About a month ago, my friend told me she was cooking Thanksgiving lunch for 22 people. In my mind I pitied the poor woman, thankful I had avoided such a disaster. Guess how many people I had eating Thanksgiving lunch at my house yesterday? 22.
I never learn.
Items not included in the meal bc they weren't found: fresh cranberries, sage, sweet potatoes, and respectable sausage. I had cornmeal from the US and had pureed the pumpkins that we forgot to carve for Halloween, otherwise those ingredients would have been missing too.
I did the mashed potatoes, cornbread, stuffing, pumpkin cake, jello/ pretzel salad and hosting.
Even though I made it all from scratch, it was a pleasant experience, something I didn't think I'd admit to.
Feliz Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 30, 2014
End of my parents' visit
I’m very grateful my parents were
able to come out to visit us. My kids absolutely love them. Of course David and
I do too. On the 2 weekends we did fun stuff, but during the week they were gracious
enough to integrate themselves into our lives, however mundane that may have
been for them: homework, piano, going for a run in the nearby forest. While the kids were in school one morning, my parents and I went for a hike and then toured a nearby former-monastery.
A lot of boats came up beside us to sell food, toys, or live mariachi music. Below, David is buying the kids their favorite snack: corn on a stick with inch-thick mayonnaise and sprinkled with dry cheese.
Many other nearby boats had mariachis playing. Iris soaked it up, dancing up a storm.
One particularly interesting/spooky part of the tour was the Island of the Dolls. It was just too creepy not to investigate the history. A hermit lived on the island until his death in 2001. He collected the old broken bodies of dolls
from the canals and then hung them from branches to keep away evil spirits and appease the spirit
of a dead girl he had found. The dolls also helped harvests his gardens at night when they woke up.
Just like Willy Wonka's factory: an edible wall. A lot of the chocolates looked wet, which grossed me out. Nevertheless, Claire and I partook because as far as I know, ebola hasn't hit Mexico yet.
It was hard saying goodbye to my parents. It always is. I remember poignantly saying goodbye when they dropped me off at boarding school. And on the plane to the MTC. And practically every other time. This time, the pregnancy hormones amplified emotion, as usual.
That weekend we went to canals of Xochimilco (there are 110 miles overall).
Then we went to the chocolate museum.
Note on pregnancy hormones: After so many pregnancies, I feel empowered because I understand what's going on. The other day I told David something to the effect of, "I love you a lot, but today I will probably hate you and get mad at you for no reason." I can feel it coming on. And he understands too--good man. He responded, "I know. It doesn't matter. I still love you."
Anyway, my parents are awesome and I wish they could visit me every day. Although if they do, my dad will have to sign a contract that he will stop trying to use all of his 7 Spanish vocabulary words on every. single. person he sees in a voice magnified a million decibels. It may have been cute the first few times, but don't tell him I said that.
Anyway, my parents are awesome and I wish they could visit me every day. Although if they do, my dad will have to sign a contract that he will stop trying to use all of his 7 Spanish vocabulary words on every. single. person he sees in a voice magnified a million decibels. It may have been cute the first few times, but don't tell him I said that.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Monte Alban
On the way out of Oaxaca, we stopped at Monte Alban
Of course, the most important part of these historical ruins were the sticks.
A close second was the 50 peso bill we found on the ground. I promised to split the money between those who could answer a quiz at the end of the tour. The kids got interested quickly and started asking insightful questions. There were 3 questions an 3 "what else did you learn." So the money was split bt E and C. Iris opted out for candy.
The following is a representation of a woman who died in labor. An unexpected and interesting conversation ensued with the kids.
Hierve el Agua
After visiting the Oaxacan temple, we went to Hierve el Agua where there are natural pools of water and frozen waterfalls.
The kids tried some of the water bubbling out of the ground and described it as "spicy." It tasted like mineral water, probably because that's what it was.
We had to hike around for bit so the rest of the crew decided to go back to the car while E and I went to the pools again.
One of the most amazing women we know:
Another frozen waterfall in the background
Oaxaca: Dia de Muertos
My mom came in town on Halloween day. We picked her up after David's office Halloween party and went to a small Halloween gathering in our apartment building. Instead of saying "trick or treat," they say "Queremos Halloween." When the sugar highs were getting too high, we retired so we could make an early start to Oaxaca the next day.
