En direct du HM3 au Mexique

As with the Peruvian trioI'll try to update this page as often as possible, within the limits of our Wifi access, to give you news of my HM3 in Mexico.

You may receive news from Attitude Montagne on their Facebook.

But what is HM3?

HM3 in Mexico:

HM3 stands for "Haute Montagne 3". It is the last "course" of themountain school offered by Attitude Montagne. Once I've passed this course, I'm supposed to be able to climb mountains on my own.

For this last course, we worked as a team to organize all (well, almost all) the planning for this expedition to Mexico. We're responsible for our itineraries, our equipment, making our food, planning our water, establishing an emergency response plan... In short, a lot of work and a lot of questions to ask ourselves. Since May, we've had several meetings with the team to do all this. Now we just hope we haven't forgotten anything important.

This is still a course, so we're not leaving without a net. Dominic, our guide, will be there with us to "keep an eye on us" and make sure we don't make any decisions that might jeopardize our safety. On the other hand, for any decisions that might only cause a little discomfort, he'll let them be and probably laugh inwardly.

I won't go into too much detail, as the aim of this course is to get you to think a little and work on organizing your expedition. I don't want to make the work any harder for future HM3s.

Our schedule for this HM3

We'll be landing in Mexico City and the aim of the trip is to reach two peaks, Iztaccíhuatl (5220m) and Pico de Orizaba (5636m, Mexico's highest).

The schedule should look something like this:

1. Flight from Montreal to Mexico City
2. Bus to Amecameca and on to base camp
3. Iztaccíhuatl
4. Iztaccíhuatl
5. Iztaccíhuatl and route to Tlachichuca
6. Rest day in Tlachichuca
7. Arrival at Pico de Orizaba base camp
8. Pico de Orizaba
9. Pico de Orizaba and return to Mexico City
10. Mexico City and return to Montreal

For more information, or if you're tempted by the same experience, go to here.

HM3 Mexico trip log

09/11/2023 - Preparations

Luggage in progress

11/11/2023 Departure from Montreal

Up at 5am to get to the airport, our flight is at 9am to Mexico City!

You're in the mood as soon as you reach the boarding gate.

Ready for take-off. See you in Mexico City.

11/11/2023 -18h well arrived in Mexico city

Good arrival in Mexico City. The flight went well even though we were one meal short. We got all our luggage this time.

We met up with the rest of the group and took a cab back to the hotel.

Tonight it's a short briefing, a meal in a restaurant and a rest before setting off for base camp tomorrow.

11/111/2023 - 10pm after a good meal: bedtime

We ate in a good restaurant offering a kind of Brazilian bbq, lots of meat on the spit. There was also a salad bar and a dessert bar.

Tomorrow, breakfast at the hotel, then off to Amecaca to stock up on groceries.

12/11/2023 - 12pm - Amecameca

We left the hotel around 8:30 a.m. for Amecameca, the last town before the base camp.

We arrive in Amecameca at around 10:30 am. We have to do our shopping for the next few days at base camp.

We then eat at Panes y Pasteles de Tenango. Then it's off to the park where Iztaccíhuatl is located, the mountain we'll be climbing.

Once there, it's up to us to be self-sufficient, with Dominic only there to make sure we don't do anything unsafe. The rest is up to us.

15/11/2023 - 8pm return to civilization

Wi-Fi is back! We've just arrived at the hotel where we'll be staying until Friday morning.

In the last few days we set up our base camp at the foot of Iztaccíhuatl. We had supper in an improvised shelter.

We made the ascent in two stages. On the first day, we climbed up to the refuge where we dropped off some of our gear. Then we returned to base camp.

The next day we went back up to the refuge with the rest of our stuff to sleep.

The following night, at 3am, we set off for the summit of Iztaccíhuatl.

We reached it around 7am with a beautiful sunrise.

Then we headed back down to the hut to collect our gear for the descent to base camp.

A cab was waiting for us for the 4-hour drive to the hotel.

I was very tired because I hadn't slept very well over the last few days. But everything went well.

Now it's back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next climb.

16/11/2023 Rest day in Tlachichuca

Rest day today. We triturate the equipment. Do some laundry. Dry some things. We also have some shopping to do.

We have a little debrief with Dominic about the ascent of Iztaccíhuatl. We talk about what went well, what didn't go so well. And we were not far off the mark in terms of estimating our schedule.

The rest of the time is spent resting (with a bit of beer, you need to stay hydrated in the mountains!).

18/11/2023 Pico de Orizaba base camp

We arrived at the Pico de Orizaba base camp yesterday. We set up base camp and part of the group went out to reconnoitre the glacier.

Part of the ascent is called the "labyrinth", so we wanted to get a feel for the path before taking it at night. Today was a rest day.

We revised a few techniques and ate well. It's 6 p.m. and we're getting up at 11 p.m. for a 12 a.m. departure for the summit.

20/11/2023 - Back to Mexico City and summit of Pico de Orizaba

We got up at 11pm and set off at 12am in the direction of the summit, which we reached at around 7am. We returned to base camp around 11am, ahead of schedule.

Ascent of Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest peak and 3rd highest in North America, complete!

Now we have to finish tidying up the camp, then eat at the hotel where we had our days off. Then it's back to Mexico City.

Back in Mexico City after the expedition. Tomorrow back to Montreal! Thanks for following along. There will be photos and videos to come on Facebook and instagram in the coming days and weeks 🙂

Follow me on costadelhoratio.com See you soon for new adventures!