Hiking in Central Mexico and Veracruz

Great experience, glad I had the opportunity to do this hikes. I was only able to summit one of 3 peaks. One of them Malinche was because the cops didn't let us go up. make sure to start really early so that won't be a problem. The cops stop everyone in bad weather regardless if you have a guide or not. Iztaccihuatl I was able to summit bc the guide Carlos make sure we save our energy for the key areas. Pico de Orizaba it was not possible, because 40 mph winds and snow or hail, the guide make sure we returned safely back to the refuge. If we were able to extend the trip by one day we could have summit, no one summit that day but those that tried the following day had much better success rate. Either way always respect the mountain

We had a good hike. It was a nice area. There was a lot of cloud so unfortunately we didn’t really see the volcanoes. Our guide was helpful and friendly. There was some confusion as to where we would be picked up from however we resolved that.

Great trip! If you get bored sitting on a beach for days on end, this provides excitement, adventure and accomplishment.

The guides on Malinche and Orizaba were very good. But there was a big problem on Iztaccihuatl. I said to each of the guides that I had there that I wasn't bothered about seeing the sunrise from the top, and would it be possible to start a bit later than the usual 1am? They both agreed that it was, one saying that the reason for leaving so early was that normally they needed to take clients back to Mexico City after the climb, and in my case that wasn't necessary as I would stay at the visitor's centre. So in the end we left the visitor's centre at 4:30am. When we got to a foresummit of Iztaccihuatl at 11am, my guide said that we had left very late, and would have to turn back. So we never reached the top, to my great annoyance. In retrospect the best option would have been to have spent one night at the refuge at 4700m before going to the top, but this was never really offered as a possibility.

The incredible human being known as Bernardo aka Bernie will be your guide for this once in a lifetime experience and I promise you it will be one of the best decisions you ever make! Myself and 2 other friends did this 8 day hiking tour and Bernie was the perfect guide - not only did he sort out 100% of the logistics for this trip (food, lodging, extra equipment that we didn't have, driving to and from each mountain, etc) he was extremely flexible when a couple of us got food poisoning (not his fault) and had to re-arrange certain dates. He knows the area really well and obviously can climb these mountains in his sleep so he was able to help us navigate any headaches or high altitude issues and he even ran to the store for us to pick up some paracetamol and pepto bismol one day. The mountains are difficult but the itinerary that Bernie has provided means you have the best possible chance at summiting all 3 peaks. Highly recommend this tour and thank you Bernie for an excellent experience in Mexico!