The vacation started with a dare: David gave Elijah 50 pesos to eat a spoonful of hot sauce.
Phases of a burnt mouth:
1) contemplating the offer
2) acceptance
3) the pain hasn't hit yet
4) there it is
5) Oh boy! There it is.
6) Seeking relief
7) (not pictured) He was soon ready to eat another spoonful for 50 pesos. No dice child, no dice.
David has been extra-obsessed with chapulines (grasshoppers) lately. I'm inclined to believe that his love of chapulines is related to my hate of them. That is really one of the best things about marriage: learning what makes your spouse tick and then learning what makes your spouse ticked-off. The honeymoon ends and the fun begins! (Sidenote: my favorite way to tick-off the spouse is talking to him when he's trying to go to sleep.)
I'm not sure you can see it in this picture, but Elijah flipped his eyelids and Iris is trying to. The 3 of them do this several times a day, especially around people they know it grosses out, like their piano teacher. I feel sorry for that man.
This is the beautiful church that takes my breath away every time.
This time, my kids were older and my mom was with us so I was able to focus on the art more. This probably makes me an evil person, but my favorite painting was of Cain killing Abel (look below, top right). The painter depicted murder by turkey leg: like one of those you chew on at the Renaissance Fest. Death by turkey thigh seems so romantic.
Outside the church that night. A friend of a friend let us go to his balcony to see the craziness from above.
At the cemetery. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was just tourists thronging through. But remnants of the real celebration remained with the tombs covered in flowers and candles. A few faithful stayed to keep their dead ancestors company at night.
Outside the cemetery there was a large, crowded festival with roller coasters and other goodies. Why are kids (including David) so drawn to weapons? Claire had some amazing beginner's luck going for her. As you can see below, Iris slipped into unconsciousness (it was quite late).
The next day we went to a church that was next to the beautiful temple.
The vacation started with a dare: David gave Elijah 50 pesos to eat a spoonful of hot sauce.
Phases of a burnt mouth:
1) contemplating the offer
2) acceptance
3) the pain hasn't hit yet
5) Oh boy! There it is.
6) Seeking relief
7) (not pictured) He was soon ready to eat another spoonful for 50 pesos. No dice child, no dice.
We also got into the thick of it:
Outside the cemetery there was a large, crowded festival with roller coasters and other goodies. Why are kids (including David) so drawn to weapons? Claire had some amazing beginner's luck going for her. As you can see below, Iris slipped into unconsciousness (it was quite late).
But she woke up for the important part
COTTON CANDY!
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Pico de Orizaba: by David
Get ready y'all! This is David's second ever post on the blog. Since this was such a monumental trip for David, I thought it absolutely necessary he document it. And he conceded after much, much, much nagging on my part.
Here goes (I only did minor editing because I couldn't help myself, the rest is all The Man)....
After much persuasion and reminders (what’s the joke, “I already said I would do it, you don’t have to remind me every week”); I finally accept the error of my ways and will write a post covering my trip up the Pico de Orizaba. The Pico de Orizaba, or Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl citlal(in) = star, and tepētl = mountain), is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises 5,636 metres (18,491 ft) above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla. The volcano is currently dormant but not extinct with the last eruption taking place during the 19th century. It is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. It is ranked the 7th highest (based on prominence) in the world.
The last time we lived here Hunt and I talked about this tallest peak in Mexico, which is also one of the highest in the world. Fortunately, we were never able to find a date when we could do it (after having actually climbed Orizaba I am sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it before).
Prior to climbing Orizaba, I trained by running, hiking ever taller peaks in the Mexico City and Phoenix area, stair stepper, and squats. Less than two weeks before the official climb date I broke my big toe playing Gotcha with the guys from work. That night I went to the ER near our house and after obtaining x-rays, the fracture was confirmed. I told the doctor I had the climb quickly approaching and couldn’t miss it. He responded that I would have to wait at least 5 weeks. True to form, I didn’t listen to expert advice and decided there is always a solution. While I backed off of running and serious hiking the two weeks before, I started doing the stair stepper (first time ever) and just hiking the hills at our apartment complex.
