The Greatest Mexican Volcanoes

The idea

Three volcanoes in ten days. La Malinche* to find your altitude legs. Iztaccíhuatl, the Sleeping Woman, at 5,215 m on a 1 AM start along her summit ridge. Then Pico de Orizaba at 5,636 m — the highest mountain in Mexico, the third highest in North America, and a proper glacier climb with crampons, ice axe and rope teams.

Everything here serves one thing: arriving at the foot of Orizaba genuinely ready. You sleep at 2,240 m, then 3,100 m, then 4,000 m, climbing higher each day than you sleep. By the time you reach base camp you have already stood on a 5,215 m summit.

Pick your length

You don't have to do all ten days. The trip is built in modules.

Module 1 — 4 to 9 December · six days

La Malinche* and Iztaccíhuatl. Two summits, no glacier, no ropes. This is a complete trip on its own — you can do those and fly home on the 9th having climbed two volcanoes.

Module 2 — 9 to 13 December · four more days

Pico de Orizaba. Glacier travel, midnight start, the highest point in Mexico. Module 2 requires Module 1 — the acclimatisation built across the first week is exactly what makes the summit possible, and turning up fresh for Orizaba is how people fail on it (speaking from our own experience)

Add-on — Sótano de Popócatl · 12 December

Optional, priced separately, open to anyone on the trip. Drive into the Sierra de Zongolica and drop into a 45-metre-wide shaft — a 30 m rappel at 70 degrees, then a 50 m free-hang — with a 60 m waterfall falling past you into an underground river. No climbing experience needed, just reasonable fitness. Not included in either module. If you skip it, you travel back to Mexico City that day instead.

The Days

Day 1 — Arrive in Mexico City

Land in the evening, straight from re:Invent. Transfer to Condesa and sleep at 2,240 m. The acclimatisation starts the moment you land.

Day 2 — Into the mountains

Drive to the cabins at La Malinche's* trailhead. Afternoon acclimatisation hike, then a night at 3,100 m.

Day 3 — Summit La Malinche*, 4,461 m

Twelve kilometres round trip, 1,275 m of gain, every step above 3,000 m. No ropes, no glacier — just thin air and an early alarm. Second night at the same cabins.

Day 4 — Sleep high on Iztaccíhuatl

Drive to La Joya at 4,000 m, the highest road in the country. Afternoon hike onto the ridge, then a night in tents.

Day 5 — Summit Iztaccíhuatl, 5,215 m

A 1 AM start. The Ayoloco moraine, then the long summit ridge with Popocatépetl smoking behind you and the lights of Mexico City below. Ten to twelve hours. Descend and drive to Puebla.

Day 6 — The split

If you're on Module 1, you drive to Mexico City today and fly home with two summits behind you. The rest continues to San Miguel Zoapan, the climbers' village below Orizaba.

Day 7 — Up to base camp

Four-wheel drive to the Piedra Grande hut at 4,260 m. Afternoon acclimatisation hike above the hut, plus a session on crampons, ice axe and rope teams.

Day 8 — Summit Pico de Orizaba, 5,636 m

Midnight start. Up through the rock labyrinth, rope up at the Jamapa Glacier, and reach the crater rim around sunrise. The highest point in Mexico. Descend the south face, with a hot shower waiting below.

Day 9 — Sótano de Popócatl, or home

The cave, if you've booked the add-on. If not, you head back to Mexico City today.

Day 10 — Out

Drive to Mexico City for afternoon or evening flights.

Essentials

• No mountaineering experience needed — we teach the glacier skills at base camp
• You do need to be fit: two summit days of ten to twelve hours, at altitude, starting at midnight
• Group capped at 10, with one certified guide to every two-to-three climbers on both technical peaks
• Transport, lodging, all mountain meals, group climbing equipment, and park fees included
• Technical gear available to rent — plastic boots, crampons, ice axe, harness
• Travel insurance covering mountaineering above 5,000 m and helicopter evacuation is mandatory

* One thing still moving

We publish our trips while we're still building them, because the people who come on them usually have opinions worth hearing.

The dates are fixed. Iztaccíhuatl and Pico de Orizaba are fixed. The first volcano is not. La Malinche is the obvious choice and it's what we've planned around — but several of our group have already climbed it and would like something new, so we're looking at alternatives with our Mexican guides right now. Whatever we land on will be a non-technical volcano in the same 4,100 to 4,500 m range, doing the same job on the same day.

Final itinerary and confirmed pricing to follow shortly. Register your interest now and you'll get both before anything is due — and a say in how this one turns out.