THE EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS

Edinburgh, Scotland

June 1901

(pages 199-200)

EDITORIAL NOTES.

MEXICO.—Mr. O. Eckenstein [Oscar Eckenstein] writes us from Mexico as follows:—Having established a camp at a height of 4181 m. (13,717 feet) on the western slopes of Iztaccihuatl, we made the following new expeditions:—

Jan. 19. From our camp we bore in an E.N.E. direction to the foot of the rock wall bounding the S.W. ridge (of Panza), on the west side. We then ascended this rock wall, which at this point is about 67 metres (220 feet) high. We then went up over hard snow, in a fairly straight line, to a point somewhat below the depression between the snow and ice summits; a short traverse over rather steep rotten ice, followed by a short. ascent over snow at a gentle gradient, then took us to the top of the ice summit, which we assumed to be the highest summit. It was somewhat misty. On the way down we varied our route; after the ice traverse we struck down the main slope to the south, and were enabled to glissade a great part of the way. Times: Camp to foot of wall, 2 h.; ascent of wall, 35 m.; then to ice traverse, 2 h.; then to summit, 20m. Descent, top to camp, 1 h. 15 m.

Jan. 22. I by myself ascended the striking group of rock towers (4740 m., or 15,531 feet) on the south ridge. The highest tower bears a striking resemblance to the Needle (Great Napes); the top consists of a separate block of similar shape, and is the most difficult part of the climb. I only succeeded in reaching its summit after several attempts.

Jan. 24. From our camp we bore in a N.E. direction to the foot of the icefall which comes down on the west side of the pass between Cabeza and Panza, and then went up this icefall to the pass (5000 m. or 16,404 feet). The rocks of Cabeza are everywhere steep and rotten, so we traversed to an opening in the S.E. face, by which we reached the east ridge, which we followed more or less to the lower snow top, from which a gentle snow slope led to the true summit (5146m., or 16,882 feet). We descended by the same route. Times: Pass to summit, 50 m.; summit to pass, 1/2 h.

Jan. 28. We went to the same pass between Cabeza and Panza. The north ridge of Panza (i.e., the one down to this pass) is very fine, being curiously curled, and consists entirely of ice and snow. At one point it is broken by an outstanding buttress of ice and snow. We ascended this ridge, which starts at a very gentle gradient, but rapidly steepens, till it has an angle of 47° immediately below the break, which is 147m. (482 feet) above the pass. After reaching the foot of the break we bore up to the right, over a very steep snow slope, consisting of powdery snow, till we came to an ice wall, along which we traversed horizontally for a short distance. We then struck straight up the ice wall, which was about 70m. (230 feet) high, and had an average angle of 51°; it was covered with 5-15 cm. (2-6 in.) of rotten ice, which had to be chopped away before the spikes of our crampons could obtain satisfactory hold. This brought us back on to the ridge, which here was of snow and had a gentle gradient; and then a short walk took us to the true snow summit, which we found was about 6 m. (20 feet) higher than the ice summit ascended on the 19th, a nearly level snow slope connecting the two. We descended to the camp by the same route as on the 19th. Times: Camp to pass, 2 h.; ascent of ridge to break, 1/2 h.; snow slope, 1/2t h.; ice wall, 50 m.; to true summit, 10m.

I may mention that “Cabeza” is the name of the north summit (5146m., or 16,882 feet) of Iztaccihuatl (this is the correct spelling; you will find it spelt wrongly in the A.J. and elsewhere and “Panza,” that of the central mass (5286 m., or 17,343 feet), of the mountain.

The heights given are the latest corrected ones ; the district has been surveyed lately, and a map on the scale of 1 : 100,000 is now procurable.