From: sullivan@hac.com (Bill Sullivan)
Newsgroups: rec.climbing
Subject: Mexico Volcanos Update
Date: 8 Jan 93 23:45:01 GMT


Back in September an article was posted by John Prentice giving information on Mexico
Volcanos (Popo and Izta).  Since I was recently there I can provide some up to date
information without adding to what was already posted.

==============================
Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl
==============================
Accomodations at Tlamacas have changed slightly.  Last year the main water supply pipe 
to the lodge busted.  The water was from a natural spring.  Everyone I talked with said
that the water had been perfectly safe to drink.  With the busted water main the water
supply was quite limited.  Every afternoon the water would run out and the employees at
the lodge would promise more water usually by 7 PM (which was correct).  Although I 
never saw or heard about one I think the water was being trucked in.  The water which
was available was pretty disgusting.  We were using it for cooking after boiling it
for 10 minutes.  This required quite a bit of fuel.  According to the employees a new
water main from the spring was to be started in February but in Mexico who knows.
Because of the lack of water the showers are not operating and buckets of water had to
be poured into the toliets in order to get them to flush.  It starts to wear on you
after a few days.

One good thing is that the lodge sells purified water at the cost of N$4.00 (4 nuevo
pesos or 4000 pesos) for 1.5 liters.  This is about $1.33 making it a pretty good deal. 

A second major change at the lodge is that the cafeteria is no longer operating.  I
kept hearing two different reasons.  The first was that the Mexican Health Department
closed it down due to some violations.  The second was that the Mexican IRS (?) came
after the man who ran the cafeteria and as a result he could no longer afford to run
it.  Nobody seemed to know if the cafteria would ever open again.  Either way it's
closed and you have to cook your own food.  In addition to the water for sale the
lodge did have some snack food for sale (chips, candy, etc).

There are a couple of things which should be re-iterated about staying at Tlamacas.
First, you definitely do not want to be there on a weekend.  It's a complete zoo.
Second, bring ear plugs.  They are a life saver.

===================
El Pico de Orizaba
===================
On Orizaba there are two huts on the north side at the end of the main road.  The main 
road however is not that main.  It is dirt but can be considered an easy 4x4 trail.
This has advantages and disadvantages.  There are significantly less people here than
at Tlamacas.  Most everbody up there was there to climb which is not the case at
Tlamacas.  The main disadvantage is that you cannot pop up, climb, and pop down on a
whim.  Unless you have a four wheel drive or a VW bug which you care very little about
you will have to get a ride from the town of Tlachichuca.  This town is located on the
western side of Orizaba down on the high plains at about 9000 feet and is about 70
miles east of Puebla.  In this town there are two people who shuttle climbers up to
the huts.  We went with a man called Joaquin (can't remember his last name).  He wasn't
very hard to find since the town is quite small.  He had a F-250 flat bed which had been
modified with wood sides.  We loaded all our gear, hopped in, and held on to the sides
for the dusty 2 hour trudge up to 14000 feet.  Since he comes up almost every afternoon
with a new set of climbers it was no problem catching a ride back down into town.  The
round trip cost was $30 per person.

The two huts up at roads end (on the north side of the mountain) are called Piedra Grande
(the larger stone hut) and a second tin shack hut called Campo Vigilanto (something like
that).  We got up there about 6 PM and tried to move into the stone hut.  There were
about 30 people already inside and my first impression was that of a Nazi Concentration
Camp because of the 4-high bunks filled with a bunch of burnt out climbers.  This option 
was out of the question so we decided to camp since we had tents.  The tin shack was empty
so we used it for cooking.  It turned out to be a good wind break since the evenings were
quite windy.

As for bathrooms forget it.  There isn't even a latrine which is really sad since it
would not take all that much to put one in.  Outside the stone hut there is a sign labled
"WC" (water closet?) which points up the hill directing the people.  This also is quite
sad because many people have not bothered to bury waste or to burn or pack out used T.P.

Water is another concern here.  There is one spring which is about 100 feet down the slope
from the tin hut but I didn't see any water feeding into it.  It was just a stone
enclosure filled with gross water, however, people were using it.  We carried our own
water up the mountain.

On the north side the route up Orizaba is obvious.  You start at 14000 feet and proceed
1500 feet up a rock gully which has a steep but heavily ducked trail.  At 15500 feet you
hit the toe of the glacier.  From here you can not see the summit but 700 feet of climbing
on a moderate slope brings you to a flat area where the summit comes back in view.  From
here you can proceed straight to the top by staying slightly to the right or to the low
point of the crater rim at 18500' by going slightly to the left.  We chose the latter.
Orizaba is dormant so there is no smell to impede your constant breathing (as is the
case on Popo).  Towards the top of the crater rim the slope increases to about 35 degrees.
It's only difficult because of the amount of wind you need to suck to keep going.  From
the rim it's an easy 350 foot climb along its edge to the top.  The view from the top is
nothing short of spectacular.

The climb on Orizaba is not that difficult, however, it can be dangerous.  In November
1992 four climbers were killed right near the top.  A 100 x 200 meter snow slab broke
loose and they perished in the resulting avalanche.  Apparently there had been alot of
snow and rain in the weeks prior to their climb and this probably led to their demise.  

That's it...

			Bill

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