Orizaba by the Jamapa Glacier

Overview

At 5,636 m, Pico de Orizaba is the third-highest peak in North America, and on a clear December dawn its perfect volcanic shadow stretches all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. You watch it happen from the Jamapa Glacier, a steady 30-degree ice ramp that begins where the scrambling maze of the Labyrinth ends and does not relent until the crater rim. The trip is really a week in the high villages of Puebla state. Operators in Tlachichuca — the Reyes and Cancholas families have been running climbers up the mountain for generations — truck you by 4x4 to the Piedra Grande hut at 4,260 m. Smart itineraries acclimatise first on Sierra Negra or Malinche; the variable that wrecks summit bids here is almost always altitude, not technicality. Fly to Mexico City or Puebla, bus to Tlachichuca (2,600 m), and climb between November and March when the air is cold and stable. A guided week with acclimatisation peaks, huts and transfers runs about £950. Crampons and axe are essential; the glacier is dry ice by late season and a slip runs a long way.

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Prefilled for 1 November 2026 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.