We’re Outa Here!

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The last rainy day was spent provisioning, walking around in our Gore-Tex from market to market buying piles of fresh veggies, mangos and avocados of course. Also picked up a pound of chorizo, queso fresco and eggs, as well as hut necessities. I think we spent around $30 total, no gringo gouging here in Tlachichuca.

After two terrible days of intense wind, rain, and hail, we found our mountain. We even went up to say hi. We awoke to absolute bluebird, calm, and bright skies. We teamed up with Oscar and Gene from Toronto and went for a nice walk, took pictures, and just goofed off for a few hours. We returned just as a group of three were departing to be dropped off at the hut. We jumped the in 4×4 with them, and off we went.

The road was a mess, mud and snow everywhere. Numerous trees had blown over and had needed to be cut by the previous group. It was bit of a white knuckle drive but we arrived safely. It was fun to re-experience the same road that I had driven in my Subaru with George Swiggum back in 2000.

The hut was crowded and the people not very receptive, so we took our 15 minutes to power walk around to see how we felt at 14,100ft. We felt great, I’m amazed at how many people don’t properly acclamitize and try to rush to 18,500 ft. Then they seem surprised that they crash and burn.

Back down we go, with a couple sick climbers that tried to do just that. We quickly became friends with them and spent the rest of the day together relaxing at 8,600 ft.

So we’re outa here in about an hour, back up to the hut. We’ll hike to 16,500 ft tomorrow, rest day on Monday, and then attempt the summit at 1am on Tuesday. Confidence is high, but you just never know. There is a 7 day storm arriving Tuesday night so it’s go time.