Pico de Orizaba is the highest peak in Mexico. The mountain belongs to the Mexican Highlands of the Cordillera system. Its height is 5675 meters above sea level. This makes it the third highest peak in North America. Only McKinley in Alaska (6145 m) and Logan in Canada (5958 m) are ahead of Orizaba. The Mexican peak is also interesting because it rises above the absolute plain. Thus, from the sole, the base of the mountain, to its top - as much as 4922 meters.
This makes Orizaba the seventh highest peak in the world in terms of relative height. Next to it are such impressive peaks of Mexico as the Sierra Madre and Popocatepetl. Due to their high altitude, their peaks shine with eternal snows. Crowds of climbers and rock climbers flock to them, but few of them know that Orizaba is a volcano. True, he fell asleep long ago, at the end of the 17th century. But what is three and a half centuries for geology? ExtinctVolcanoes can't be counted. Therefore, you can expect anything from him.
Geographic coordinates of the Orizaba volcano
The mountain is located in Mexico, on the border of the states of Puebla and Veracruz. If we speak the language of geology, then we can confidently say that the peak belongs to the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. It covers almost the entire Pacific coast of North America in a narrow strip. It is a stratovolcano in its form. It was formed several million years ago, in the middle Pleistocene, as a result of a powerful Strombolian eruption. As a result, a high peak appeared in the middle of the plain with a crater on top. The funnel has the shape of an ellipse with a diameter of 480 m along the main axis. The area of the crater is about 155 thousand square meters, and the depth is 300 meters. The main rocks found in the bowels of the mountain are andesite and bas alt. The coordinates of the Orizaba volcano are as follows: 19°01’48’’ N and 97°16’05’’ W.
Eruptions
Judging by the myths that the local tribes told about the mountain, the volcano showed its temper from time to time. But not very often. Traditions and legends use the word "sometimes". But before the arrival of the Europeans, the eruptions became more frequent, as if foreshadowing the death of the Aztec civilization. The Spanish chronicles allow us to judge that they happened with enviable regularity. Judge for yourself: 1537, 1545, 1559, 1566, 1569, 1613, 1630. Then the eruption happened with an interval of fifty-seven years - in 1687. After that, the Orizaba Volcano suddenly turned intomountain. Not a cloud of steam, not a spark, emerged from its crater again. An ice shell has forged the peak, and its radiance attracts lovers of conquering peaks.
Local names and legends
It is known that earlier the volcano was called Poyautécatl, which means "foggy mountain". Such was the peak seen by the inhabitants who lived near the eastern and northern slopes. And in the Nahuatl language, the volcano has a different name: Sitl altepetl - Mountain of the Star. On clear days, the shining peak can be seen even from the city of Veracruz, although it is located several hundred kilometers from the place where the Orizaba volcano is located. The modern name of the mountain was invented by the conquistadors who arrived on the mainland, distorting the name of the nearest Indian village beyond recognition. The indigenous people came up with a legend that explains why the volcano sometimes ran amok. The blood friend of the leader of Nahuan was so upset by the death of his comrade in battle that he rose into the sky and fell to the ground. At the place of his fall, a high mountain rose. But the hero did not die, but remained in the bowels of the earth. There he mourns the leader of Nahuani, occasionally showing rage and anger in the form of eruptions.
Climbing
The first to conquer the summit of Orizaba (volcano) were the ancient Olmecs, who annually climbed it to make sacrifices to prevent eruptions. Among Europeans, the championship of conquering the peak belongs to F. Maynard and W. Reynolds (1848). These scientists described the fauna and flora of the mountain, explored itclimatic characteristics. In fact, climbing the volcano is not particularly difficult and is classified according to the international scale as 2A in good weather and 2B in bad weather. The whole hike will take about ten hours in total, if you leave from the Piedra Grande mountain shelter, which is located at an altitude of 4200 meters. Orizaba is a volcano with several climatic zones of altitudinal zonality - from tropical to arctic.
