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What are the usuall conditions in mid/late Feb on Orizaba?, any travel info would be helpful. I might be going down Feb 17 for about a week, right now things are sketchy but anyone interested?
cheers

It's pretty much confirmed,
I'll be arriving at MEX on Feb 17 (12:20) and returning Feb 26. My intent is to bag the big-O and get some scuba diving in after that (and stupid amounts of beer, ofcourse).

Don't forget to spend a lot of time acclimitizing - it doesn't look like your schedule has much room for that if you're going scuba diving too. 18K' is pretty high for where you're coming from. You probably need a week to make it without feeling like shit at the top. Good luck.

Bird,
I've tried diamox when I did Elbert (I wanted to summit on the Friday the 13th so I didn't have time to spend a day camping) and on Whitney, I didn't notice any side effects except my usual period of being pissed off at waking-up too early. I'm planning something similar except I'm looking at setting up a high-camp b/c I like to take my time when hiking.
Question1: Should I set-up Highcamp?-pros shorter walk to the summit and more time, cons: rockfall? carrying more gear.
Question2: Is my gear safe in the Hut when I'm out and about or does gear have a tendency to grow legs and walk away?
Question3: What should I expect people wise, crowded some people or am I goinging to be alone?
Thank,
Chris.
(oh ya, the Scuba diving is after the climb, if I have enough time to do it safely)

Thanks

On the subject of high camp....

We did a high camp on our Jan 15, 2006 climb of Orizaba. We went straight there from 5300' in Colorado and slept at 15,415. This was a bit tough, but we seemed to adjust well over the first night. By the next morning at high camp, breathing was as if we were at home. On summit day, we charged the moutain, probably courtesy of the additional acclimation as well as the advance route finding we did. We also took some bonus sleep time since we were facing 3100', and not 4700' of climb.

High camp is also nice if you want to explore the mountain and set some different routes. We actually wish we had another day to do a tough route.

The real downside was the descent back to PG. It seemed tougher than the ascent, and that may be mostly due to the wind that day. All in all, if I went again, I would do another high camp. I think that it makes for a very different experience on the mountain.

Just my thoughts from my time on the mountain...