Pic of the Day: May 21

I've gotten a bit lazy on here as of late. It's been hard to find motivation as we head into summer. Tomorrow will probably be our last cold night till fall, so enjoy it!

South of the Border

To be honest, I don't fully remember taking this photo. I remember when I took it, but the actual process is hazy. This was on the Jamapa Glacier, high on Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. At this point in the day, we had already summited and survival skied/rode about halfway down the white ice covered slope.

I remember being completely exhausted from the midnight start, the long hike with my splitboard strapped to my back, and generally just being above 17,000 feet for most of the day. I had also just taken a pretty bad fall while riding down, requiring me to self-arrest with my ice axe.

I guess in my state of physical and mental exhaustion I still managed to notice the group of climbers making their way down the glacier off in the distance and snap this photo. I probably thought it would help me catch my breath if I took a couple photos. Easier said than done at high altitude, though.

Prior to this trip, I'd never been above 12,000 feet. A few days before Orizaba, we did an acclimatization hike to the 15,000 ft summit of Nevado de Toluca. The cool thing about Orizaba was every step I took was a new personal best. I definitely used that to keep me going on the long slog to the 18,491 ft summit of North America's 3rd highest peak.

To this day, it's still the hardest thing I've ever accomplished.