Joel and Alison's Excellent Adventures Part 2

Mexico Volcanoes – Sierra Negra – 15,345′

Sierra Negra is a subpeak of Orizaba and was our next acclimatization climb. Sierra Negra is located within the Pico de Orizaba National Park. The mountain is the site for two of the world’s premier astronomical instruments, the Large Millimeter Telescope and the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory.

We drove from Puebla to the little town of Zoapan and the home of Orizaba Mountain Guides (OMG!) who would be helping out with driving our gear and assigning a couple extra climbing guides. They had a cute little compound with cute decorations – plus cats and chickens!

Why yes, I’ll take the purple bed!

On the roof looking at Orizaba – Sierra Negra is on the ridgeline to the right.

Although not visible in this photo, we could see the climbing route zigzagging up the left, steep face with naked eye.
Gear ready to be transported up to Piedra Grande (Orizaba Base Camp)
Trailhead for the Sierra Negra hike goes up to the left.
The very last part of the trail was on the road.
Summit #2 with Orizaba in the background.
Some type of memorial was close to the summit of Sierra Negra.
Nice Job, Team! The trail was quite dry and dusty so my TFNU buff came in handy!

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov Experiment or High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory (also known as HAWC) is a gamma-ray and cosmic ray observatory located on the flanks of the Sierra Negra – that is what the gold colored drums are in this photo.

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