We arrived in Mexico City on 16 Nov ’85. We spent the first day in Mexico City, which is over 7,000’ in elevation. The 2nd day Phil (Reference 1) drove us to the town of Amecameca, where we did some site seeing in town. Phil had reserved a motel for us a ways from the town. Amecameca has an elevation of 7938’, so it was part of Phil’s acclimatization plan for us. On day 3 we drove to a Lodge at Tlamacas, which is at approximately 13,000’ and near Popo. We reached the Lodge at 1:00 pm, so we had the afternoon to do as we wished. I got a file out and sharpened my crampons, which is something I like to do before I go climbing if I think the conditions will be icy. From Wayne’s journal: On 19 Nov, Phil woke us up at 3:00 am. We headed out the door at 4:15 am with all of our climbing gear. It took us a couple of hours to reach LaCruises Hut. We put our crampons on approximately 500’ above the hut and roped up. We had to climb approximately 2,000’ of 30 degree snow/ice field before we reached the crater rim. We took a 10 minute break part way up. We reached the crater rim at 9:45 am, where we unroped and took a 15 minute break. We reached the true summit (17883’) at 10:45 am. We stayed on top for about 5 minutes, before we headed down. I was quite pleased as I was feeling quite good physically, and I didn’t get a headache, which was a goal of mine for this trip. We arrived back at the Lodge at 2:15 pm. My feet were cold this morning until the sun came up. I was wearing leather boots. I wore a light pair of wool pants, gortex rain pants (up only), a “Lifa” shirt, gortex coat and wool shirt. There was no wind on top, and a person only needed shirt sleeves. The elevation gain today for us during the climb was 4,927’.
Reference:
1. A Mexican Volcanoes Trip, guided by Phil Ershler, 19 Nov. 1985
