Where The Air Is Clear

I made the connection to mountain climbing from a friend I met my first year at Parks College. His name is Ruben from Delicias, Chihuahua. The other companion was another fellow student named Jeff from Chicago. Parks College is part of Saint Luis University and was on a trimester system so we went to school year round from September through late July...We had six weeks off between late July and August. It was August 1969 when we made the trip to Mexico. We climbed the Popocateptl Volcano and seared the most spectacular image into my memory.

Jeff and Ruben had purchase motorcycles during the school year and decided to ride from St. Louis to Delicias. Ruben had gone mountain climbing in High School with some Jesuits priests who were teachers at his school. He still had some contacts with these priests at a seminary in Mexico City. Apparently the priests liked to climb the POPO and ITZA because it got them closer to God. One the seminarians-who was in his late twenties-agreed to guide us up the mountain; so we made arrangements to meet him in Mexico City and climb the POPO.

I had prepared for the trip by saving some money from jobs I had at the time..I was a sales clerk at a department store and also worked in the college kitchen washing dishes. In addition I had to prepare physically for the task. I started jogging daily so I could get my legs, heart, and lugs ready for the climb and altitude. The peak of "El POPO" is about 18,000 feet above sea level; my home town Brownsville is at 50 feet above sea level and Mount Everest is 29,000 feet.

Ruben and Jeff rode their motorcycles down to Delicias from St. Louis, which is about 1500 miles or so..a pretty long way. I went to Brownsville to visit my family and then took a bus to Mexico City. They flew commercial from Chihuahua to Mexico City and we met there. Ruben had an uncle who had an apartment in "La zona rosa" (The pink village) area of town so we had a great time for several days before we went mountain climbing. Ruben had also brought one of his brothers who was about 16 or 17 at the time. My Brother (Luis) was also living in Mexico City at the time and I stayed with him. We just hung around cruising around "la zona rosa" for several days while we made preparations for the trip. There was Luis, Jeff, Ruben, his brother (can't remember name), and me. We would go to Chapultepec park, and the national museum, eating tacos on street corners, etc., etc. .....well you can imagine what five "young & good looking" young men hanging around a big city with time on their hands will do.... we had a great time. Of course, we behaved when we got together with the priest. He came over to see us and we made plans for the trip, obtained the climbing gear, and borrowed a car from Rubens uncle.

We left the city one rainy morning on the way to Ameca-Meca in Puebla at the base of the volcano. It was the Priest, Ruben, Jeff, and myself. We arrived at the base camp sometime in the late afternoon close to sunset. The camp was fundamentally an open cinder block building with a fireplace and some tables and chairs. Most of the floor space was for people to lounge and sleep. It was a level area about 2000 or 3000 feet below the top of the volcano. Mexico City is about 7000 feet MSL (Mean Sea Level) so that would put us about 15,000 or 16,000 MSL. The ground was black volcanic sand and the air was chilly and clear. The volcano was ominous from that perspective and it looked like a "stairway to heaven". There were not many people around at the time. I think part of the reason is that it was not the mountain climbing season. It was very different about 10 years later when I went with the family to visit. The base camp had been converted to a park area and there were many tourists and a lot of traffic. At that time it was still the domain of mountain climbers.

We took an area in the building and put down our gear. There was another group of about half-dozen climbers from the U.S. who were also University students; I don't remember from where. It was getting late and it was close to dinnertime. The fireplace was started up and we got some of our food out and all congregated around the warm fireplace. The other group had some meat so they shared with us poor Mexicans. It was really a wonderful evening. I think I was probably one of the younger ones; it was somewhere close to my 19th birthday on Aug 14.... the oldest one was probably the priest in his mid 20's. We talked about so many things till late at night. The priest was excited about his studies and the priesthood; He was a high school teacher. We talked about religion, science, aspirations for the future, climbing, flying, social issues, Vietnam, and lot more. I remember it quite fondly. We finally all went to bed-or to floor- because the next day we would need all the energy we could muster.

I didn’t sleep well because I was cold; there was no heat after the fire went out and I only had a light blanket borrowed from my brother. Some of the others also had the same problem so we kind of packed together and finally got some warmth...how about that for male bonding. The morning was glorious…. chilly and with some mountain haze that quickly cleared up once the sun started to warm the air. The other group was preparing to depart back down…so we said our farewells and good wishes.

We didn’t really eat much other than some of dried food we packed for the trip. We started to put our gear together. Some of the gear included: COAT..I had bought an army surplus coat I bought at Bernie’s in Brownsville, knit cap, sunglasses…for the glare from the ice and snow, ropes, spikes..they were like a metal frame with spikes that were put on like skates and strapped to the boot, pick axe, this was the most versatile and important item..it served as a walking stick, safety brake in case of sliding on a steep incline, hook for climbing and many more things…it was your best tool, backpacks, we had two backpacks with food, water, and other provisions that we shared carrying up the volcano.

