Route Climbed: Pico de Fraile Date Climbed: 15 November 2005
This was our first acclimatisation hill for Orizaba on the 22nd. Nice easy stuff with perfect viz on a cloudless day. Great scree run back down to "Lake of the Moon"! Thanks Hector and Rubin.
Route Climbed: Pico de Fraile Date Climbed: January 7, 2002
A good introduction to class 4 climbing. Most of the rte is class 3 but there are some decent class 4 sections with good holds but considerable exposure. Summitted on a clear day with the lakes below. Most amazing thing was to see a group of Mexican distance runners training on the road up to the base of the rte. These guys were going at a respectable 10 K pace above 10K feet. The second most amazing was the number of locals who drive up to 13k to picnic at the lakes.
Route Climbed: Pico de Aguila from outside the crater Date Climbed: April 4 2002
I had a great time climbing this with my friends and boyfriend. We drove through Mexico City that morning and returned to our home in Texcoco that night. Seeing the crater lakes was beautiful, and being with young friends who had never seen snow before was exciting for them. A great mountain.
Route Climbed: Pico de Aguila from outside the crater Date Climbed: Feb. 23 2002
I took 1.5 hours to myself to bag this summmit while my good friend Gustavo distarcted the principals... giving me enough time to reach the top. I was fortunate that my students were embroiled in a 2 hour snowball war otherwise all the blocking in the world would have availed me little. A great workout for the lungs, and as it was my first time above 3000m in 8 years. I was more than impressed by how my lungs did.... great views from the top... even on a cloudy day.
Route Climbed: Crater Rim Traverse Date Climbed: February 2, 2003
I did the crater rim traverse from south to north as a day hike. I left Hotel San Carlos at 8:00am. By the way, I liked Hotel San Carlos near the zocalo (main town square). Rooms were clean, plenty of hot water, cable TV, etc. I paid 250 pesos/night for a single room as of February 2003. Anyway, left Hotel San Carlos with my taxi driver (Sr. Monteagudo) at 8:00am and got to the end of the road at the base of the crater next to Laguna del Sol at 9:35am. Senor Monteagudo and I had tamales that his wife cooked for us. He climbed with me for a little while. We started climbing at 10:10am. Once we gained the main ridge to the left, Sr. Monteagudo headed down to his blue taxi. I continued on and summited "Pico del Fraile" (15,390') at 11:55am. Then I continued along the rim and summited "Pico de la Aguila" (15,157') at 1:40pm. Took one of the chutes down the north side after Pico de la Aguila where Sr. Monteagudo picked me up at the road. Got to the road at 2:40pm. Overall 4.5 hours to do most of the crater rim traverse. I arrived at Hotel San Carlos in Toluca at 4:00pm. Sr Monteagudo charged me 600 pesos for the 8 hours (8am-4pm).
Route Climbed: Crater Rim from North Date Climbed: Nov 24, 2002
Signing in from Cholula, Mexico. Wow, what a beautiful peak. I basically did this peak with only some old information from XPMexico.org (which doesn't exist anymore but mentioned 5 routes). The rim traverse is a great class 1-3 hike (I didnt do the class 4 portion south of the main peak). Secor offers almost no good information on this peak which made it more fun. Vesna and I headed up the north side to Pico de la Aguila (Eagle's Peak) at 11:15am. She turned around just when the class 3 was starting. I started traversing the rim which was incredible fun. I met Bob Evans under the true summit at around 4pm. He told me of his way out from Laguna del Sol which looked like a straight shot out passing behind a mound. Unfortunately when I got there it was anything but straight and the sun when down when I got to Laguna de la Luna which I didnt know about. With the sun down, I spent the night inside the crater with gorgeous views of the stars and lake but with no idea how to get out. I tried 3 paths and finally found one out at 6am. I got back to the trailhead at about 6:30am for the drive back to Toluca. Wow, what an adventure. More to write about this. Bob did the crater rim from the south including the class 4 portion (no class 5 necessary but opted for an easier class 2 descent). Bob and Vesna would climb via the West Ridge (which I've been told is the "normal route") the next day which I rested.
Route Climbed: normal route Date Climbed: October 8, 2002
I climbed as a day trip out of Toluca. If you do the same the road at the hut (about 6 kilometers from the crater) is closed by a barrier until 8:00 am , there is a 2 peso toll per person (apparently to maintain the road). Since it takes about an hour and a half from Toluca, you don;t need to leave Toluca before about 6:30 am. My taxi driver waited at the crater for the 4 hours it took me to summit and charged me 600 pesos for the round trip and wait. I stayed at the Hotel San Carlos and liked the hotel quite a lot.
