Pico de Orizaba is Mexico’s highest mountain, North America’s highest volcano and North America’s 3rd highest mountain at 5,600M. The path to climb Pico De Orizaba is an impressive 1200 metre incline through 30-40 degree angled terrain with a glacial upper section, to make a glorious summit. There are many blogs around about climbing Pico de Orizaba, most were unable to summit. This guide will arm you you everything you need to successfully summit Pico de Orizaba!
Also known as Citlaltépetl or ‘Star Mountian’, Orizaba is some what technical being that the second half of the climb is all done in crampons, however it is mostly done by people without crampon experience. Orizaba is a great introduction to high altitude and very accessible to many people.
This post will cover everything you need to know about climbing Pico de Orizaba from getting there, guides, gear and the trip back down.
Pico De Orizaba Climb vs Izta
I’ve heard a few different views on whether Izta (5,230M) or Pico de Orizaba is harder. Personally, I think it comes down to whichever you do first and what you’re acclimatised for.
Izta was surely harder for me as it’s a longer day, the trip back is quite taxing and I was still acclimatising. However, if I was to do Orizaba first, I think the acclimatisation factor would’ve made it much harder to climb Pico de Orizaba than Izta.
Key Details to Climb Pico De Orizaba
Distance – 8km round trip. 4km each way.
Days required – 2 days. Arrive day 1. Start summit attempt 1am day 2.
Total Incline – 1200M
Total Decline – 1200M
Highest Point – 5,636M
Difficulty – 7 out of 10
Permits – National Park access is free
Guide – I would highly recommend a guide to climb Pico De Orizaba. It is possible to do without, but a guide will help with the labyrinth, glacier navigation and route back down. I used 3 summits guides who I couldn’t recommend higher. Cost to climb Pico De Orizaba only climb is around $900 USD.
Accommodation – Piedra Grand is the basecamp hut which is free to stay in. You may also setup a tent outside. I used a guiding company which has its own basecamp setup.
Time of year – Orizaba can be climbed year-round.
Gear Required to Climb Pico De Orizaba
- Mountaineering boots – I used Scarpa Mont Blancs. Hiking boots I feel would be too little and Double layer mountaineering boots would be too much considering the approach.
- Thick socks – Wool or bambo.
- Base layer bottom – Only ever use Merino Wool. They’re expensive but last and keep you warm without overheating.
- Softshell / hiking pants – I used Arcteryx gamma’s
- Hard-shell pants – Dependant on weather.
- Base layer top – Again, Only use Merino wool.
- Fleece / mid layer top – I used TNF Glacier Fleece
- Light puffer jacket – I used Decathalon’s MT100 jacket
- Hard-shell / windbreaker – I used Arcteryx Beta jacket
- Head torch – With spare batteries
- 2 pairs of gloves – light and heavy/mittens
- Crampons – C2’s to go with mountaineering boots. I use Grivel g12’s in New Matic style. They’re the industry best and a very traditional crampon
- Hiking poles – Extendable with upper and lower handles is best.
- Backpack – 40L
- Food / snacks
It was extremely cold at the top. I used every piece of clothing I had with me
Itinerary to Climb Pico De Orizaba
Day 1
- Leave Puebla via car.
- Drive to Pico basecamp – approx. 3 hours
- Acclimatisation hike and early bed
Day 2
- Wake up 12am
- Start summit push 1am
- At glacier start around 4am
- Summit 7am
- Return to basecamp by 11pm.
Pico de Orizaba Elevation
Pico De Orizaba is the highest peak in Mexico with an elevation of 5,656 metres or 18,490 feet. At this elevation at least 3-4 days acclimatisation is needed to successfully climb Pico de Orizaba.
How to Get to Pico De Orizaba
Rifugio Piedra Grand (The Pico De Orizaba basecamp) is located 3 hours drive from Puebla or 2 hours from Mexico City. A large portion of this drive is the off road track. It is only accessible by a 4WD vehicle.
Is it Dangerous to Climb Pico de Orizaba?
Yes and No. If one was to attempt without acclimatisation or a guide, i can guarantee it won’t end well. However if attacked prepared, success is pretty high and the danger levels low. Accidents do happen however the glacier is quite stable and very well stepped in. Just make sure to stay aware of the weather. I still ensured I had my high altitude rescue policy in place.
