#32 Pico de Orizaba, Mexico High Point

The third highest peak in North America is Mexico's highest at 18,491 feet - the volcano Pico de Orizaba or Citlaltépetl meaning Star Mountain.  It's also the highest peak I have ever climbed on my birthday, and doing so seemed like a good way to commemorate another year marker.  ...although I think there are plenty of more relaxing options to celebrate a birthday than this one! 😜 

Before tackling Orizaba, my 32nd country high point climbed so far, we hiked the 14,636 foot La Malinche volcano, in order to acclimate to the high altitude.  La Malinche is located just over 2 1/2 hours east of Mexico City, north of the town of Puebla.  Fun fact, on May 5, 1862 the Pueblan's defeated a French invasion of the town and Cinco de Mayo is now celebrated in recognition of this occasion.  

I celebrated on the summit of Malinche after climbing 4,400 vertical feet in about 4 hours 45 minutes, to an altitude higher than Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous U.S.  Most importantly, I managed well at that altitude without any notable effects. 

We descended to the trailhead at just above 10,000 feet, and made our way by car to the tiny mountain town of San Miguel Zoapan for the night.  Our guide Lalo Mora Prieto, who I highly recommend @lalomoraprieto, is from this town on the slopes of Orizaba, and lives around the corner from the Orizaba Mountain Guides hostel and base. The next morning on Nov. 20th, we organized our gear making sure we had all of the necessary safety equipment including crampons, ice axes, harness and helmet, and made our way up by a 4WD truck to our base camp near the Piedre Grande hut at 14,000 feet.  After dinner and a few hours of 'attempted' sleep, the alarm sounded at midnight.  My tent mates all wished me a happy birthday, we ate breakfast, got ready, and started climbing in the dark at 1:20 AM.  Unfortunately it was raining lightly when we began so we got a bit damp, which wasn't the best way to start out a cold birthday climb to high altitude.  Luckily as we gained altitude and temperatures dropped, the rain and heavy mist turned to a light snow and eventually we climbed our way up and above the clouds.  

2:52 AM clouds clear and reveal route above

Nov. 21st at 6:23 AM nearing crater rim

It was a long and physically taxing day, but after just over 7 hours of climbing, mostly in the dark, at around 8:30 AM we reached the summit!  Luckily Lalo and I, along with 25 year-old  Christoph from Germany who is half my age, were fast and fit enough to pass all of the other rope teams on the mountain in order to be the very first group on the top.  The wind had died down almost completely and the sunshine was warming our bodies.  Looking across the horizon with the cloud cover below us, we enjoyed a surreal quiet and calm summit experience all to ourselves.  It gave me an opportunity to reflect and appreciate life and my ability to do something unique and physically demanding like this.  Through the meaningful work of the Challenged Athletes Foundation and Ogden Valley Adaptive Sports, my birthday wish from the top of Orizaba, is to help remove as many barriers as possible for those with disabilities so they can also enjoy outdoor sports and recreation opportunities and live life to the fullest!