We started the trek to the access of the volcano. There were several trails up the volcano some requiring more skill than others; the one we took was probably one of the simpler ones since we weren’t really skilled climbers. Along the start of the path there was a small open air chapel or shrine were those going up the volcano stop and say some prayers. Since we had our own priest he said a few words and prayers and we all kneeled and he laid hands on us and gave us all a blessing…. it was very nice. The Jesuit priests often make the ascent of the volcano and have a mass at the summit. That was our plan as well on this ascent.

The start of the climb was difficult because the ground was like coarse black sand of ash and pulverized pumice. It started at a small incline with trails switching or angling the incline. At the beginning there were a couple of ranger stations where experienced climbers would check you out so no one without a guide or experience would attempt an ascent of the volcano. Apparently there had been several instances where inexperienced climbers had gone up and for some reason got lost or overcome by weather and perished. So they checked us out and had us go forward. It wasn’t long before there was no more trail and we started the steep ascent. It was steep enough that when I stood up vertical I could almost touch the mountain by stretching out my arm…it was probably a 50 or 60 degree incline. My legs started to get weak for a while but later normalized…my heart started to beat at a very rapid pace…I didn’t take my pulse but it was even faster than running or sprinting…it was almost as fast as rolling your r’s…rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……I never felt anything like that before or since…it is a good thing I did all that jogging for several months before coming to the volcano. I started to get a headache but I guess that was common because when I told the priest and he gave us all some aspirin and the headache subsided. Eventually I started to become accustomed to the conditions. Apparently not all become accustomed and some persons even become sick. Usually in a group there is at least one that succumbs to the lack of oxygen combined with the physical stress of the ascent…in our case it ended being the priest a few hours later.


We continued to climb till we got to the frost line; at this point we were probably a good three hours into the ascent. We stopped and had a rest and ate some food. We stopped at an area where there were some large rock formations were we could sit and rest. It was the first real opportunity to look around. The sky was still clear and the sky so blue. The air was cold; close to freezing I presume since we were close to the ice & snow but there was just a slight breeze. I didn’t feel cold, I presume it was from the heat of so much excertion.

The view was glorious….We could see the ITZA (another volcano)in the distance and the surrounding valleys….We could see cloud formations below us….and we could see such a long distance to the horizon…it was almost like someone had made a beautiful landscape painting; but it was the real thing. We were probably close to the 17,000-foot level at this point. We couldn’t really see a well-defined summit; the volcano still looked like a great hill….except now it was all white. We could see some vapor coming out of the crater being whisked away by the breeze. We all sat enjoying the view for a little while and then continued the ascent.

When we got to the snow & ice it was actually a relief because it was easier to get good footing. I was surprised that it was really ice and not soft snow…it only makes sense because even the snow turns to ice..but anyway… it was ice..but not hard ice..it had a little texture…we would make steps in the ice by kicking into the ice….step into the protrusion qnd step up. Unfortunately I didn’t have very good boots because the soles were leather…so they would slip. I went ahead and put on my spikes; they were a little heavy…but at least I could get good footing. The air was so thin at this point that we had to take one step up…and then one deep breath….that was the only way to keep oxygen in the lungs. One step----one breath…all the way to the top.

A little while longer the priest started to get winded and couldn’t go any more so he told us to continue on without him….we were probably five to six hours into the ascent at this time. It took us a total of eight hours to get to the summit. At this point fog and freezing drizzle rolled in…fortunately there were some tracks from the previous day leading to the summit…so we followed those up. It is interesting how the body and spirit adjusts to the effort…at first it was difficult and painful…after the initial adjustment it was a steady effort; almost like drudgery but sustained...once we knew we were getting close our spirits were uplifted and a certain feeling of excitement and renewed effort overcame us…..we actually picked up the pace….the only downside was that we couldn’t see anything…it was just ice and drizzle…and everything was white. I was in the lead and climbing up when suddenly it leveled off and I got a whiff of sulfur and I hit a drop-off. WE WERE AT THE LIP OF THE VOLCANO…THE SUMMIT.

I felt great that we had made it to the top. We took pictures of ourselves cause we couldn’t see anything…I don’t know what happened to those pictures. We were only at the summit for a very short time and started down the volcano. It was great fun going down….We just sat on the ice and slid down using the pike axe as a break…once we got below the ice…we just ran down the black dirt/sand..it was kinda going down a sand dune at Padre Island in South Texas….it took two hours to get down and eight hours to go up.

That ascent was 35 years ago and I still remember it as if it were yesterday...the air was so clear and it seemed you could see forever.