I picked up Hunt and Lafe from the airport Wednesday afternoon, October 22, and from there headed to Puebla to grab dinner and to tour the town. After a pleasant evening we went to camp at Rancho el Guarda; Caroline posted about this LDS-owner-and-operated camp in an earlier post. The camp is at 10,000 feet and would allow us to slowly acclimate to the altitude; while Santa Fe (where we live) is at about 8,500 feet, Gilbert, AZ (where Hunt and Lafe are from) is at about 2,500 feet. We were able to secure a cabin in the camp and were amazed at how clean and pleasant it was. The next morning, we headed out to Tlachichuca, a hamlet there; despite its size, nobody knew who our guides (Roberto or Oso) were or where to find them. After driving up and down each of the streets we eventually found him. Oso was extremely overweight and we were concerned how he could ever get up any volcano let alone Orizaba. Moreover, another person he introduced to us was a very elderly man from England who would be ascending with us. Not to fear, Oso told us he wasn’t taking us up but merely arranging the trip and later presented us to the two guides to lead us, both in very good shape.
From Tlachichuca, we drove to the Refugio (~13,000 feet) which is the base camp for summiting Orizaba. We spent that afternoon in a rat infested (I didn’t see any but one woke Hunt up looking for a friend) shack where an amazing number of clouds floated by us and it rained intermittently the remainder of the evening/night. Due to the humidity and altitude, it felt extremely cold and I was thankful I had brought so much warm clothing and sleeping gear. That night when I went to pee (one of the many times), I was greeted by one of the more beautiful night skies I have seen in a long time. There were no clouds, smog, or pollution; this combined with the height provided a perfect view of millions of start.
Like clockwork, every day was perfectly clear and sunny until about 3pm. Friday morning, after breakfast, we went on a training hike and hiked up until about 30 minutes short of the glacier. While I felt some altitude sickness, I refused to take any medicine as I was sure that my living in a higher altitude would prevent me from prolonged symptoms. I felt strong the entire training hike and after returning to the Refugio, I felt that I hadn’t pushed myself hard enough. So, I went up a couple hundred meters so that I could push my lungs again.
That afternoon dozens of people from different parts of Mexico came and filled the cabin. Another group from the U.S., who paid multiples of what we paid to secure guides for the summit, camped outside the shack. Later that afternoon/evening we had a couple of scares when (1) a couple of guys we met when we were coming down the volcano disappeared. Hunt and I were concerned (they didn’t have warm gear and looked extremely out of shape) and went up a bit to try and find them but saw no traces. Eventually we gave up as someone said they thought they had seen them. Second, a couple of Polish guys who had already summited returned cutup and exhausted. On their descent, one had slipped about 100 meters down the glacier before reestablishing his footing and piolet into the ice/snow. In the process, he cut himself pretty bad in the leg with one of his crampons. This was primarily due to his not being tied to his hiking partner. I learned on this trip the importance of tying oneself to at least one other person when climbing a steep, glacier. When climbing the glacier, it is important to do this so that if you slip, someone else will be able to set their piolet into the ice.
Our plan was to begin our hike to the peak Saturday morning at 1am. That was so we could reach the summit early and return before the weather turned. While everyone else in and outside of the shack was planning to summit the next day, we were the only ones who tried to sleep early and fully. Others in the shacking were reveling, talking and relaxing until later in the evening.
One side note, there was one guy from Monterrey who looked extremely powerful and strong (around 6 feet tall and muscular) who hiked up to the Refugio and was walking around in shorts and t-shirt. We thought he would definitely make it up and down easily. After completing our hike and returning to Tlachichuca, we found him and he said he was unable to summit due to altitude sickness. We felt bad for him as he had been very nice to everyone the night before and was excited to try to summit.
So we left Saturday at 1am, and began the hike.
The plan was to reach the summit by sunrise, appreciate the view, and return to the Refugio and get out of there so we could spend some time with Hunt and Lafe in Mexico City. Unfortunately, almost from the start our trek was doomed. First, about an hour or so into the hike we got lost. Despite our guides’ familiarity with the area, and our having done that hike the day before, the dark prevented us from seeing the cairns (A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn)) and we spent some time trying to find the way. Eventually we were able to reach the glacier at about 5:30am. About 30 minutes before reaching the glacier (at about 16,000 feet) I started to become very exhausted and displaying signs of altitude sickness. One of the guides stayed behind with me so that he could coach me up the glacier (and perhaps make sure I didn’t die). While hiking to catch up with others I prayed for help so that the hours and time I had dedicated in training would not be wasted and I could reach the top of Orizaba.
