A Man’s Hike
This is a picture of the mountain with our campsite in the foreground. We went up Friday afternoon to begin acclimating and set up camp at about 13,000 ft. Where we live in Ticuman, we are at 3,000 ft of altitude so it was quite an adjustment for us that we never really completed. When we first got there, the air was cool and light. We did a short hike and I was huffing a puffing for oxygen, my heart was pounding, and I felt a little dizzy and light headed. We did struggle with headaches too, but Tylenol worked real well.
One thing’s for sure… we ate well on this trip!
In the morning on Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful view of the active volcano, Popocatepetl. The mountain puffs smoke and steam constantly. These two mountain peaks are side-by-side but you can’t climb Popo. Here’s a copy of an Internet picture of the two peaks taken from the city of Puebla.
The low point between the two peaks is called the “Paseo de Cortez”. This is the place where Cortez and his men crossed over the mountains to take Mexico City.
Our hike began about 7:30 on Saturday morning. We wanted to be back to the car by 2:00 because the weather conditions can change really fast in the afternoon. It did snow on us Friday evening and night.
At our first vista, we got another incredible view of the volcano, Popocatepetl.
Here’s a picture of our whole group.
This is the other father/son team that came with us, Ed and Scott Somerville.
This is my favorite picture.
From this point, four of us kept going up.
This was the highest point for me! I made it to 15,010 ft almost 1000 ft higher than Pike’s Peak in Colorado. If I look like I’m out of breath, I was! 15,000 ft was my goal and I made it!
We took this picture of the GPS to prove it.
The three remaining guys went on another 530 ft higher in altitude before turning around. Here’s their picture.
They took this picture of a group of climbers ahead of us that were advancing up the next major slope toward the first 17,000+ peak.
The next time we go, that’s our goal--to make it to the top of what’s called the “Rodilla” (knee). On this trip we made it past the “ankles”. The mountain had several peaks and looks like a woman lying down sleeping. For more on this, you can look it up on Wikipedia. There’s an ancient legend of the sleeping woman, Iztaccihuatl, and her lover, Popocateptl.
Posted by on 04/30
(5) Comments • Permalink
Recent Responses:
Says:
04/30 at 11:48 AM
Great pictures and commentary. So have your started on your training program to make it to the top?
Says:
05/01 at 09:14 AM
Very cool, Paul. In earlier times, I’d have loved to be with you. Matt and I have hiked a number of 13 and 14’ers in Colorado, and I know what the altitude does to a person. I can’t imagine even 15,000, much less 17,000!
Says:
05/04 at 12:45 AM
Paul, beautiful pictures and well done! Makes me want to climb it someday--even if I’m just a girl! 
Says:
05/28 at 10:41 PM
Hmmm...maybe girls can do it, but I no wanna. I don’t think my rodillas could take it. Mom passed hers on to me (thanks a million, Mama!)
Looks like you had fun. Good thing you had your GPS or I wouldn’t have believed you. 
Says:
04/30 at 11:29 AM
Amazing! Great post Paul. Loved all the fotos.
Looked like a great outing with Peter and the others.