Mid January is normally a good time to go to Orizaba. It seems to get icier later into February. I did it last February. I have a trip report on SP if it might help you to get an idea what Orizaba is like.

Woodie

December and January (sometimes late November) is the prime time down there. Good weather is the norm.

I visited in Jan in 04 and 05. Its a great time to climb. There are several good trip reports on the Orizaba page if you haven't reviewed them yet. Cheers!

I'm going to be on Orizaba and Ixta from Dec 8 - 18, so I will get you some beta regarding conditons. Anyone else going to be there during that time?

I just talked to Kurt Wedberg from SMI yesterday and he would not go later than end of december anymore. Apparently in the recent years, he's seen some boiler plate hard ice already in January, which is a pain in the butt and hard on your ankles. I was thinking about going in February but will cancel that idea...

Luciano136 wrote:I just talked to Kurt Wedberg from SMI yesterday and he would not go later than end of december anymore. Apparently in the recent years, he's seen some boiler plate hard ice already in January, which is a pain in the butt and hard on your ankles. I was thinking about going in February but will cancel that idea...

I think it all depends on the weather at the time you are down there and the snowpack. In Jan 05 the hut was packed with people for a few weeks who managed to climb if the wind allowed. The worst part of the route is the labyrinth in my opinion. Cheers!

I was thinking about getting there around Thanksgiving or December. Interesting how the El Nino prediction works for weather @ Orizaba. Any idea what kind of effect one would expect?
-- Rinat

The notion of bolierplate ice in January caused us to drastically overpack last year with ice pro, etc. I had anticipated possible running belays to cover the icey patches. On Jan 17, we ran into only a small amount of ice very near the crater rim and perfect surface the rest of the route. You could kick right through the ice near the top with ease, and I was more than confident we could arrest if needed. Also, we had varied our route to the right of the standard route due to ice concerns. Not totally sure that was necessary, but it was more fun because that route was steeper.

We are planning another trip this January(probably the 14th) to climb the other peaks and repeat Orizaba. I am not thinking of bringing ice pro this trip. Will check conditions from other climbers prior to departure and adjust as needed.

yo talus:
any chance of climbing ixta w/you? i'm currently living in guadalajara and have plans to climb Orizaba w/another sometime during december but would like a partner for ixta and possibly malinche as well.
feel free to email me at Brendan.Reals@colorado.edu

I'm interested in finding partners for Orizaba and Nevado de Toluca in mid-January. Dates are still open for me but if anyone would like to team up contact me....

talusfinder wrote:I'm going to be on Orizaba and Ixta from Dec 8 - 18, so I will get you some beta regarding conditons. Anyone else going to be there during that time?

I'm thinking about doing the "Trilogy" (Ixta, Orizaba, and Nevada de Toluca) in early January, but so far have not found anybody to go with. I'm considering just signing up with a guide service because I don't really feel like climbing alone. How are you planning on doing your trip?
my email is: oksurewhynot@mac.com

I'll be on Orizaba starting December 27th.

Talusfinder, I would love to hear about conditions when you get back.

Does anyone have or know where to find a good map and/or GPS points
I've done a few google searches with nothing really solid.

Did you look at this report http://www.14erquest.com/garydidnotsumm ... _Page.html