Pico De Orizaba

The Climb

Pico de Orizaba rises 18,491 ft. rises above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracurz and Puebla. It is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro.

REQUIREMENTS

Must be able to carry 40-50 lb. packs and physically fit to hike 8-12 hrs at altitude. We will help with alpine training programs!

TRAINING

1. Stop drinking your carbs: have your next beer on the return from the summit attempt.

2. Try hot yoga. In addition to improving flexibility, yoga builds the stabilizer muscles in your feet and ankles that are so crucial to avoiding injury. And hot yoga, in particular, is a great HIIT workout.

3. Put in lots of miles with a heavy pack. Don’t obsess about doing hill work: more important that you’ve broken in your boots and dialed in the pack adjustments so its weight is on your hips. Endurance is the goal.

Gear

Many of the items on our recommended gear list can be borrowed or rented. Climb For Hope has extra sleeping bags and other gear, so please contact us before purchasing items you may not use again. Before we set out for the mountain, we can rent mountaineering boots and purchase any gear you may still need.

FUNDRAISING

Each climber is expected to raise $5,000 towards Climb For Hope’s mission of funding breast cancer and MS research and providing life-changing experiences for those affected by cancer.

When you sign up, we will provide a personal fundraising page and links for you to solicit or make donations. We are more than happy to help you with fundraising ideas, email templates, and marketing support, especially if you don’t have a lot of fundraising experience. 

THE GUIDES

Our longtime partners, the experienced and professional guides at Rare Earth Adventures, handle all the nitty-gritty details of our adventure, so that we can focus on the landscape and our own personal experiences. Not only are they also highly trained to keep us safe and respond to emergencies, but they’re pretty good mountain cooks too!

Itinerary

DAY 1

Arrive in Mexico City at your leisure. Contact and meet your guide(s) at the hotel inside the Airport Terminal. We will provide a Safety & Logistics briefing for our travels on Day 2. Additionally, we will begin to hydrate and take measures to assist the acclimatization process.

DAY 2

We gather in the hotel lobby in the morning around 9:00 a.m. We will do a quick review of the travel route, while the co-lead does a quick room check to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind. After this, we will load up and head to La Malinche National Park where we will begin our training for the Orizaba. Upon arrival, we will consolidate our equipment and do a thorough equipment check and inspection. In the evening, we will do a thorough mountain brief and obtain everyone’s personal goals and desires for the trip.

DAY 3

We will do an 8:00 a.m. wake-up call, and have breakfast around 8:30 a.m. After breakfast, we don our light hiking gear and go for a leisure walk to the summit of La Malinche or Matlalcueitl (14,640′). During the hike, we will require you to take notes about your condition. This will helps us continue to design and assess your acclimatization process. We will spend some time at the summit. Upon return, we will discuss how we felt and continue to organize the climb. The rest of the day will be spent discussing various mountaineering skill sets needed for the climb.

DAY 4

We have an 8:00 a.m. wake-up, have breakfast at 8:30 a.m. We will pack up all of our gear and drive to the town of Tlachichuca where we will drop-off our personal luggage and transition our equipment to a 4×4 vehicle. Once everything is loaded, we drive to the Piedra Hut (14,000′) located on the slopes of Orizaba. After our equipment is sorted out, we will continue to acclimate with a 15-20 minute short walk around the Hut. We’ll close the night with a briefing of the Day 5 events.

Day 5

This day is a true test of how well we are acclimated. We will start the day with a telescopic view of the route. Around mid-morning, we’ll don our hiking equipment, water, and lunch and begin a slow ascent up to roughly 16,000′. We’ll spend some time at this altitude taking pictures, scoping the upper part of Orizaba, eating lunch, and drinking plenty of water. After our hike, we’ll configure our packs for the summit attempt and make final preparations. The rest of the day will be spent resting, hydrating, and eating.

Day 6

Finally, our summit day.  All of our preparations will finally pay off. 

We start the day early in the morning and under moonlight.  We will work our way up the slope, through the labyrinth, and finally step onto the steep approach to the summit.  As you continue to climb, you’ll notice the sun has risen and Orizaba will be casting a beautiful mountain shadow in the distance. 

Our final push places on the crater’s edge for a dramatic finish.  After a few moments on the top of Orizaba, we will begin our descent and work our way back to camp.  Once at camp, we will have warm fluids, and food ready to replenish those diminished calories.  We’ll pack up what is left of our equipment and prepare to load our gear and descend to a more conducive altitude.  We spend the night in Tlachichuca, eat great food, experience a warm shower, and reminisce about our climb.

Day 7

Leisurely wake-up. Consolidate equipment to the rightful owners and load our vehicles. Transit back to Mexico City with a lunch stop in Puebla. Check into the hotel and say our final goodbyes.

Day 8

Depart home.