Orizaba - the volcano of all kinds of surprises

Pico de Orizaba is the highest peak in Mexico. The mountain belongs to the Mexican Highlands of the Cordillera system. Its height is 5675 meters above sea level. This makes it the third largest peak in North America. Ahead of Orizaba, only McKinley in Alaska (6145 m) and Logan in Canada (5958 m). The Mexican peak is also interesting because it rises above the absolute plain. Thus, from the sole, the base of the mountain, to its top - as much as 4922 meters. This makes Orizaba the seventh in the list of peaks of the world in relative heights. Next to it are such impressive peaks of Mexico as the Sierra Madre and Popocatepetl. Due to their high altitude, their summits shine with eternal snows. They are rushed by crowds of climbers and climbers, but few of them know that Orizaba is a volcano. True, he had long since fallen asleep, back in the late 17th century. But what for geology three and a half centuries? An extinct volcano can not be counted. And so you can expect anything from him.

Geographical coordinates of the Orizaba volcano

The mountain is in Mexico, on the border of the states of Puebla and Veracruz. If we speak the language of geology, then we can say with certainty that the summit belongs to the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. It covers a narrow strip of almost the entire Pacific coast of North America. In the form of education it is a stratovolcano. It was formed several million years ago, in the Middle Pleistocene, due to a powerful Strombolian eruption. As a result, a high peak with a crater on top appeared in the middle of the plain. The funnel has the shape of an ellipse with a diameter of 480 m along the main axis. The area of the crater is about 155 thousand square meters, and the depth is 300 meters. The main rocks found in the bowels of the mountain are andesite and basalt. The coordinates of the Orizaba volcano are as follows: 19 ° 01'48 "N and 97 ° 16'05" W longitude.

Eruptions

Judging by the myths that local tribes composed about the mountain, the volcano occasionally showed its burrows. But not very often. Legends and legends use the word "sometimes". But before the arrival of the Europeans, the eruptions became more frequent, as if foretelling the death of the Aztec civilization. Spanish chronicles allow us to judge that they occurred with an enviable regularity. Judge for yourself: 1537, 1545, 1559, 1566, 1569, 1613, 1630. Then the eruption happened at an interval of fifty-seven years - in 1687. After that Orizaba-volcano suddenly turned into a mountain. Neither a cloud of steam, nor a spark appeared more from his crater. The ice shell bound the peak, and its radiance attracts fans of conquering peaks.

Local names and legends

It is known that before the volcano was called Poyautécatl, which means "foggy mountain". Such a peak was seen for the inhabitants living near the eastern and northern slopes. And in Nahuatl, the volcano has a different name: Sitlatelapetl is the Star Mountain. The shining peak on clear days is visible even from the city of Veracruz, although it is located several hundred kilometers from the place where the Orizaba volcano is located. The modern name of the mountain was invented by the conquistadors who arrived on the mainland, distorting the name of the nearest Indian village beyond recognition. The indigenous population came up with a legend that explains why the volcano sometimes raged. The bloody friend of the leader Nahuan was so upset by the death of his comrade in battle that he ascended to the sky and overthrew to the ground. In the place of his fall rose a high mountain. But the hero did not die, but remained in the bowels of the earth. There he mourns the leader Nahuan, occasionally showing fury and anger in the form of eruptions.

Climbing

The first to conquer the top of Orizaba (volcano) are the ancient Olmecs, who annually climbed it to perform sacrifices preventing eruptions. Among Europeans, the primacy of the conquest of the peak belongs to F. Maynard and W. Reynolds (1848). These scientists described the fauna and flora of the mountain, explored its climatic characteristics. In fact, the ascent to the volcano is not particularly difficult and is classified according to the international scale as 2A in good weather and 2B in bad weather. The entire trip will take a total of about ten hours, if you leave the mountain shelter Piedra Grande, which is located at an altitude of 4200 meters. Orizaba is a volcano with several climatic zones of high altitude zone - from tropical to arctic.