So my last climb ended in what could have been mild AMS, but was more likely just due to exhaustion and a poor food and water intake routine while climbing. On Orizaba, I made sure to remedy this by getting lots of rest, scheduling my food intake during the climb, etc. And at about 16,500´, at the start of the summit glacier, I was feeling really good. Except for my toes, which felt like they might have fallen off. It turns out that my La Sportiva Makalus are just not up to the task of this mountain. We were making really good time up to the glacier, but the last 2,000´ were expected to take us an additional 4 hours of ice travel, and my toes probably wouldn´t have survived, so again, I turned around. Boo.

I had thought about buying some double plastic boots for this trip, but I would have had to get new crampons to fit them as well. This would have meant well over $500 in gear which I wasn´t sure I would need. Well, in retrospect, I needed it. I´m not super bummed out by this outcome; I learned a lot about managing my health during a climb and some good glacier travel experience. Summiting would have been nice, but I still had a good time. The other three all summited, so my lack of adequate boots didn´t ruin anyone else´s day.

We did get up WAY too early for this hike; we weren´t sure how long it would take us, so we erred on the side of caution and got up at.... 11:30pm yesterday, on trail at midnight. They made the summit at 7am, and were rewarded with excellent views. I´ll post some of their pictures when I get ahold of them. My entire hike was in the dark; I made it back to the hut at 6am. Great weather and a full moon, but not enough light for any photos of my part of the hike.

That´s it for our mountain climbing on this trip. We´re not sure what we´ll be doing for the next two days, but it might include pyramids or something.