Avalanche Safety: Avalanche Safety: - The Alpine Club of Canada

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Peaks of FireClimbing Mexico’s VolcanoesStory and photosby Kathia Voyer and Nadia Bonenfantsunny Mexico. There wasHot, nothing that compared to thetropical flowers, snowy peaks and friendlypeople. What a great feeling to step off theplane and seize the different smells, colours,smiles, all melting into the slow pace of life.Upon our arrival, we decided not tospend any time in the big city, so after twodays we headed to our first climb, VolcanNevado de Toluca. This was a great climbto acclimatize on before heading to highervolcanoes, it is also well renowned for its twobeautiful Laguna lakes. After an afternoonof hiking we arrived to what they call“Aubergue Alpino”. It was a festive day inMexico, and to our surprise all the city folkswere in the foothills enjoying the clean, freshair. We spent the night on the rolling greenhills and climbed to the craters the nextday. Mission one accomplished, we headedtowards El Pico de Orizaba.The town of Puebla was a great strategicarea to base trips from. It was in the middleof the two climbs we had planned, hotelswere cheap, the food was good and thesupermarket had everything needed for ourexpeditions. We spent a few days organizing12 Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Winter 2002Mount Popocatepetleverything, shopping and packing the food.From here we took a bus to a small villagecalled Tlachichuca, a town nestled in thefoothills of El Pico. We arranged a shuttleto get in and out of the valley. Servimont, aclimbing company, was based out of an oldsoap factory and ran 4x4s to get us to ourstarting point. After a bumpy two hour ridethey left us in what looked like the AfricanSavanna; we camped in the upper part ofthe valley before heading up to base campthe next day. Acclimatization here was thekey.As we slowly rose over the grassy hills, wehad the most powerful, unimaginable viewof the Pico, The Giant in the Clouds, as thelocals call him. It was really fascinating towalk through the many geo-climatic zones.One day we were escaping the venomoussnakes and the next we heard the crunchingof snow under our feet. Both of us feltstrongly about the mountains, and theenergy we experienced on this section of ourtrip was unexplainable. We arrived at PiedraGrande, with Pico sleeping in the clouds,above our heads. Although this was the rainyseason and climbs got more challenging, wemet other climbing parties from Europe,South America and the USA. It was greatto exchange information on climbs andtraditions from other areas of the world.Part of our plan was to spend two nightsat Base Camp at 4200 meters. We hikedback down to the forest and back up again.This worked out well for both of us and sowe decided to climb to high camp on daythree. Situated at 4600 meters, it offered agreat view of the valley, but unless it wascrystal clear, it was hard to see the routeup the peak. Over the next few hours wejust got dumped on. We had been observingthe weather patterns and it was similar everyday. We knew the best time was from themiddle of the night until 10:00 AM in themorning.That night, many prayers went out to themountain gods, at 2:00 AM in the morning,we started to climb. It was a full moon sowe didn’t even need our headlamps. We feltlike astronauts on the moon, we scrambledup through a couloir and reached the foot ofthe glacier at 4:30 AM. We roped up, donnedour crampons and started the ascent. Thiswas where we struggled to describe ouremotions, the energy flowed through ourcold bodies, and we felt freedom, liveliness,the unknown, and the intangible. Awestruckby the shimmering snow and the full moon,we climbed and climbed in the fresh newsnow, switched leads the whole way up.It was special to be two good friends andfeeling the beauty and the power of themountain.We learned two things here. In themountains, one needs good weather anda great partner. As we ascended, we hadthe full moon on our right side and theawakening sun shining on our left. It wasthe perfect balance; the pureness of life.The clouds filled the valley below and wewere the only two beings on the peak.The colours were so rich with the new dayand Pico shone in its entire splendor. Thesummit felt so close, yet it was still far away.We didn’t talk much that morning but weknew how fulfilling this experience was. Theair was thinner and our legs heavier, but wewent on. We finally reached the top at 5,600meters and looked down into the vast sleepycrater. So much emotion and exhaustion! Astears of joy rolled down our cold cheeks,we knew this was only the start of manyadventures to come. This was our steppingstoneto other mountains of the world. Wesnapped a few shots and started down. Atthis point in the morning, the sun wasreally hot and the new snow was rollingon the slope. Our crampons were likecookie cutters, and the visibility started to
