Pico de Orisaba is Mexico's highest peak. 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. Only McKinley in Alaska (6145 m) and Logan in Canada (5958 m) are ahead of Orizaba. The Mexican peak is also interesting in that it rises above the absolute plain. Thus, from the sole, the base of the mountain, to its crown - as much as 4922 meters.
This makes Orizaba the seventh in the list of peaks in the world in relative height. Next to it are such impressive peaks of Mexico, such as the Sierra Madre and Popocatepetl. Due to the high altitude, their peaks shine with eternal snows. Crowds of climbers and climbers rush toward them, but few of them know that Orisaba is a volcano. True, he fell asleep long ago, at the end of the 17th century. But what for geology three and a half centuries? An extinct volcano cannot be considered in any way. Therefore, anything can be expected from him.
The geographic coordinates of the volcano Orisaba
The mountain is located in Mexico, on the border of the states of Puebla and Veracruz. If we speak the language of geology, we can confidently say that the peak belongs to the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. It covers a narrow strip of almost the entire Pacific coast of North America. In form of education, this is a stratovolcano. It formed several million years ago, in the Middle Pleistocene, due to a powerful Strombolian eruption. As a result, a high peak appeared in the middle of the plain with a crater on top. 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 Orizaba volcano are: 19 ° 01'48 '' north latitude and 97 ° 16'05 '' west longitude.
Eruptions
Judging by the myths that local tribes composed about the mountain, the volcano from time to time showed its holes. But not very often. Traditions and legends use the word "sometimes." But before the Europeans arrived, eruptions became more frequent, as if portending the demise of the Aztec civilization. Spanish chronicles allow us to judge that they occurred with enviable regularity. Judge for yourself: 1537, 1545, 1559, 1566, 1569, 1613, 1630. Then the eruption occurred at an interval of fifty-seven years - in 1687. After that, Orisaba volcano suddenly turned into a mountain. Neither a cloud of vapor nor a spark appeared more from his crater. The ice shell has forged a peak, and its radiance attracts lovers of conquering peaks.
Local names and legends
It is known that the volcano used to be called Poyautécatl, which means "foggy mountain". Such a peak was seen by residents living near the eastern and northern slopes. And in the Nahuatl language, the volcano has a different name: Sittaltepetl - Mountain of the Star. On clear days, a shining peak is even visible from the city of Veracruz, although it is located several hundred kilometers from the place where the Orisaba volcano is located. The modern name for the mountain was invented by the conquistadors who arrived on the mainland, distorting beyond recognition the name of the nearest Indian village. The indigenous people came up with a legend that explains why the volcano was sometimes rampant. The blood friend of the leader Nahuani was so upset by the death in battle of his comrade that he ascended into heaven and fell to the ground. In the place of his fall a high mountain rose . But the hero did not die, but remained in the bowels of the earth. There he mourns the leader of Nahuani, occasionally showing rage and anger in the form of eruptions.
Ascents
The ancient Olmecs, who annually climbed it to make sacrifices to prevent eruptions, were the first to conquer the peak of Orizaba (volcano). Among Europeans, the conquest of the peak belongs to F. Maynard and W. Reynolds (1848). These scientists described the fauna and flora of the mountain, investigated its climatic characteristics. In fact, climbing a volcano is not particularly difficult and is classified on the international scale as 2A in good weather and 2B in bad weather. The whole trip will take about ten hours, if you leave the mountain shelter Piedra Grande, which is located at an altitude of 4200 meters. Orisaba is a volcano with several climatic zones of high zonation - from tropical to arctic.