Route Climbed: Traverse of the Crater Rim Date Climbed: January 1st 2002
after spending the night in the not-so-clean but well built hut next to the check point in the road to the crater, we were able to start our climb very early. Class 4 terrain, rope may be needed depending on your abilities. 6 hours. As my partner Tom Fralich says, is the best climb we did in the Mexican Volcanos
Route Climbed: standard route Date Climbed: april 4 2002
Summited both Aguila and Fraile from outside the crater. I actually climbed Aguila on a field trip with my students... I managed to find and hour and a half to myself to scramble to the top. Later I returned with a friend and climbed Fraile from the outside as well. It is another great climb/hike with beautiful views from the crater rim... completely worth Mexico's heinous traffic jams.
big_g - Jan 7, 2006 2:35 pm Date Climbed: Jan 6, 2006
Route Climbed: Ruta NormalPhlegmed my way up to the top behind some much more vigorous SPers. Nice scrambling opportunities if you're not too sick to enjoy.
timfoltz - Jan 4, 2006 2:22 pm
Date Climbed: Sometime in 1997Climbed to the top with my dad at the age of 8. Fun easy climb.
Mike Garside - Dec 18, 2005 4:34 pm
Route Climbed: Pico de Fraile Date Climbed: 15 November 2005This was our first acclimatisation hill for Orizaba on the 22nd. Nice easy stuff with perfect viz on a cloudless day. Great scree run back down to "Lake of the Moon"! Thanks Hector and Rubin.
forjan - Nov 20, 2005 8:05 pm
Route Climbed: Crater Rim Traverse Date Climbed: November 20, 2005Climbed with awagher. Rolling clouds....a bit cooler than last time I was here in Feb 2003. Heading to Ixta next.
melindahalasz - Sep 11, 2005 3:33 pm
Route Climbed: Pico de Fraile Date Climbed: July 28, 2005It's an unforgettable and majestic place to me!!!
Nice mountain with nice view of the Laguna de la Luna. Perfect goal for acclimatization.
soslaw - Apr 18, 2005 4:06 pm
Route Climbed: Pico de Fraile Date Climbed: January 7, 2002A good introduction to class 4 climbing. Most of the rte is class 3 but there are some decent class 4 sections with good holds but considerable exposure. Summitted on a clear day with the lakes below. Most amazing thing was to see a group of Mexican distance runners training on the road up to the base of the rte. These guys were going at a respectable 10 K pace above 10K feet. The second most amazing was the number of locals who drive up to 13k to picnic at the lakes.
mxclimber - Sep 16, 2004 11:39 am
Route Climbed: pico del aguila from outside the crater Date Climbed: september 27 2003reached the summit, very cloudy a hailstrom caught us on the descent
dharmadog - Jun 21, 2004 12:12 am
Route Climbed: normal Date Climbed: november 2000summited with son montana on a beautiful day....stayed in hut the night before 13,750..then off to Iztaccihuatl and orizaba
Rachel - Dec 12, 2003 12:54 pm
Route Climbed: Pico de Aguila from outside the crater Date Climbed: April 4 2002I had a great time climbing this with my friends and boyfriend. We drove through Mexico City that morning and returned to our home in Texcoco that night. Seeing the crater lakes was beautiful, and being with young friends who had never seen snow before was exciting for them. A great mountain.
Robt - Nov 5, 2003 3:19 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: Nov. 25, 2002Second time in two days.
Robt - Nov 5, 2003 3:18 pm
Route Climbed: Complete Rim Traverse, from South Date Climbed: Nov. 24, 2002See John's TR: Mexico Day Hikes.
tlogan - Oct 30, 2003 5:16 pm
Route Climbed: Pico de Aguila from outside the crater Date Climbed: Feb. 23 2002I took 1.5 hours to myself to bag this summmit while my good friend Gustavo distarcted the principals... giving me enough time to reach the top. I was fortunate that my students were embroiled in a 2 hour snowball war otherwise all the blocking in the world would have availed me little. A great workout for the lungs, and as it was my first time above 3000m in 8 years. I was more than impressed by how my lungs did.... great views from the top... even on a cloudy day.