deteriorate. It was a tricky descent and it feltlike the altitude had caught up to us. Westopped and stayed hydrated, but we weremoving much slower and the fatigue wasinvading our bodies. We knew that keepinga good pace was the key, and so after afew hours in the thick clouds, we reachedthe bottom of the glacier. We followed ourtracks back to high camp and enjoyed thesnowy afternoon with a deep sleep.After climbing El Pico de Orizaba, weheaded back to Puebla to recharge ourbatteries, shop and pack for our last climb.Iztaccihuatl is a 5,230-meter peak known asThe Sleeping Lady and is part of the Popo-Ixta National Park. Popocatepetl erupted inDecember and so both mountain accesseswere closed. We knew that climbing partieswere still able to get to the trailhead, and sowe decided to give it a try. After spendinga few days in the town of Amecameca, wefound a taxi driver willing to take us tothe park gate. He warned us, and said thatwe would probably not be able to enterthe park, but we chanced it anyway. It wasa surprise when we realized that our taxidriver was a friend of the military guardwho worked at the park entrance. After afew minutes of a Mexican stand-off theydecided to let us pass. We got a ride all theway to La Joya, our starting point for theclimb. We arranged for a pick up date andsimply hoped that good karma would makehim return here at the end of the week.The National Park was absolutelymagical. Tropical flowers and cactuses, two5,000 meter peaks, green rolling hills andbeautiful rock walls lined the valley. Westarted climbing that morning and ended upspending the night on a col. There was lotsof wind, but the weather was holding. Thatnight we fell asleep to the sound of howlingwolves from the valley below. The nextmorning, we woke up to the shimmeringsun and kept climbing up towards a hutthat was situated at 4,750 meters. Therock formations offered many opportunitiesfor bouldering. We reached the hut in theafternoon and scouted the rest of the routethat was visible from here. The weatherturned bad overnight and so we waitedanother day before climbing again. Thesecond night in the hut, we went for it.It was clear and chilly as we started ourascent. We climbed the “knees” known asLos Rodillas, which then lead us to the“belly”, La Barriga. By that time, the sunwas rising and again many emotions were inthe air.The sky was so clear we were able tosee el Pico de Orizaba, Popo and its trailof smoke, and the morning lights of busyMexico City. Ixta was a great mountainbecause it had a less direct route than theother ones we climbed. Lots of variationscould be done and it was more challenging.There were three false summits to get overbefore reaching the top, known as the“breast”, El Pecho. The terrain varied fromalpine style rock to glacier travel. The viewfrom up here was magnificent and onceagain there was an unbelievable feelingwhen we reached the top. We stayed on thesummit for a while and contemplated thevalley below. We were surprised to see howwell our bodies responded at high altitude.We recapped about how lucky we were tohave been given the chance to experiencethe mountains of Mexico. The next day, wedescended to the col where we spent thenight dreaming of other trips to come.The hike to the valley floor provided timeto reflect on the month spent in Mexico. Wewere full of energy and appreciation for thetrip we had lived, and for the mountains.The morning was so clear and the colours sobright. We had accomplished our goals andit was an unforgettable feeling. On our lastmorning, walking back to the meeting spotthat we had arranged with our taxi driverthe week before, we rounded the bend atthe end of the road and we saw Pedro. Wesmiled and got in the car. When we left thevalley that day, we realized how perfect ourjourney was and knew that someone waswatching over us. Thank you Jen.We would like to Thank:The ACC for the Jen Higgins Fund grant, theHiggins family, Valhalla Pure, Wild Roses,Pat & Baiba Morrow, University College ofthe Cariboo.Nadia & Kathia with Mount Iztaccihuatl in the backgroundAlpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Winter 2002 13
Page 1: Vol. 16, No. 1 ● Winter 2002Avala
Page 4 and 5: Message from the EditorThrougha coi
Page 6 and 7: Avalanche Safety:Not just for Snow
Page 8 and 9: Looking for a Mountain Adventure th
Page 10 and 11: 2001 - GMC Report - Windy Creek / R
Page 14 and 15: The International Year of Mountains
Page 16 and 17: Eric Brooks Passes AwayIt was with
Page 18 and 19: 2001 ACC Volunteer AwardsDueto the
Page 20 and 21: Financial GrantsToall those who app
Page 22 and 23: An exciting new sport is developing

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