looking for info about anyone who has climbed popo in last 10 years...i'm considering an attempt soon and would like to know if anyone has ever approached the summit from the west...I am aware of ash and gases...have a plan and would like to share my ideas and hopefully my pics when i return

rcclimbhigher wrote:looking for info about anyone who has climbed popo in last 10 years...i'm considering an attempt soon and would like to know if anyone has ever approached the summit from the west...I am aware of ash and gases...have a plan and would like to share my ideas and hopefully my pics when i return

When I was last there (2006), access to Popo was restricted due to the volcanic activity. Things may have changed, and you may be able to 'sneak' around the regulations, but I'd advise you to exercise caution and good judgment before going down that path.

TheBootfitter wrote: I'd advise you to exercise caution and good judgment before going down that path.

Well that was shot full of holes in the first post...

Don't risk your life and the lives of the locals who would try to rescue/recover you. Also think about the image and PR issues, even if you are successful and safely return. No one will think positive of you for sneaking in to bag it. There are plenty of climbing options in Mexico besides Popo. If you still want to risk your life get a rental car and drive around Mexico City. Cheers!

Here is an idea!

I was in a climbing shop in Mexico City a few years ago, and asked about Popo. Clearly, they and their friends climb Popo often, depending on activity. With a wink and a nod, I could have joined up with locals if I'd wanted. Soooo, it's not exactly upsetting the world of Mexican climbing when people try Popo. The issues of rescue, legalities, 'the sneak', etc.,are subjects that didn't come up. (BTW, my e-mail address at this site is wrong but I can't seem to change anything.... so I just put up with it).

Popocatépetl, Mexico
Posted by cosmicbob on February 24, 2008

CENAPRED reported that emissions of steam and gas from Popocatépetl were visible during 12-19 February. The plumes occasionally contained slight amounts of ash. An explosion on 12 February resulted in an ash plume that rose to an altitude of 7 km (23,000 ft) a.s.l. and ejected fragments that fell in the crater. On 14 February, an ash plume rose to an altitude of 8.4 km (27,600 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NE.

Sources: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED) - “Reports provided courtesy of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program.”

Popocatepetl Daily Update for 2/21/08
Published by Travis at 6:44 pm under Popocatepetl, Volcanoes of the World

Current Popocateptl status form CENAPRED:

February 21 11:00 h. (17:00 GMT)

In the last 24 hours the monitoring system detected 10 exhalations acompanied by steam and gas and sometimes small ammounts of ash. Yesterday at 12:28 hrs. (local time) was detected a volcanotectonic microearthquake, with magnitude 2.7 and depth of 5 km, was located 8 km South-East of the crater. Also some epsiodes of harmonic tremor for 11 minutes was recorded. The other monitored parameters remain without important changes.

At the moment of this report we can see the volcano with a steam and gas emission (see image).

From high to low probability the expected activity scenarios in the next hours, days or weeks are: moderate exhalations, some with ash emissions; occasionally mild incandescence during nights and sporadic low level explosions with low probabilities of incandescent fragment at short distance to the crater.

There is a permanent monitoring of the volcano to detect any change. The traffic light of volcanic alert remains in YELLOW Phase 2.

Here is a picture of Popo that I took from Ixta last week. This must have happened at least 6 times a day and most of the time on Ixta my back was to Popo so I'm sure it happened alot more. I could smell the sulfer from Ixta and I could only imagine how bad it must have smelled on Popo.

dayinthelife...confirmed what I have suspected for years...the locals see things from a different set of glasses that we do...which is what I often find while traveling abroad...I watch the live cam every day and have been watching it for years now...still waiting for a reply from a summiter

I've been up Popo in the pre-eruption '80s but have been on other active volcanoes both as a geologist and purely as a climber with an interest in volcanoes. Was stopped by the authorites prior to a summit try right before Mt St Helens May 18th eruption. Don't mess with active volcanoes during eruption periods. Besides risking your self you risk those who would be sent out to save your butt if still alive. If you really want the eruption experience, get a geology degree and work in the field. And you can still do Ixta and Orizaba and enjoy the view of Popo from those.

Did rcclimbhigher follow through on his Popo attempt? Just curious. I was on Izta 2 weeks ago and saw lots of steam from Popo.

rcclimbhigher wrote:looking for info about anyone who has climbed popo in last 10 years...i'm considering an attempt soon and would like to know if anyone has ever approached the summit from the west...I am aware of ash and gases...have a plan and would like to share my ideas and hopefully my pics when i return

I would like to cordially say that I would be happy to nominate you as first place recipient of the Darwin Award.
You know, you might want to also check out Sangay down in Ecuador. But bring your helmut, you know, projectiles and stuff.

Whilst staying at Altzomoni lodge recently, we had many long chats with Miguel Cortes, the charming and most enthusiastic volunteer hut guardian. He told many tales of people offering to pay him virtually any sum he asked for to take them up Popo, and he always refuses. His most spine-chilling tale was of an official ascent of Popo, requested by the Izta-Popo park authorities some years ago. They had done fly-bys, but wanted video footage from the crater rim to help in their studies of the volcano. A team of climbers and geologists was put together and given camera equipment. They duly ascended, took their film, maybe some samples, and returned safely.
A week or so later one of that official party (a fireman apparently) decided he wanted to go again and arranged an unoffical trip with some climbing friends. Taking a video camera again, they ascended the same route, but on the slopes well below the crater rim an incident occurred. It was all captured on video and the camera was subsequently retrieved. The footage showed the party ascending, but suddenly the camera fell to the floor as an explosion rocked the air. None in the party ever moved again. The explosion threw out small globules of molten rock at great force, as if from a canon. No-one survived. The most chilling part was the state of the bodies. All looked as if they had been shot through and, in the mortuary, one of the friends of the fireman reported that he could peer right through one hole blasted through one end of his body to the other.

I'm sure many locals still go up there from time to time. I bet most of them come back, too. What I personally think would be madness would be for an outsider to offer to "guide clients in Mexico for any or all of the volcans" as some people do. Losing a client in such a dangerous way is certain to end in a very ong spell in one of Mexico's prisons. Now that really would merit a Darwin award!

Of course:
M Cortes, pers. comm. (2008)

I believe Your Dudeness's meant to ask: "Are there verifiable written accounts of this we all can read?"

I don't doubt what you were told, but I'd be curious to find out more details.

I was in Mexico 2 weeks ago and Roberto "Oso" Flores (OMG Expeditions) related a story where he was on a body recovery of some Popo climbers who perished during an ascent. I'm not aware of any references of this story other than what Oso told me.

i am here in mexico city and it seems that many climbers regularly ascend popcapotepl... my amigos who have climbed it are not what i would consider experienced alpinists, they have never donned crampons in their lives... nonetheless they are knowledgeable mountain men and are quite competent in challenging terrain... personally, i will be climbing iztacchihuatl in a couple days but i do not intend to go anywhere near popo's summit, although i may do some exploring at lower elevations... i am not implying that people should go climb popo, to me that seems like a silly risk to take... i am just sharing the truth that some locals climb the volcano on a somewhat regular basis... interestingly, these same people do not think about altitude in the same way that most people on this site do