Entries By jake beren
Now our team is safely in Puebla, getting cleaned up and reorganized after a valiant effort on Ixta.
As we pulled into our high camp yesterday afternoon our fingers were crossed tightly for a break in the weather. By the time we sat up to fire stoves, a ferocious snow storm pelted the tents and kept us at bay. It came down hard for a few hours, then the wind started. Camp remained in a wet windy cloud and still we waited, hoping for a spell in the storm. It never came. After a mostly sleepless night, the sun finally turned our cloud light and we started packing up. The team handled the sub-ideal conditions like true climbers, realistic that safety trumps all and hunkering down in this case was by far the most prudent choice. Now we rest in Puebla and get ready to head to Orizaba for the next climb, just a little hungrier.
RMI Guides Jake Beren & J.J. Justman
February 14, 2012
Posted by: Jake Beren, JJ Justman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 14,750'
Hello everyone,
This is RMI Guide JJ Justman checking in. We want to let everyone following our Mexico's Volcanoes Expedition know that we are at high camp on Ixta (14,750ft). The Team is doing fantastic. We are preparing for our summit bid tomorrow, so we are getting our water ready. We are planning on waking up around midnight and getting hot drinks going for our crew.
It is pretty unusual right now, there is a ton of snow that you don’t normally see here on Ixta, but it is actually making for some pretty nice climbing. Weather is calm there is no wind, so we will keep our fingers crossed. It’s looking like it is going to be a great day tomorrow, so stay tuned. We will check in again tomorrow and will hopefully have some great news. We are looking at a nice safe climb of Ixta.
Ciao from Mexico!
On The Map
Hello from the Mexico's Volcanoes Team,
Today we left our high altitude training site ready to go higher. After a lovely brunch overlooking the Txacala waterfall we continued to the town of Amecameca to finish acquiring our provisions for Ixta. Loaded with plenty of food we drove to Paso de Cortez, the col between Ixta and Popo, to finish our approach to the Altzimoni hut. Here we rest, with full bellies, and finish our last preparations before hitting the trail to our high camp on Ixtaccihuatl.
The weather has been a bit unseasonable so far, with rare snow at these elevations. Folks from the surrounding towns have been driving up to check out the snow and we have passed more than a few cars with tiny snowmen perched on their hoods. Our fingers are crossed that the "White Woman" (as Ixtaccihuatl is known because it resembles a woman sleeping on her back, and is often covered with snow) will be without her blanket of clouds tomorrow.
Wish us luck,
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Hello this is the RMI Mexico's Volcanoes Team checking in from La Malintzi, which is at the base of La Malinche (14,636 feet) this is the mountain we went hiking on today. For the first time that I’ve ever seen there was a fair bit of snow to hike through up top to get to the ridge. The team did very well getting through some pretty good conditions; a little bit of snow, a little bit of wind, and a little bit of rain. A real mixed bag. It was a great day and everyone did very well. We are going to grab some dinner and get ready to head toward the Altzimoni hut tomorrow which is at the base of Ixta.
That’s all from here, everyone is doing great and we will keep you posted.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from Mexico after the team's acclimatization hike.
On The Map
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
After our hailstorm approach and the lightning storms visible on the horizon, no one on our team really had a lock on how the day would turn out. When we started breaking trail at midnight and the stars quickly disappeared, everyone crossed their fingers that Cotopaxi would let us stand on top. Luckily fortune smiled on us and we managed to find our way through some quickly changing glacial conditions with plenty of new snow to go with. The higher we climbed, the clearer it got and this team did a great job climbing smart and safe on this tough mountain and we all returned healthy and happy, albeit with the weirdest facial tanning we've seen. Thanks for a great trip with an awesome team.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Things didn't look all that promising when the team woke up this morning. The clear skies we lit the stoves under were gone and we were solidly in a thick cloud. Often when climbing you have to go check it out and at the end of our first hour Cayambe was entirely visible. A waning half moon illuminated the upper mountain and the snow was perfect cramponing. With barely a breeze, you couldn't ask for a better day to climb. The team worked hard today, earning the top in great style and enjoying the views of the other Ecuadorian volcanoes poking out of the clouds. We could even see Cotopaxi, our next objective.
Good job everyone and enjoy tomorrow's rest.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Felicidades!! Me alegro que lo hayan disfrutado!!
Posted by: Marisol Ferández on 1/17/2012 at 9:33 am
Good morning, this is Jake Beren and the RMI Ecuador team standing on top of Cayambe. Everybody did super well today. We had a beautiful day to climb and now we are perched pretty high above the clouds surrounded by some pretty large volcanoes. It was just about as good today as I have ever seen out here. It was a real pleasure to be here with such a good team. So, I guess that’s it. I'll be in touch when we get further down.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
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RMI Guide Jake Beren calls in from the summit of Cayambe.
Good Luck Team Hermano!
Posted by: Hannah on 2/15/2012 at 6:51 am
Hope you had a brilliant summit. Post some pictures and send my love to mr. Rogers.
Posted by: Bonny Rogers on 2/15/2012 at 5:48 am
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