After a night of wind and cows (yeah, wind and cows), we awoke to a chilly, crystal-clear day. The objective for today was to climb to the Las Cruces hut along the so-called 'normal' route on Izta and then return. This was to be an acclimatization hike to get everyone accustomed to being at 13,000~15,000 feet. After a hearty breakfast, Eric and the 5 of us clients loaded up light packs and prepared to move out. Chava and Enrique were going to look into alternate accomodations for the next night. Down by La Joya there was a huge antenna-relay station that happened to include a small hut that would accommodate several climbing parties. If space was available, it would provide a nice respite from the wind (and yes, cows). So while they headed off to the hut, we started up the dry, dusty trail.

Izta has two main trails - the normal route we were hiking today climbed steeply up to the ridgelines and stayed high on the mountain all the way to the summit. The other route (which we'd be taking tomorrow to high camp) stays relatively low on the west side of the mountain and then gains the summit ridge from the Ayaloco Glacier, much nearer the summit. For today, we climbed slowly but steadily up the ridgeline at a good conservative pace, making sure everyone was hydrating and eating OK, and that no one was showing any signs of altitude sickness (headaches, dizziness, nausea, etc). As we climbed, the views of Popo to the south just kept getting better and better. Ahead of us, the trail carried us through soft dirt and scree, winding through a number of volcanic towers to the east side of Izta. As the day progressed and we climbed higher, the winds actually died down somewhat although the temperatures remained cool. Finally, just below the Las Cruces hut at 15,200' we stopped for lunch and decided that this was enough progress for the day. Everyone was moving well and personally I was feeling great. Here I was, nearly 1000' higher than I'd ever been before, and I wasn't feeling any adverse effects from the altitude at all. In fact, I felt amazingly good! From our break spot, a number of rolling hills and valleys spread out to the east, mostly obscured by haze. A white dot on the horizon was actually Orizaba, which would be our second climbing objective in a few days. Looking back west towards Mexico City was another matter. Most of the landscape below us was obscured by the same brown cloud I'd seen upon the approach to Mexico City. As the day progressed on, you could watch the smog roll slowly towards the volcanoes and creep up the valleys, which was slightly depressing.

Presently it was time to start heading back down to the trailhead, and just about everyone slipped once or twice on the scree, but certainly nothing that seemed serious. Eric was in contact with Chava via radio, and it looked like we were set in the hut down by La Joya for the night, which meant welcome respite from the wind. Chava picked us up at the trailhead and drove us the mile or so back to the hut (which was a welcome surprise - we were all getting fatigued by this point), where Enrique was standing by with hot water for tea and some snacks for us hungry hikers.

While we settled in for the night, one of our team, Gene, pulled Eric aside and said he wasn't feeling well after the days' hike, and had decided to abort the rest of the trip. This came as quite a shock - I had climbed with Gene in '03 on Mount Rainier, and he was a strong up there as anyone (Gene's an ex-marine, and quite fit). We all tried to talk him out of it, and Eric suggested that he descend down to Amecameca for a couple days and rejoin the group for a stab at Orizaba. But Gene had made his mind and was planning on catching a cab down to Mexico City the next morning. Even though I'd be sorry to see him leave the group, I certainly respected his decision. Better than being reckless and going on when you shouldn't, that's for sure.

So we ended the day on a bit of a down note, although I was very pleased with a new personal altitude record. I couldn't wait until tomorrow, and the move to high camp!!

On to day 4...