It was difficult to put this page together and to decide how to present it, with respect to the death of Vincent the following day.
After much thought I decided to present it as I would any other page. The way that Vincent would have liked to have seen it.
Iztaccihuatl is the third highest mountain and the 7th highest in North America with a height of 17,343 feet (5,286 meters).
The mountain is a famous landmark of Mexico City though can only be seen on the clearest of days when the pollution is washed away by rain or strong winds.
Ixta is the sleeping lady. You can sort of see it in this picture The leftmost side (N) is the head followed by a dip which is the neck. Her 'breasts' are the highest summit.
Popocatepetl (Popo) smoking in the background as we arrange permits in Paso de Cortes
We camped just before la Joya. Its pretty important to aclimatize before climbing. It has to be remebered though that Iztaccihuatl even lowere down gets extremely cold. This night we recorded -8 deg C
... washed down, of course, with copious amounts of tequila.
The tequila and this fire helped drive out the cold but only temporarily. My equipment was all back in england and my $23 costco sleeping bag didn't really help too much! In the early hours of the morning I came up with the brilliant idea of taking stone from the now dead fire and putting it in my sleeping bag. It works great!
Jonothan and Juan had the sense to bring better heaters.
Juan and Valdo (notice the very smart doggiepak!)
The climb to the top of Iztaccihuatl varies greatly in terrain. Here the group is at about 4500m
One of the nicest things about climbing Iztaccihuatl is the oppurtunity to get truely spectacular views on Popocatepetl. Unfortunately as Pop was active (and still in 2005) it is not possible to obtain climbing permits.
Jonothan resting at the refuge. Jonothan chose to stop here due to problems with altitude, though very fit he did the wise thing and listened to his body.
5012m at las Rodillas! (The knees) , the highest ever for me and also for Vincent. At this point Vincent was not looking to well and so we all decided that this summit was good enough and turned back for our descent.
Vincent , Eric and I at the Las Rodillas (The Knees) summit with a stunning view of Popocatepet to the south. To achive the true summit involves crossing an icefield (The stomache) and climbing up to the breasts (The true summit).
I have climbed many mountains in my life and I think this was the most special without even making it to the the true summit. This page is dedicated to Vincent