Once we reached the glacier, we put on our mountaineering gear: crampons, piolet, helmet, and harness used to rope one person to another. Fortunately, Tim (the man from England) had some pills to treat altitude sickness and I popped one to help with the symptoms. We then split up into two teams: Team 1- Alfredo, Hunt, and Tim; Team 2 – Javier, Lafe, and me. When Hunt told me he was going to invite a friend, I was very concerned that he might slow me down or make it so that we couldn’t complete the hike. However, when climbing the glacier, Lafe filled Hunt’s usual role of literally talking me through the arduous task at hand. Over the last several years of living near Hunt, he would often invite me (and I would ignorantly accept) to go on extreme adventures.
First, there was rim-to-rim at the Grand Canyon with Hunt, Jon, and Mark. Following that trip, because some guys like pain, Jon decided that for his 40th birthday, he wanted us to spend Good Friday completing a rim-to-rim-to-rim adventure (often strongly discouraged on websites for its danger and the number of people who have died trying to complete the adventure). About an hour into the trip, carrying too much in my bag (for some reason I wanted to be ready for anything and everything that could happen) I sprained both ankles and about 25% into the trip was recommended to turn back. Never one to quit, especially after investing much time to training I emptied much of my bag and was able to complete the hike, with some coaxing from Hunt. For Hunt’s 40th birthday, he wanted to go canyoneering in Southern Utah; I had no idea what canyoneering was so I was game for the trip. Again, after harrowing day of walking through slot canyons, planking over some openings where if I fell I died, and being told by Hunt’s friend that one location was where someone had died earlier, I again asked myself what I was doing there.
So, when climbing Orizaba’s Jamapa Glacier, it was Lafe’s turn to animate me to complete the summit and reach the top. With only 1 kilometer of hiking left, I am not sure how I was so weak for climbing but by the time I reached the top of the hike I was amazed at how weak I was and realized that reaching the summit of the Pico of Orizaba was likely the most physically arduous thing I had ever done. Fortunately, our team was the first to reach the top. I was extremely happy about completing the journey and thought the difficulty would be much less descending. I was wrong.
The glacier’s angle (about 45 degrees) made the ascent difficult but also made the descent complicated (remember the Polish guys). While descending, my fractured big toe started to cause a lot of pain and was running into the tip of my boot on each step. I tried to find ways to descend without it being painful, but eventually convinced our guide to let me descend by glissading. Glissading is the act of descending a steep snow- or scree-covered slope via a controlled slide on one's feet or buttocks. It is an alternative to other descent methods such as plunge stepping, and may be used to expedite a descent, or simply for the thrill. In my case, I used my piolet to break as I kept my cramped-on shod feet off the ground. Members of our expedition (more experienced in mountaineering than I) repeatedly told me that I was going to glissade, or if I fell, that I couldn’t let me crampons hit the ice and they would grip the ice and flip me over. Nevertheless, I glissaded down and saved us perhaps another 30 minutes.
After the glacier, the most complicated part was over, and all I had to work through was my extreme exhaustion. Hunt stayed with me the whole time as I hiked down and out of the Pico de Orizaba. We reached the Refugio a little before 1pm and left soon after that.
The adventure climbing Orizaba was great and I was left ready for the next adventure, of course with Caroline’s permission.
Summit:
Here goes (I only did minor editing because I couldn't help myself, the rest is all The Man)....
After much persuasion and reminders (what’s the joke, “I already said I would do it, you don’t have to remind me every week”); I finally accept the error of my ways and will write a post covering my trip up the Pico de Orizaba. The Pico de Orizaba, or Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl citlal(in) = star, and tepētl = mountain), is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises 5,636 metres (18,491 ft) above sea level in the eastern end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla. The volcano is currently dormant but not extinct with the last eruption taking place during the 19th century. It is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro. It is ranked the 7th highest (based on prominence) in the world.
