Iztaccihuatl

Iztaccihuatl from the NW on the Puebla -DF road near Chalco

South ridge to Schutzhüttebdep2

The Iztaccihuatl (or Ixtaccihuatl in new Nahuatl spelling Istaksiwatl, also Iztactépetl or Istaktepetl or Mujer dormida ( = sleeping woman ) ) is with 5230 m the third highest mountain in Mexico after the Pico de Orizaba and Popocatépetl.

Name

The extinct volcano has three peaks, which are associated by the public with head, chest and the feet of a sleeping woman. Its name comes from the Nahuatl and means in German " White Lady ". Occasionally the short form Ixta is used for the mountain.

Location

It is located about 70 km southeast of the capital, Mexico City, and is visible in good visibility from the city. The Iztaccihuatl located 18 km north of Popocatépetl and is separated from it by the approximately 3700 m high Paso de Cortés.

Ascent

The official first ascent was in 1889 by James de Salis, but archaeological investigations have revealed that the mountain must have been already conquered by the Aztecs and still earlier cultures. The easiest ascent starts in the south of the mountain, via the saddle Portillo de los Pies. In the further course of the pre-summit Torre de San Agustín, 5020 m, exceeded. It follows another side peaks, the Rodillas, 5100 m. Here already to be reckoned with ice. About the south ridge, it then goes to the main summit of Pecho, 5286 m. The time required for ascent and descent is about two days.

The Legend of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl

In the mythology of the Aztecs Iztaccihuatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors. Her father sent the warriors in a campaign in Oaxaca. The father promised his daughter to the warrior when he would return ( what the father did not believe ). The daughter was told that her lover was dead, whereupon she died of grief. But when the warriors returned, he died again, of grief to have lost it. The gods covered the two with the snow and turned them into mountains. The snow-capped mountain Iztaccihuatl is therefore also called " white woman " because it resembles a supine woman. The warrior became the volcano Popocatépetl, which spits fire out of anger over the loss of his beloved.