My Photos of Orizaba (Nov. 1985)

After climbing Popo, Phil drove us to Orizaba. We spent a couple of days getting to Orizaba. It was fun to stay in the city of Puebla and do a little site seeing. Phil then drove us to Tlachichuca. We had to wait to catch a ride to the Piedra Grande huts. While waiting, I [Wayne] bought a bottle of Pepsi or Coke. I then noticed a man wearing wool pants who looked fatigued walked into town. He attracted a crowd around him. Phil got word that a climbing accident had occurred during his descent of Orizaba with 2 other climbers. He said 2 climbers are injured and are still on the mountain. They called a search and rescue team. Meanwhile, we caught our ride up to the Piedra Grande huts. It was a rough dirt road we took to the huts. When we got there, a climbing party from San Francisco was already there. They had a medical doctor in their group. Hence, their guide and medical doctor headed up Orizaba to search for the injured climbers. At some point that evening, Wayne decided that he would not participate in the climb of Orizaba the next day. It didn’t seem right to me to participate in a recreational climb when there were injured climbers on the route that we wanted to climb. Phil approved of Wayne’s personal decision. I believe it was approximately 10:00 pm when the doctor returned to the huts. He said that he tried to treat one of the climbers who was on an ice field, but the climber passed away when he was there. The other climber had a broken leg. The 3 climbers were descending Orizaba, when one of them slipped, and the team was dragged one or two thousand feet, before they stopped. I later saw an article in a newspaper, and the 3 climbers were from Monterrey, Mexico. During the night, a search and rescue party arrived at the huts. They came into the hut for about a half hour, and then left. The next day, Phil took 2 clients up Orizaba. The rest of us stayed at the huts. In the morning I discovered that my bottled cola was gone. I believe the search & rescue team took it. Of course I didn’t care, as I was glad to let them have it. A helicopter came and picked up the injured climber. This experience definitely had an impact on me; it really makes a person think about what can happen if one makes a mistake during a climb when the snow conditions are icy.


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