Ajusco
3,880 m · 12,730 ft
Half a day on Mexico City's own mountain, up to Pico del Águila. Short, and it tells your guide exactly how you move before anything is at stake.
7 Days · Pico de Orizaba · Private & Guided
Pico de Orizaba,
Properly Acclimatized
One goal: the highest point in Mexico, 5,636 m of glacier. Everything in the six days before it exists to put you on that summit instead of turning you around below it.
Why most climbers turn around
People fly in for Pico de Orizaba, sleep two nights in Mexico City at 2,240 m, drive straight to the hut at 4,260 m and start climbing at midnight. They are strong enough. They are simply not acclimatized, and the mountain sends them down at the edge of the glacier. The schedule fails them, not their fitness.
This package fixes the schedule. Four climbing days, each one higher than the last, on three mountains, with the same guide from the first morning to the summit. By the time you step onto the Jamapa glacier you have already slept high, walked on crampons and had a cold alpine start, and your guide already knows how you move, how you eat and how you handle the dark.
3,880 m
Ajusco
4,780 m
Izta Refugio
5,230 m
Iztaccíhuatl
5,636 m
Pico de Orizaba
The seven days
DAY 1
DAY 2
Refugio de los Cien
4,780 m · 15,682 ft
A full day on the shoulder of Iztaccíhuatl and home the same night. The highest you can walk near Mexico City in one push, with Popocatépetl venting across the pass.
DAY 3
Rest & gear
Mexico City
No guide, no mountain. Recovery, a gear check, and anything you still need to buy. We tell you where.
DAYS 4-5
Iztaccíhuatl
5,230 m · 17,159 ft
Camp at La Joya, then a midnight summit push. Crampons, rope, the whole rehearsal. If you can do Izta, you are ready for Pico.
DAY 6
Up to Piedra Grande
4,260 m · 13,976 ft
East to Tlachichuca, then 4x4 up the mountain road. No climbing today. You sleep high and the altitude keeps working for you.
DAY 7
Pico de Orizaba
5,636 m · 18,491 ft
A 1 a.m. start through the Labyrinth by headlamp, then onto the Jamapa glacier while it is still frozen. Guides are 2:1 on the glacier. The highest point in Mexico.
Price
Booked as one week, every mountain is ten percent below its own published price. Nothing is hidden: each of these four climbs has its own page on this site with its own price, and you can add them up yourself. Every figure below is per person, in USD.
| Team size | Booked separately | This package |
|---|---|---|
| Solo climber | $2,640 | $2,376 |
| 2 climbers | $1,720 | $1,548 |
| 3 climbers | $1,550 | $1,395 |
| 4 climbers | $1,520 | $1,368 |
| 5 or more | $1,450 | $1,305 |
A booking fee of 35 percent confirms your dates and your guide, and comes off the total. The balance is due at the end of the expedition. Paying the balance in cash avoids the 5 percent card processing fee.
Included
- The same certified English-speaking guide across all three mountains, 2:1 on the Pico glacier
- All ground transport from Mexico City, including the 4x4 to and from Piedra Grande
- Technical equipment: crampons, ice axe, harness, helmet and rope
- Camp at La Joya and the hut night at Piedra Grande, tents and camp equipment included
- All mountain meals and snacks, park fees, live GPS tracking and satellite emergency comms
Not included
- Flights and city hotels. You pick where you sleep, we pick you up there
- Personal clothing and boots. We send a list and tell you where to buy or rent in the city
- Travel and medical insurance
- Meals in the city on your rest day
Your dates, not ours. Pico de Orizaba is guided year-round, with November to
March the prime window. Tell us the week you land and we build the seven days around it. If you
arrive already acclimatized from another range, say so and we will compress the week and give
you the days back.
Start your expedition
Tell us your dates and your climbing background. You get a real itinerary back, built for the week you are actually here, not a brochure.