(Club de Aventureros y Deportistas Espirituales - CADE )

Three spiritualists reached the top of the "Rodilla" at an altitude of 5000m of Iztacihuatl, the third highest mountain of Mexico.   We started off at 5:50 A.M. from Cuernavaca after a nice Painca Jania meditation. Then we drove off towards the sunrise eastbound via Cuautla and reached San Pedro from where a steep climb for over 45 min. brought us to the Paso de Cortes and on through a dirt road to the base camp called La Joya at an altitude of 3990m. It was exactly 9:00 A.M. when we finished all the formalities and were ready to climb. The first half an hour was an easy hike to the primer portillo. We kept our rythm and passed several groups on the way. At the "quarto portillo" we took some dry fruits and made a short break. All the way up we enjoyed a beautiful view of Popocatepl and its steam coming from its crater. Sometimes even thick clouds of black smoke were visible.  From then on it went a little downhill to another base-camp consisting of an aluminium hut for those who stay over-night. Now the breathing started to get difficult and a steep incline through sandy terrain brought us to the ex-refugio Lopez Mateos. Now things started to look complicated. A steep rockface had to be climbed to reach the final point we had set for the day : The Knee of the sleeping woman. But to our astonishment it turned out to be easy. It took us another hour of heavy breathing and stop and go rythm to reach the Rodilla. It was 12:52 when we reached. We rejoiced with a 15 min. meditation. It was totally windstill. Not a brise. A very powerful feeling surrounded us. Sitting on a steep rock-cone at 5000m altitude doing meditation in the direction of Popocatepl, an active Volcano. It was a dream come true. Just at that point clouds started coming in and it got colder. We drank our celebration "Boing" Guava juice (17% juice, but 100% pure). Prashanta started developing a bad headache and my digestion was acting up. I guess that some Samskaras had to be released. Our price for everything else going near perfect. Considering that around New Moon dramatic weather changes are to be expected, it was a lucky day. In a little more than 2 hours we were down again. By 4 P.M. we took off towards the sunset. We reached Cuernavaca by 7 P.M. and after a shower, meditation and food, collapsed into deep sleep. Thanks to detail planning by Prashanta with his alpinist experience from France the trip became a grand success. As well we need to thank Pratap for helping arrange the tickets and the drive to the base-camp. The photoshots and camera coverage was the duty of SSAC chief organizer Dada Mokseshvarananda. Climb Data: Total altitude climbed : 1010m Length of hike: 4050 m (one way) Time taken to the Rodilla : 3 hours 52 min. Altitude reached : 5000m On top of the Rodilla at 5000m, the breast of the sleeping woman behind... Pratap from mexico...breathing hard Prashanta, the french alpinist. The active volcan Popocatepl in the background... Before the last climb to the top... another hour of hard breathing... Dada Mokseshvarananda, spiritual guide... Or off to Orizaba, highest mountain of Mexico... an active volcano. Arrived at base camp safely... (Iztacihuatl in the background)