Best Time to Climb Pico De Orizaba
You can climb Pico de Orizaba all year, which is very unique for a high altitude mountain. However the best time to climb Pico de Orizaba is generally the summer months of December to March, due to lower snow levels. I climbed in March and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
My experience climbing Pico de Orizaba
My adventure to climb Pico De Orizaba was part of a guided tour of the Mexican trilogy. The trilogy is 3 of Mexico’s highest volcanos all within close proximity to Puebla, La Malinche (4,461M), Izta (5,230M) and Pico de Orizaba (5,631M).
Seeing we had climbed La Malinche and Izta within the week so was very well acclimatised. I think this was a great way to enjoy it, rather than battle through altitude sickness just to get to the top.
The guiding company I used (3 summits) organised everything and picked me up around 10am. We made the three-hour journey to Oyamecalco el Cajón, the highest town in Mexico. The sights of Orizaba were really something else. In the town we had a quick lunch then jumped in 4wd’s to head up the very dusty mountain track. The track takes about an hour.
Arriving at Pico
Arriving at Pico basecamp is quite unique as you have an entire view over Malinche and the valley 2000M below. Views of Pico itself are minimal however you can definitely see the path you will take through the labyrinth to the glacier.
If you are not acclimatised definitely use this time to go for a hike. We were well acclimatised so used this time to relax and tried to get some sleep by 7pm.
We were up at 1, ate, packed, stretched and set off to climb Pico de Orizaba by 2am. As we were reasonably fast up Izta so set off a little later. Most groups leave by 1am. The initial approach is very manageable. A steady incline along an old viaduct, into a sharper incline through a rocky field. At a slow but steady pace this goes very quickly in the darkness for about 1km.
The Labyrinth
There is a short scree section but it is nowhere near as bad as Izta (the scree on Izta is purely miserable). After 2 hours we came to the Labyrinth. A very well-known rocky boulder section. It is called the labyrinth because in the dark it’s extremely easy to get lost. We saw many head torches going the wrong way.
The Labyrinth is quite short and very easy paced. We stopped for some food and to increase our layers and before we knew it, we were approaching the glacier.
The Glacier
The Glacier is the hardest part of the climb, however, when mentally prepared it’s really a case of one foot in front of the other. It’s quite steep and at first somewhat alarming if you haven’t been in crampons. However, the path is mostly stepped in already so it’s quite easy to follow. We had very dry conditions so I imagine it’s quite different in snow.
One fascinating thing about Orizaba is how remote the peak itself is. You have a complete view to the horizon and see fascinating sights of climbers up close battling a challenging wall against a backdrop of nothing. Paired with the sunrise pyramid shadow effect, this makes for sights to remember for the rest of your life.
Regret Rock
After a long and gruelling two hours we came to regret rock. A giant rocky outcrop 100 metres below the summit. It is quite well known that although the summit is close, from regret rock it still takes an hour to summit.
The ice recedes about 50m from the summit so the final push is in soft dirt and sand which is challenging but very short. We summited around 7am, after sunrise, to a very cold and windy outlook over the volcanic crater.
The Summit
The view is nothing short of breathtaking! 360-degree views of the horizon, kilometres above red and yellow cloudy valleys with a brightly shining sun. Yellow and gold light bouncing off the volcanic crater cast heavenly glows over amazed faces of other summiteers. This is truly something special.
Given the wind factor providing a very unpleasant -14 degrees, we tucked away under the summit to have something to eat and rejuvenate. I got the camera out and took a few snaps before we high fived and high tailed home.
Return Journey
The way down was very easy. With two of us quite used to crampons, we passed many 4-5 person roped groups making slow progress. The switchback traverse on the way up turned into a straight down, crampon digging speedy descent.
We were off the glacier by 9am. The labyrinth was now a very well-lit downhill hike with amazing views over the Piedra Grande hut. We arrived back at basecamp by 11am to round out 5.5 hours up and 3 hours back down. The path down significantly easier than Izta.
From basecamp we were back down to the town then straight back to Puebla for a shower and some food.
My attempt to Climb Pico de Orizaba was the goal of this trip and definitely did not disappoint. Orizaba is a very accessible high-altitude peak and a great introduction to high altitude mountaineering. I did the trilogy in a week, only taking 5 days leave from my work in London. Safe to say, my colleagues were very jealous of my photo’s when I returned on Monday!
