Volcanic Activity: Climbing Mexico's volcanoes

by Mark Horrell

Mexico - the land of spicy food and tortillas, hot sunny beaches, and ancient Aztec ruins hidden in deep overgrown jungle, where every man over the age of 20 owns a donkey and rides around in a tattered poncho and giant sombrero. Or so some people believe.

But what not many people know about Mexico is that it's possible to go mountaineering there as well, on a chain of volcanoes dotting the central plateau for 100km from Mexico City to Orizaba, shortly before the land drops away to the east coast.

It's not your average mountaineering holiday. You can stuff yourself with a three course dinner down a smart restaurant before jumping in a 4WD vehicle and driving up to 4000m to begin your climb. The mountains are few and far between, with a great sense of space at the summit, and views to the far horizon. A not a donkey or sombrero in sight ...

Volcanic Activity is Mark Horrell's travel diary from just such an adventure, and will appeal to climbers and anyone else looking to see an alternative side to Mexico. It includes many of the author's photographs from his trip.

Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2011

About the author

For many years Mark Horrell has been writing what has been described as one of the most credible Everest opinion blogs out there. He writes about trekking and mountaineering from the often silent perspective of the commercial client.

For nearly 20 years he has been exploring the world’s greater mountain ranges and keeping a diary of his travels. As a writer he strives to do for mountain history what Bill Bryson did for long-distance hiking.

Several of his expedition diaries are available from the major online bookstores. He has published two full-length books: Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest (2015), about his ten-year journey from hill walker to Everest climber, and Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo (2019), about an expedition to cycle and climb from sea level to the furthest point from the centre of the earth.

His favourite mountaineering book is The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman.

Reviews

[chucklesthescot · Rating 2 out of 5]

On reading this one I was glad NOT to be on the expedition. The book as always was well written and I would love to explore the volcanoes but having a tour guide who can only seem to tell rude jokes would have got on my nerves by the second or third day. Everything in this book seemed sex related including Morgan the priest and all people want to do is talk about body parts. Not my favourite in the series, that's for sure.