www.arareko.net

The last time I raced up Iztaccíhuatl was in April. Some things in my life have changed since then, most notably, Mokka arrived home so I had to adapt my schedule to be able to take care of her. I gained some weight and lost some bit of training, even though I managed to run some long distances here and there…

Nevertheless, my desire for cutting down more minutes to the climb via Ayoloco glacier has always been present and has grown with time as well, just like Mokka, who now is able to go out trail running with me. Some things just require patience and building a solid background.

Today I logged a great time of 3:56:00 from my car to Iztaccíhuatl’s summit, shaving 9 minutes from my previous record from April. During the last month I lost that extra weight and got back into mountaineering and running, that’s how I was able to shorten the time of my climb.

Of course I arrived really exhausted to the summit, after all this was my first serious climb of the season so I didn’t had the best possible acclimatization to altitude. Despite that, I was really motivated and felt extremely great. I spent 20 minutes at the summit, praying, eating a snack and enjoying the view while the clouds passed by.

On the descent I soloed a short section of mixed climbing in Peña Aguilera to visit my friend Ricardo’s cross at its summit, then came down to Grupo de los Cien hut to meet Gil, Sergio & Arturo, who climbed the normal route.

It was a great day in my beloved mountain!