point. Descending is easier but also more dangerous and for that reason you have to cuidarse mucho.

          We descended with some short stops and lots of jokes. One thing I love about Mexican Spanish is how often and casually they swear. If we were talking about the beautiful trees it was "ay fuck your mother look at those beautiful fucking trees." The word "fuck" translated into Spanish doesn't carry quite as much weight as it does in America and in addition people aren't as sensitive to it but that is not to say that everyone in México swears all the time. These are generalized observations that I think are funny and are not to be taken seriously. One of my favorite quotes came from Luis when he was talking about the glacier with our 4X4 driver. The quote translated into English was "If you slipped on the glacier...Ay fuck, you would fall straight to motherfucking hell... olympicly motherfucked." Olímpico can also be translated as completely but I like it more this way.

          We made it to the refugio and to our tents by 4:00pm. We packed our bags and put them in the 4X4 once again. We drove back down to Tlachichuca all the while discussing the existence of aliens and various encounters with inexplicable happenings. We got back to the compound and ate a quick dinner before leaving for México City. We hit traffic around 8:00pm and didn't make it back to the city until after 11:00pm. We got back home, ate some cereal and passed out. Most importantly, despite not having officially summited Luis was still extremely happy with the trip and had no regrets.

El Sarcófago, Pico de Orizaba