November 7th, 2022
IMG senior guide Porter McMichael reports that the team moved up on Sunday to La Joya, near to the Paso de Cortes, and in the afternoon they took another nice acclimatization hike, ascending several thousand feet on the slopes of Ixta. Today they will do a final acclimatization hike and then this afternoon they’ll work on getting prepared for a very early morning start, in the dark. Tomorrow will be a big day, as they climb to over 17,000 feet on the 8th highest mountain in North America. Ixta is sometimes referred to as “the sleeping woman†since the profile of the mountain shows the head, chest, knees, and feet, and the climbing route ascends via the “kneesâ€.
Eric Simonson