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.
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