The last time we lived here Hunt and I talked about this tallest peak in Mexico, which is also one of the highest in the world. Fortunately, we were never able to find a date when we could do it (after having actually climbed Orizaba I am sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it before).
Prior to climbing Orizaba, I trained by running, hiking ever taller peaks in the Mexico City and Phoenix area, stair stepper, and squats. Less than two weeks before the official climb date I broke my big toe playing Gotcha with the guys from work. That night I went to the ER near our house and after obtaining x-rays, the fracture was confirmed. I told the doctor I had the climb quickly approaching and couldn’t miss it. He responded that I would have to wait at least 5 weeks. True to form, I didn’t listen to expert advice and decided there is always a solution. While I backed off of running and serious hiking the two weeks before, I started doing the stair stepper (first time ever) and just hiking the hills at our apartment complex.
I picked up Hunt and Lafe from the airport Wednesday afternoon, October 22, and from there headed to Puebla to grab dinner and to tour the town. After a pleasant evening we went to camp at Rancho el Guarda; Caroline posted about this LDS-owner-and-operated camp in an earlier post. The camp is at 10,000 feet and would allow us to slowly acclimate to the altitude; while Santa Fe (where we live) is at about 8,500 feet, Gilbert, AZ (where Hunt and Lafe are from) is at about 2,500 feet. We were able to secure a cabin in the camp and were amazed at how clean and pleasant it was. The next morning, we headed out to Tlachichuca, a hamlet there; despite its size, nobody knew who our guides (Roberto or Oso) were or where to find them. After driving up and down each of the streets we eventually found him. Oso was extremely overweight and we were concerned how he could ever get up any volcano let alone Orizaba. Moreover, another person he introduced to us was a very elderly man from England who would be ascending with us. Not to fear, Oso told us he wasn’t taking us up but merely arranging the trip and later presented us to the two guides to lead us, both in very good shape.
From Tlachichuca, we drove to the Refugio (~13,000 feet) which is the base camp for summiting Orizaba. We spent that afternoon in a rat infested (I didn’t see any but one woke Hunt up looking for a friend) shack where an amazing number of clouds floated by us and it rained intermittently the remainder of the evening/night. Due to the humidity and altitude, it felt extremely cold and I was thankful I had brought so much warm clothing and sleeping gear. That night when I went to pee (one of the many times), I was greeted by one of the more beautiful night skies I have seen in a long time. There were no clouds, smog, or pollution; this combined with the height provided a perfect view of millions of start.
Like clockwork, every day was perfectly clear and sunny until about 3pm. Friday morning, after breakfast, we went on a training hike and hiked up until about 30 minutes short of the glacier. While I felt some altitude sickness, I refused to take any medicine as I was sure that my living in a higher altitude would prevent me from prolonged symptoms. I felt strong the entire training hike and after returning to the Refugio, I felt that I hadn’t pushed myself hard enough. So, I went up a couple hundred meters so that I could push my lungs again.
That afternoon dozens of people from different parts of Mexico came and filled the cabin. Another group from the U.S., who paid multiples of what we paid to secure guides for the summit, camped outside the shack. Later that afternoon/evening we had a couple of scares when (1) a couple of guys we met when we were coming down the volcano disappeared. Hunt and I were concerned (they didn’t have warm gear and looked extremely out of shape) and went up a bit to try and find them but saw no traces. Eventually we gave up as someone said they thought they had seen them. Second, a couple of Polish guys who had already summited returned cutup and exhausted. On their descent, one had slipped about 100 meters down the glacier before reestablishing his footing and piolet into the ice/snow. In the process, he cut himself pretty bad in the leg with one of his crampons. This was primarily due to his not being tied to his hiking partner. I learned on this trip the importance of tying oneself to at least one other person when climbing a steep, glacier. When climbing the glacier, it is important to do this so that if you slip, someone else will be able to set their piolet into the ice.
Our plan was to begin our hike to the peak Saturday morning at 1am. That was so we could reach the summit early and return before the weather turned. While everyone else in and outside of the shack was planning to summit the next day, we were the only ones who tried to sleep early and fully. Others in the shacking were reveling, talking and relaxing until later in the evening.
