Hello this is Jake checking in from Mexico.
We are at Piedra Grande, the hut on Pico de Orizaba. After a day of rest in Puebla, we took off for Tlachichuca early this morning. After meeting with Dr. Reyes at his family's climber hostile we took four wheel drive vehicles up to the hut. We are turning in early to prepare for our climb tonight. It is a little cloudy right now but other than that conditions are pretty good. The peak comes out now and again and we are hoping things clear out for our climb tomorrow.
Wish us luck! We will call in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from the climber's hut on Pico de Orizaba.
Well it's been quite a day. This morning (technically speaking) we arose to a pretty full moon and gave climbing Ixta a shot. The past few mornings have had Popo's (Ixta's neighboring volcano and protector) smoky plume ascending straight into the sky. These "no wind" mornings are a treat to climb in and this morning was certainly a treat. Our team cruised the perfect conditions left by last month's storms and stood on top early this morning. We were able to see Orizaba in first light looming over Puebla where we now rest. Popo's aforementioned plume actually glowed red with the magma exposed in it's crater! I've never seen it do that before. On our descent Ixta's shadow stretched for miles and we pulled into camp seemingly just as a cold front made it's way to the mountain. Quite a day.
Now for a little R&R here in Puebla before heading to Orizaba.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Good morning from the top of Ixtaccihuatl!
We are standing on the summit with the RMI Mexico’s Volcanoes team. We had a fantastic climb this morning, a huge moon and unbelievable cramponing conditions. The climb was smooth and we are up in great time. So we are just checking out the views of Puebla, Amecameca and Mexico City with the lights down below. Everyone did great.
We want to wish Fernando a very Happy Birthday and thank him for spending his birthday with us on the summit.
We’ll be checking in when we get down low.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren calls in from the summit of Ixtaccihuatl.
holloway you need to hurry up and get back. i haven’t been to the gym since you left. i need you here to carry my sorry butt. speaking of workouts, chase’s sister is really missing you. she has been so upset she hasn’t ate since you left. she is down to 468lb.
p.s. chase says to tell you you look like a baby back b**ch in that picture.
hope all is well, daniel
Posted by: Daniel on 3/7/2012 at 3:23 pm
WAY TO GO AUNT KIM!! ALL THOSE HOURS OF LOOKING LIKE A NERD ON THE STAIRMILL (WITH A BACKPACK) REALLY PAID OFF…
tell all your new friends they did a great job too :)
Hello, this is Jake with the RMI Mexico team. Everybody made up to high camp today doing well and climbing in good style. We have now set up camp, hung out, relaxed for a little bit and we're doing a little snow school review with Dan and Fernando before dinner. So all is well up here and we will be checking in tomorrow. Wish us luck. If this weather holds, then we're gonna go for the top tonight so we'll be checking in hopefully from up there. Alright. Bye.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Greetings everybody!
We are at the Altzimoni Hut at the base of Ixtaccihuatl, where we will be heading out to climb tomorrow. All is well here. We've had clearing afternoon a little bit of cloud cover over Ixta right now but looks to be breaking up somewhat. So, with fingers crossed we'll go to bed (hoping for clear skies in the morning) and head up to our high camp tomorrow. The team is doing great. We had a nice stop in Amecameca to pick up some last minute items, cruise around town and sort of check out what was going on and see some sites we may not otherwise have visited in Central Mexico. We will call in from our high camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from 12000 ft on Ixtaccihuatl.
Hello this is Jake Beren with the RMI Mexico's Volcanoes Team. We are down in La Malintze which is just to the east of Mexico City where we did our first acclimatization hike on La Malinche today. Everyone did very well and we got up to just under 14,000' with good weather and came back down to a big meal and tomorrow we will head in the way of Ixta by way of Amecameca and a big breakfast.
So, all is well here and we will check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in after the team's first acclimatization hike.
Off to a good start down here. Everyone is in, safe and sound and after a brief orientation we kept the good times rollin' with a solid meal at Cafe Tacuba and an early night of sleep. Tomorrow we start our acclimatization with our journey to La Malinche. More later from the mountains.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hello from Tlachichuca,
Upon our arrival to the Piedra Grande Hut, we heard from fellow guides that they had been turned due to bad weather the night before on Orizaba. It appears as though Central Mexico has been getting hit hard these days by the weather demons, and not just on Ixta. When we woke last night a different story was being written. It was downright balmy! It did cool off as we climbed, but we enjoyed near perfect weather as we climbed through a little bit of new snow to the glacier where most fresh precipitation had been blown far away.
The team did a great job on a huge day and we all stood on top together, with great views of Mexico's volcanoes even Ixta came out for the first time all week.
Thanks to a great team, Mexico crew and fellow guides JJ and Fernando for an awesome trip!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hello everybody. This is Jake, JJ, Fernando, Mike, Mav, Bob, Jim, Peter, April, Cyrus, Christopher and Matt. We are all on the summit of Orizaba! Everybody did super well. We got 100% of our team up. Everyone climbed super strong. Light winds, beautiful day. We can see all the mountains in Mexico that we've been around and everyone is doing super great. Wish us luck on the descent and we'll call in later. Nice job everybody. Thanks a lot!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Yesterday was a rest day in the colonial town of Puebla. This is a fun day for the team, one where everyone gets a chance to explore the town a get taste of this beautiful Mexican city. We reconvened at dinner to share the day's exploits. Trips to the city's fort, churches, shopping and general exploration were the missions recounted at dinner. Now it's off to Tlachichuca, where we will rig for our attempt on Orizaba. The weather looks more promising today, and we all hope it holds and improves for another few days. Wish us luck amigos.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
I am jealous, as the weather on our trip was not so cooperative. Congrats to the team!
Posted by: Peter Rogers on 3/9/2012 at 11:33 am
Red hot Magma?
Posted by: Hannah on 3/8/2012 at 9:26 am
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