The 5 Most Amazing Peaks in Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl

Amacuilecatl ("Where the five winds dwell" or "Where the five waters dwell") the top of the foot of the volcanoes that make up the Iztaccíhuatl

The air is getting quite thin once you get closer to the top. Allow yourself enough time to get up there. We had to take a lot of breaks and needed around 4 to 5 hours to get there!

Route Information: Cerro Tlaloc, 4,157m. This was a nice surprise day for us, a group of four experienced guides and walkers setting out from Rio Frio, the small town at the base of this mountain. Basically we travelled to Rio Frio from Mexico City and started off at 9.30am. It's easy to find somewhere to park in the town and then just head roughly north west and find the trail that heads away from the glorious view of the 'Cabeza' (head) of nearby Ista. The trail is a wide one and you can't miss it really as it lays on the outskirts of the town. If you have any difficulties just ask. The trail is in reality a rough road and is suitable for a four wheel vehicle and it meanders up through a lovely pine forest, which restricts your view but it is still pleasant. Just stick to the trail and after four k's you start to come out on a plateau. You are still on the big trail and it generally heads to the right. If you come to a junction just follow the yellow arrows. You have views from the plateau and to the left, about 2ks away is the summit of Telopan (4,060m). You will move away from this for another four k's until you come to a single track trail. Follow this until you come to the rock banded summit area of Tlaloc. Now you go to the left of the rock bands, it's a bit of a bushman cross country trip but we managed to follow the trail up around to the left and had bit of a neat scramble until you come out above the bands. Another k and you come to the broad summit where you have the old Aztec pyramid. It is time to head down now and this is a bit of bush trek too but the views are quite nice. You have great views of Ista's 'Cabeza' again and it is all very pleasant. Now I would return the same way as you came if you lack hiking competency and use a GPS if you can. We returned a different way heading down the rock band and ended up on a good off piste trip...all rather fun. After a jaunt back down the trail we ended back in Rio Frio. All in all this was a very good hiking day. Nice views, good trail, pine forest hike, easy scrambling and moderate route finding problems. No maps available to us but we got a gps track downloaded from wiki log. Take a gps if you can even if it's only to back track.

Mount or Cerro Tlaloc (Spanish: Monte Tláloc, sometimes wrongly listed as Cerro el Mirador; Nahuatl: Tlālōcatepētl) is a mountain and archaeological site in central Mexico. It is located in the State of Mexico, in the municipalities of Ixtapaluca and Texcoco, close to the state border with Puebla. Formerly an active volcano, it has an official altitude of 4,120 metres (13,517 ft) above sea level, thus being the 9th tallest mountain of Mexico. The mountain was considered by the Nahuan peoples, foremost among them the Aztecs, to be specially sacred to the raingod Tlaloc. In fact, the mountain was believed to be one of his primary earthly dwelling places, called Tlalocan. Attribution of this and other mountains to the sacred presence of rain deities predates the Aztec era by centuries, even millennia. At the summit there are still remains of a shrine where high ceremonies would have been carried out. The rites of Tlaloc were otherwise performed at his temples, most famously that occupying one half of the Templo Mayor at the heart of the temple precinct of nearby Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The inherent analogy of temple pyramids to sacred mountains allows for the very likely possibility that the central temple of the Aztec capital, as such, was at least partly a symbolic representation of the actual Mount Tlaloc, and that the summit shrine of the temple was itself an analogue to that atop the mountain. The shrine atop is one of the highest-elevation shrines in the world. Together with Mount Telapón (4,060 metres (13,320 ft)) and some other, lower peaks, Mount Tlaloc forms the "Sierra de Río Frío", the northernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada. The mountain is easily accessible from Federal Highway 150 at the town of Río Frío de Juárez. The long, but easy and non-technical hike provides an elevation gain of over 1200 m.[2] More strenuous routes depart from San Pablo Ixayoc and from other towns outside Texcoco.

Carolina is absolutely right. Wen you are going up Izta and dawn breaks upon you the views across to the continually smoking Popo is amazing. Every time you turn back to take a picture you just have this marvellous volcano as a back drop. I simply love Mexico, its people and its mountains!

Iztaccíhuatl (alternative spellings include Ixtaccíhuatl, or either variant spelled without the accent) (Nahuatl pronunciation: [istakˈsiwat͡ɬ] (About this soundlisten) or, as spelled with the x, [iʃtakˈsiwat͡ɬ] (About this soundlisten)), is a 5,230 m (17,160 ft) dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla within Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park. It is the nation's third highest, after Pico de Orizaba at 5,636 m (18,491 ft), and Popocatépetl at 5,426 m (17,802 ft). The name "Iztaccíhuatl" is Nahuatl for "White woman", reflecting the four individual snow-capped peaks which depict the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeping female when seen from east or west. Iztaccíhuatl is to the north of its twin Popocatépetl, to which it is connected by the high altitude Paso de Cortés. Depending on atmospheric conditions Iztaccíhuatl is visible much of the year from Mexico City some 70 km (43 mi) to the northwest. The first recorded ascent was made in 1889, though archaeological evidence suggests the Aztecs and previous cultures climbed it previously. It is the lowest peak containing permanent snow and glaciers in Mexico.

The access to the Popo is closed due to its constant activity, but the view from the Izta is amazing.