Hey all,

This is my first post here, so sorry if it's not exactly in the right place. But I have just booked tickets to Mexico city on March 25th to climb Pico de Orizaba and wanted to hear if anybody else has climbed this and has some tips/recommendations for some gear to take along with me. Honestly, I could bug my older brother who is much more experienced but I would like to try and pull my own weight. The biggest recommendation that I need is for boots.. I have been looking at La Sportiva and some of their models but I'm just not sure which direction to go? Other gear that I have questions about is gloves? insulated pants? Just really any advice is good advice..

Thanks a lot guys,

Sam Root

We climbed Orizaba over Thanksgiving. I don't know if you will get similar conditions. For us, the temps were probably in the teens or twenties before the sun came up. Clear and sunny, not much wind. At that altitude, we couldn't move really fast to make heat, so wore a bit more than we would have in similar conditions here in Idaho.

That said, I wore a single leather mountain boot and they were fine. My daughter wore plastics, which were probably overkill. On Izta, she wore some light fabric/leather hikers and was fine. On Orizaba, we were concerned with the light boots- too much time in crampons.
We didn't wear insulated pants, just the same things we ski in. Mittens might be a good idea.

Here's my TR:
http://www.splattski.com/2008/mexico/index.html

La Sportiva Nepal Evos or Scarpa Mont Blancs should be about the heaviest boot you'll want to consider (Mont Blancs seem to be better if you have wide feet). If you've got some experience with full shank leather boots in winter conditions, consider those to cut down on the weight/fatigue factor.

As for pants, I'd suggest long underwear under some wind/shell pants, or go with something like Patagonia Guide pants with/without long underwear. In that case, I'd probably just wear a pair of boxers and leave the long underwear at home --- but throw the shell pants in my backpack in case conditions got nasty.

I appreciate you guys getting back to me.. I had found some Koflach Arctis Expe boots on eBay that I snagged for a pretty good deal. They are most likely overkill but I plan to use them on future hikes. I also had been looking into the Patagonia Guide pants so I'm glad you recommended those. I'm glad to hear that a ridiculous amount of gear is not required as this is a college Spring Break for me and money is not unlimited lol.

Due to the glacier having receded so much, climbing Orizaba in heavy, full-shank boots is no fun at all. The first several hours from the hut are on steep dirt, scree and rock. The section known as the Labyrinth has completely melted out, so any photos or descriptions you might see in trip reports from years past (even fairly recent ones) are obsolete. I recommend a lighter insulated boot such as the Scarpa Charmoz Pro GTX. A friend who has guided this mountain 50 times wears La Sportiva Trango Cube boots on this climb. I wore Scarpa Phantom Guide boots and they felt too heavy and clumsy on the (long) approach to the glacier.

Norris wrote:Due to the glacier having receded so much, climbing Orizaba in heavy, full-shank boots is no fun at all. The first several hours from the hut are on steep dirt, scree and rock. The section known as the Labyrinth has completely melted out, so any photos or descriptions you might see in trip reports from years past (even fairly recent ones) are obsolete. I recommend a lighter insulated boot such as the Scarpa Charmoz Pro GTX. A friend who has guided this mountain 50 times wears La Sportiva Trango Cube boots on this climb. I wore Scarpa Phantom Guide boots and they felt too heavy and clumsy on the (long) approach to the glacier.

I really appreciate the info on this.. I went ahead and picked up the Koflach Arctis Expe boots for a descent deal but now am considering whether or not I will just shelve them for a later adventure. I am going to look into a lighter boot like you recommended. Like I said, I booked this trip for March, will the conditions still for the most part be as you described?

Yeah those boots are definitely overkill.

Also DO take lots of time to adjust to altitude. I saw a guy appearing really sick who was descending past hut, and I myself didn't summit, despite following standard recommendations. I was in the area for a prior week (about), with hike up Malinche.

Two weeks at around 10,000 ft or more might make the adjustment all but certain. I don't know if some of the region's towns are sufficiently high, but they're fantastic! Tlaxcala, near La Malinche National Park,is partiularly impressive, but there's a few others whose names I don't recall. Puebla has many lovely churches and fantastic food, but it's all a bit huge and inconvenient. Cholula is stunning.

Also, based on my one experience of 10+ years ago, I'd avoid the hut. It's filled with rats and mostly dopey US "adventure tourists" and their guides. One could instead camp between there and glacier. It would be more "adventurey" and you'd probably sleep no worse than in hut w. all the snoring and farting and rat noise.

Mild sleeping pills might be useful at altitude.

Long underwear can be fairly light. I don't see a great advantage in leaving out. I imagine just windpro gloves w spares would be adequate, but something warmer wouldn't hurt much either.

Mild sleeping pills might be useful at altitude.

Sleeping pills are not recommended if you are climbing to high altitudes.

sroot wrote:

Norris wrote:Due to the glacier having receded so much, climbing Orizaba in heavy, full-shank boots is no fun at all. The first several hours from the hut are on steep dirt, scree and rock. The section known as the Labyrinth has completely melted out, so any photos or descriptions you might see in trip reports from years past (even fairly recent ones) are obsolete. I recommend a lighter insulated boot such as the Scarpa Charmoz Pro GTX. A friend who has guided this mountain 50 times wears La Sportiva Trango Cube boots on this climb. I wore Scarpa Phantom Guide boots and they felt too heavy and clumsy on the (long) approach to the glacier.

I really appreciate the info on this.. I went ahead and picked up the Koflach Arctis Expe boots for a descent deal but now am considering whether or not I will just shelve them for a later adventure. I am going to look into a lighter boot like you recommended. Like I said, I booked this trip for March, will the conditions still for the most part be as you described?

Precipitation typically declines during the period between November and March, although this being an El Nino year, who knows? The glacier certainly won't come back. I suspect you will find the conditions the same as I did. I would save the Koflach boots for another climb on another mountain.