Josh Lewis wrote:I'm glad you made it out alright and appreciate the info you provided here. I would not have assumed this based on what I've heard in the past. Are crevasses like the one seen in the photograph above normal on this route?
First off, Jacob, So glad you made it out! It sounds like you did most of your beta gathering on the web (so did I), but I actually wrote a guidebook suggesting based on my own experience and copious reading that you generally won't see more than cracks. I'm definitely going to update my recommendation.
Josh: crevasses are uncommon, but this is something people will need to watch out for in the future! Three things that come to mind are a report earlier this fall that highlighted heavy erosion of the glacier due to unseasonably heavy rains and warm temperatures high on the glacier (link below in Spanish, use google translate if you need)
http://municipiospuebla.com.mx/nota/201 ... -a%C3%B1osThe second thing is having culled as many accident reports as I could find and analyzing causes, one common theme is climbing when there are periods of warmer weather high on the peak. Jacob: it would be extremely helpful if you can describe the temperatures. I just looked at the record from Mexico's NOAA (The Servicio Meterologico Nacional or SMN) and they show an unseasonably warm day: 8 C when the average before and after were 2-3 C on February 8th, 2016.
http://smn.cna.gob.mx/emas/txt/VR31_24H.TXTSince that reading was taken at 2,722 m altitude, and the rescue happened at 5,517 m we could estimate the temperature at -6 C which is still frozen, but add in some sunshine and that might have softened things up enough to cause the cave in (â–² altitude 2,795 * -5.5 C per 1,000 m = -14.85).
The third and final thing that this calls to mind was an unusual avalanche that happened in the 1992 and is the only accident report on the Pico de Orizaba in the AAC's Accidents journal. This party was a little bit lower down.
http://publications.americanalpineclub. ... de-OrizabaJacob, I take anything written in the Mexican press about Citlaltépetl with a grain of salt, but can you confirm or deny the published claims that the rescue occurred at 4,800 m (15,750 ft) from a known formation referred to as "La Cueva del Muerto"?
http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2016/02/09/1073942