One side note, there was one guy from Monterrey who looked extremely powerful and strong (around 6 feet tall and muscular) who hiked up to the Refugio and was walking around in shorts and t-shirt. We thought he would definitely make it up and down easily. After completing our hike and returning to Tlachichuca, we found him and he said he was unable to summit due to altitude sickness. We felt bad for him as he had been very nice to everyone the night before and was excited to try to summit.
So we left Saturday at 1am, and began the hike.
The plan was to reach the summit by sunrise, appreciate the view, and return to the Refugio and get out of there so we could spend some time with Hunt and Lafe in Mexico City. Unfortunately, almost from the start our trek was doomed. First, about an hour or so into the hike we got lost. Despite our guides’ familiarity with the area, and our having done that hike the day before, the dark prevented us from seeing the cairns (A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn)) and we spent some time trying to find the way. Eventually we were able to reach the glacier at about 5:30am. About 30 minutes before reaching the glacier (at about 16,000 feet) I started to become very exhausted and displaying signs of altitude sickness. One of the guides stayed behind with me so that he could coach me up the glacier (and perhaps make sure I didn’t die). While hiking to catch up with others I prayed for help so that the hours and time I had dedicated in training would not be wasted and I could reach the top of Orizaba.
Once we reached the glacier, we put on our mountaineering gear: crampons, piolet, helmet, and harness used to rope one person to another. Fortunately, Tim (the man from England) had some pills to treat altitude sickness and I popped one to help with the symptoms. We then split up into two teams: Team 1- Alfredo, Hunt, and Tim; Team 2 – Javier, Lafe, and me. When Hunt told me he was going to invite a friend, I was very concerned that he might slow me down or make it so that we couldn’t complete the hike. However, when climbing the glacier, Lafe filled Hunt’s usual role of literally talking me through the arduous task at hand. Over the last several years of living near Hunt, he would often invite me (and I would ignorantly accept) to go on extreme adventures.
First, there was rim-to-rim at the Grand Canyon with Hunt, Jon, and Mark. Following that trip, because some guys like pain, Jon decided that for his 40th birthday, he wanted us to spend Good Friday completing a rim-to-rim-to-rim adventure (often strongly discouraged on websites for its danger and the number of people who have died trying to complete the adventure). About an hour into the trip, carrying too much in my bag (for some reason I wanted to be ready for anything and everything that could happen) I sprained both ankles and about 25% into the trip was recommended to turn back. Never one to quit, especially after investing much time to training I emptied much of my bag and was able to complete the hike, with some coaxing from Hunt. For Hunt’s 40th birthday, he wanted to go canyoneering in Southern Utah; I had no idea what canyoneering was so I was game for the trip. Again, after harrowing day of walking through slot canyons, planking over some openings where if I fell I died, and being told by Hunt’s friend that one location was where someone had died earlier, I again asked myself what I was doing there.
So, when climbing Orizaba’s Jamapa Glacier, it was Lafe’s turn to animate me to complete the summit and reach the top. With only 1 kilometer of hiking left, I am not sure how I was so weak for climbing but by the time I reached the top of the hike I was amazed at how weak I was and realized that reaching the summit of the Pico of Orizaba was likely the most physically arduous thing I had ever done. Fortunately, our team was the first to reach the top. I was extremely happy about completing the journey and thought the difficulty would be much less descending. I was wrong.
The glacier’s angle (about 45 degrees) made the ascent difficult but also made the descent complicated (remember the Polish guys). While descending, my fractured big toe started to cause a lot of pain and was running into the tip of my boot on each step. I tried to find ways to descend without it being painful, but eventually convinced our guide to let me descend by glissading. Glissading is the act of descending a steep snow- or scree-covered slope via a controlled slide on one's feet or buttocks. It is an alternative to other descent methods such as plunge stepping, and may be used to expedite a descent, or simply for the thrill. In my case, I used my piolet to break as I kept my cramped-on shod feet off the ground. Members of our expedition (more experienced in mountaineering than I) repeatedly told me that I was going to glissade, or if I fell, that I couldn’t let me crampons hit the ice and they would grip the ice and flip me over. Nevertheless, I glissaded down and saved us perhaps another 30 minutes.
The adventure climbing Orizaba was great and I was left ready for the next adventure, of course with Caroline’s permission.
Summit:
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