ASCENT TO THE CRATERS.
The ascent of these mountains is at all times difficult and fatiguing, and very few persons, other than the miners, ever attempt it. Sometimes an adventurous traveler happens along, and is not satisfied till he has made the ascent of one or both of the mountains, but he generally accumulates enough fatigue to last him several months.
Of this number is Mr. D. S. Richardson, United States Secretary of Legation, who, in February, 1877, climbed the peak of Orizaba, or Citlatepetl, as it is called by the Aztecs, the star mountain of the Anahuac. He had previously climbed to the top of Popocatapetl, and from its summit had gazed out over a sea of clouds to the frozen top of its mighty rival, and now the position was reversed. Mr. Richardson was accompanied by Mr. Eustace Morphy, who, with indomitable pluck, held out to the last. The point from which the ascent of Orizaba is generally undertaken is San Andres Chalchicomula, a pleasant little town, which lies directly under the great volcano, at its southwestern base. Here the sulphur-miners and the ice-cutters come down to sell the products of their hazardous industry. The time selected, February 5th, was not at all favorable for the ascent. The miners and guides had all come down, and reported the ascension impossible for several days to come; there had been no such storm in fifty years, they said, and to attempt to go up was simply madness.
Richardson and his companion yielded to their advice, and for a few days engaged in a hunting expedition—which, however, was a failure in so far as finding game was concerned. They saw one rabbit, and heard wolves and coyotes howling; but that was all. They were high up the mountain side, the weather was pleasant, and, as they had plenty of provisions, and no thought of care, they enjoyed the interval with a sense of absolute freedom. It was cold sometimes, and at night the little stars would look down freezingly through the tops of the pines, as if in derision of their foolishness; but these discomforts were as nothing compared with subsequent ones.
At one o’clock on the 10th of February, they began their climb up the mountain. For several hours their path wound up through the desolate ravines which separate the Sierra Negra from the peak. Great masses of volcanic rock were observed in fantastic shapes on every side, and on the entire face of the country, half covered with snow, could be read the signs of the savage convulsions which some day must have shaken the mountains to their foundations. On the morning of the 11th, the party resumed their march at two o’clock, and the ascent is thus described by Secretary Richardson:
THE ASCENT OF THE ORIZABA.
“We were six, all told, four Indians, Morphy, and myself. No party ever tried an ascent with better fellows for guides. They knew every inch of the ground, were strong and good-natured, and took a lively interest in the success of our enterprise. As we were the first to go up after the heavy storms, we went prepared to have a tough climb. The Indians said we would reach the top by ten o’clock, which was giving us seven hours to do it in. Under ordinary circumstances, and when the snow is in the best condition, the sulphur miners go up in five or six hours from the cave, but on the present occasion they had underestimated the difficulties. The snow was low down and very heavy, and long before the sun peeped up over the murky horizon, we were hopelessly launched upon the long, glistening slant, one end of which seemed reaching out to touch the stars, and the other shot far below us into a bank of clouds.
“Sunlight found us on the south side of the mountain, on a level about equal to the height of the Sierra Negra. The ascent now began to be very laborious, and, for the first time, we began cutting foot-steps in the ice in order to proceed. When half way up the mountain, the route usually taken is along a ledge of rocks which reaches up out of the snow like the dorsal fin of a shark, and runs clear to the top. In this respect, Orizaba differs very much from its kindred peak, Popocatapetl. Sharp, jagged points of rock stick out all over its surface like the spines of a porcupine, while the summit of Popocatapetl is a clean, unbroken cone. These rocks on the slopes of Orizaba are one of the principal sources of danger in the ascent, as they often come tumbling down in great quantities; but at the time of our adventure, they were all held fast by the unusually heavy fall of snow. This was a point in our favor; but if we did not have to dodge rocks, there was no lack of active operations in other respects. The higher we went the more abrupt became the ascent, and the more uncertain the foothold. Ten o’clock came around, and the summit was still far above us.
“Every step now had to be cut out of the solid ice, and the fatigue and light air were beginning to tell on our uninitiated muscles. At eleven o’clock, we were at the foot of what is known as the rocks of the arrepentimiento. This is the last grand pull, the home-stretch, and it could not be more appropriately named. It is probably not over three hundred yards to the top, but it is almost a perpendicular wall of ice, and as it is reached when the adventurer is already fainting and about ready to give up, it is a formidable obstacle. We were three hours in getting over it, and then, almost fainting, and completely exhausted, we threw ourselves down on a little shelf of sand at the top of the peak.”
It was two o’clock in the afternoon when they reached the summit, just eleven hours after their departure from the Cave of Santa Cruz, which is itself no less than thirteen thousand feet above the sea. Two of their Indians left the party, preferring to climb the mountain the next morning, to spending the night on its top. Mr. Richardson says that that was the most horrible night he ever hopes to pass. He says: