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Oscar Eckenstein Diary Entry Wednesday, 17 April 1901
Our [Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley] next expedition was to Popocatapetl, which we ascended on April 17th, taking with us an American friend who was formerly on the staff of a Chicago paper. A humourous account of the expedition, written by him, has already been reproduced in the Climbers' Club Journal (Vol. III., pages 176 to 178). There is no climbing proper on this ascent, but only walking up very objectionable scree, or rather volcanic debris, lying at practically the critical angle. But coming down it is joy.
What was to me a matter of great interest on this ascent, was the fine display of nieves penitentes. This is the Spanish name—there is no English equivalent—for a very curious formation of snow and ice, but chiefly (on this occasion at least) of the latter. It consisted of flakes 2 to 4 feet high, and up to 18 inches thick and 3 feet wide at their base; these flakes were arranged in parallel rows bearing diagonally up the mountain, i.e., the rows ran up from N.E. to S.W., and the major axes of the horizontal sections of the flakes were in the same direction. The individual flakes were at an angle of about 20 to the vertical, and were leaning over to the S.W. They were not formed out of avalanche debris, but out of the snow which had fallen, in situ, and they covered a good many acres.
Most of the flakes were of pure ice, others were part ice and part snow, but none consisted of snow only. The way in which they are formed is as yet unknown. Sir W. M. Conway's theories on the subject (See Aconcagua and Tierra del Fuego, pages 65 to 70) are evidently quite wrong. I cannot help thinking that the action of the wind has something to do with their formation, but I am unable to formulate a satisfactory theory. We could see that on Citlateptl there were also nieves penitentes, but there were none on any of the other mountains we visited.
This ended our expeditions in Mexico. I may perhaps add that on all our climbs Crowley and I led alternately.
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