La Arista del Sol

The route is called ruta de los pies (feet route) on the trail head sign.

Getting There

Arrange for transport or drive up to the La Joya parking lot. From La Joya start hiking up the main trail, opposite the small hut, that leads to the 'feet' and eventually the hut. The parking lot can get crowded so park any vehicles so you are not able to be blocked in.

About public transport from Puebla. 1. The bus to Cholula is on the left outside of CAPU proper and takes an hour (7.50 pesos). 2. Cholula may not be its last stop; we naively went past it. 3. The colectivo to San Nicolas is at 6 Poniente and 5 Norte in Cholula. 4. It gets to Santiago Xalitzintla in 45 minutes (12 pesos), where a colectivo runs to Paso de Cortes (80 pesos) and Amecameca. The driver proposed a gringo price for La Joya (800 pesos), so we refused and waited 2 hours until it filled up. 5. No success to hitchhike meanwhile (only saw 2 cars) and no taxi in town. 6. Off-season, we found no ride to La Joya.
We took 8 hours from Puebla to La Joya, got tired and ran out of time just short of the summit as we were afraid to have no ride back... But we got lucky and met an eastbound climber who had a shiny Lincoln SUV; screw the colectivo!

Route Description

After a couple of hours you will reach an old, but usable hut (Grupo de los Cien hut) that can sleep half a dozen close friends (I think he meant 2 dozens). Above the hut the trail gets steeper and may consist of large snowfield crossing. As you climb look for a large dark metal cross on the first summit above the hut. You can go up either side of the rock outcrop. The left side is Class I the right side is Class II. There will be the remains of an old hut. At this point, you are about 16,800 feet, the trail continues up and over some minor peaks and moraines.

Soon you will reach the 'stomach', a receding glacier, which is a simple ice field but has been known to have crevasses to worry about. From there angle left to the ridge again and continue on to the crater rim and the second glacier on this route.

The broad summit plateau has three points that could be the summit. The route to the rim brings you to one of them. Another is straight ahead along the eastern side with the third farther off to the west. The true summit lies a little to the west of the false summit that is across the rim from where you gained the summit plateau approximately 100 feet to the west of the false summit. Depending on the amount of snow you might have to look for the tops of the crosses. The summit rim is often dry dirt so the crosses are easy to see.

A photographic journey

At the trail head, you may think : "I see no woman here". It can be challenging to identify its "body parts" and these important landmarks. Strike one about always knowing where you are when you hike.
Then, if your only map is the picture of the sign you took at the trail head, you realize the names and distances don't fit what you have read on the Internet. Strike two.


All my pictures were taken in June 2017. Whether it is the glaciers retreating or just being in the summer, everyone else seem to have had more snow.


Our timings: 2 hours Paso de Cortes to La Joya, 3.5 to hut (make that 2.5 if you drove the approach), 1.5 to knee, 2 to summit (estimated), 1.5 to knee, 1 to hut, 1.5 to La Joya.

Essential Gear

What gear you takes depends a lot on the current conditions. Often you can climb it with hiking boots and trekking poles. Many climbers still take an ice axe and crampons to ensure the glacier sections do not give them any problems. Warm clothing is especially needed for the predawn and for safety in case of a change in the weather.

With the glaciers melting, there is less and less chance you will need an ice ax and crampons. Hiking traction devices (the spiked ones from Kahtoola, Hillsound...) may be an alternative. Despite some people wearing climbing helmets, there is no rock or ice fall risk. There is no liquid water on the route.