Eric DeGiuli - Oct 25, 2003 5:57 pm
Route Climbed: Camped inside crater, went up near the hut along the obvious path. Date Climbed: August 10, 2003Had a wonderful time climbing this mountain! I have photos (including panoramas) on a webpage here:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/edegiuli/Mexico/Thumbnails.html
Enjoy!
forjan - Feb 18, 2003 10:50 pm
Route Climbed: Crater Rim Traverse Date Climbed: February 2, 2003I did the crater rim traverse from south to north as a day hike. I left Hotel San Carlos at 8:00am. By the way, I liked Hotel San Carlos near the zocalo (main town square). Rooms were clean, plenty of hot water, cable TV, etc. I paid 250 pesos/night for a single room as of February 2003. Anyway, left Hotel San Carlos with my taxi driver (Sr. Monteagudo) at 8:00am and got to the end of the road at the base of the crater next to Laguna del Sol at 9:35am. Senor Monteagudo and I had tamales that his wife cooked for us. He climbed with me for a little while. We started climbing at 10:10am. Once we gained the main ridge to the left, Sr. Monteagudo headed down to his blue taxi. I continued on and summited "Pico del Fraile" (15,390') at 11:55am. Then I continued along the rim and summited "Pico de la Aguila" (15,157') at 1:40pm. Took one of the chutes down the north side after Pico de la Aguila where Sr. Monteagudo picked me up at the road. Got to the road at 2:40pm. Overall 4.5 hours to do most of the crater rim traverse. I arrived at Hotel San Carlos in Toluca at 4:00pm. Sr Monteagudo charged me 600 pesos for the 8 hours (8am-4pm).
John - Nov 29, 2002 9:26 am
Route Climbed: Crater Rim from North Date Climbed: Nov 24, 2002Signing in from Cholula, Mexico. Wow, what a beautiful peak. I basically did this peak with only some old information from XPMexico.org (which doesn't exist anymore but mentioned 5 routes). The rim traverse is a great class 1-3 hike (I didnt do the class 4 portion south of the main peak). Secor offers almost no good information on this peak which made it more fun. Vesna and I headed up the north side to Pico de la Aguila (Eagle's Peak) at 11:15am. She turned around just when the class 3 was starting. I started traversing the rim which was incredible fun. I met Bob Evans under the true summit at around 4pm. He told me of his way out from Laguna del Sol which looked like a straight shot out passing behind a mound. Unfortunately when I got there it was anything but straight and the sun when down when I got to Laguna de la Luna which I didnt know about. With the sun down, I spent the night inside the crater with gorgeous views of the stars and lake but with no idea how to get out. I tried 3 paths and finally found one out at 6am. I got back to the trailhead at about 6:30am for the drive back to Toluca. Wow, what an adventure. More to write about this. Bob did the crater rim from the south including the class 4 portion (no class 5 necessary but opted for an easier class 2 descent). Bob and Vesna would climb via the West Ridge (which I've been told is the "normal route") the next day which I rested.
See my SP Trip Report for addional details.
jamesausenbaugh - Nov 5, 2002 12:01 pm
Route Climbed: normal route Date Climbed: October 8, 2002I climbed as a day trip out of Toluca. If you do the same the road at the hut (about 6 kilometers from the crater) is closed by a barrier until 8:00 am , there is a 2 peso toll per person (apparently to maintain the road). Since it takes about an hour and a half from Toluca, you don;t need to leave Toluca before about 6:30 am. My taxi driver waited at the crater for the 4 hours it took me to summit and charged me 600 pesos for the round trip and wait. I stayed at the Hotel San Carlos and liked the hotel quite a lot.
edouet - Oct 26, 2002 2:11 am
Route Climbed: Normal Route Date Climbed: 6 and 7 December 2001Summited El Aguila on 6 Dec, from el Albergue Alpino .
The following day, summited El Fraile .
5 hours from the Albergue . Wonderful mountain, with the 2 lakes .
Clear weather, nice view towards POPO and IZTA .
El Tigre Valderrama - Jun 15, 2002 9:39 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse of the Crater Rim Date Climbed: January 1st 2002after spending the night in the not-so-clean but well built hut next to the check point in the road to the crater, we were able to start our climb very early. Class 4 terrain, rope may be needed depending on your abilities. 6 hours. As my partner Tom Fralich says, is the best climb we did in the Mexican Volcanos
patow - May 24, 2002 3:49 pm
Route Climbed: Normal Route Date Climbed: May 2001Climbed the Fraile peak from outside the crater.
tlogan - May 20, 2002 2:11 pm
Route Climbed: standard route Date Climbed: april 4 2002Summited both Aguila and Fraile from outside the crater. I actually climbed Aguila on a field trip with my students... I managed to find and hour and a half to myself to scramble to the top. Later I returned with a friend and climbed Fraile from the outside as well. It is another great climb/hike with beautiful views from the crater rim... completely worth Mexico's heinous traffic jams.