Mountain Nevado de Toluca (4 961 m / 16 276 ft)

Convenient location, rich natural and geographical resources of the park, breathtaking views and a huge selection of leisure options are only the main reasons for the mountain and its surrounding area annually attracts millions of tourists from around the world. In addition to traditional alpine hikes, the national park offers mountain bike tracks, horseback riding, scuba diving, sports training camps for marathoners and many other opportunities to interesting and useful rest.   The most popular leisure trips are passing the rim of the crater, its transition from one to the other edge, that, depending on the selected route can be extremely simple or alternatively a task of a certain difficulty. A huge number of accommodation options in the park around the mountain allows to pass a full and extended holiday or even a vacation.

With a height of 4691 meters, the mountain Nevado de Toluca (aka Xinantécatl) is the fourth highest in Mexico, as well as the most popular peak in the country. It earned such reputation for the best climbing conditions to the largest portion of mountain recreational amateurs - climbers of the average level of mountaneering skills. One of the routes - "Complete Rim Traverse" is considered to be the climb nothing inferior to its technical and aesthetic characteristics to similar alpine routes. One of the advantages of the mountain is considered to be its location - it is in the west of Mexico-City, away from other popular heights and volcanoes, and often ignored by the masses of tourists. In addition to privacy, the mountain has the additional tourist attractions, like two beautiful lakes in its crater - Laguna de la Luna and the Laguna del Sol (Lunar and Solar Lakes). The water is extremely cold, though, you can swim with scuba diving suit. Shore of the lakes offers excellent opportunities for hiking. Volcanic activity is considered to be completed for a long time. The approach to the volcano is very simple and lies on a good road, suitable for driving on special cars almost to the edge of the crater, from which begins tracking inside or around the bowl of the crater. The slopes offer plenty of opportunities for accommodation in camping and mountaineering bases, including at an altitude of 4050 m, which is great for general acclimatization. From some of these centers trail leads directly into the crater. The distance to cover - from 1.5 to 3 km. Two mountain peaks to which all the ascents are made are Pico del Fraile (4961 m) and Pico del Aguila (4620 m). Climbing the first one takes about 5 hours, while the second is closer to the parking area, it is therefore considered more affordable and easy route. Both peaks may get covered with thick layers of snow from November to March, when the slopes get crowded with fans of ski trips and descents. The peak is characterized by changes in temperature that are to be considered when spending the night in the crater of Nevado de Toluca.

• North America 14,000-foot Peaks (4 265 metres)

The mountain is located in the eponymous National park with a total area of 17 thousand. Ha at 80 km west of Mexico-City. Grandiose and iconic national park is distinguished by the highest accessibility and a high level of tourist infrastructure. Most of the park is covered with pine forests, meadows with many rare and exotic plants, which is found a large number of fauna, including possums, reptiles, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels and birds.

By car from Mexico City - highway 15 west to Toluca, then along the Passeo Tollocan south from the city to Highway 134 - about 18 km on the highway to highway 3 and then another 8 km up to the peak, or optionally up to the crater (22 km). From Mexico-City there are a few buses going to Toluca, by arriving you take a walk or a ride to the trailhead.

In recent decades, the territory of the park in Mexico, where the volcano Nevado de Toluca is located, suffered greatly due to illegal logging, grazing and mining. The park territory also declined - so we can talk about the need to hurry to catch its wealth more or less intact.

 

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Guided Tours

• Iliveinmexico.com
• HG Mexico

• https://www.summitpost.org/nevado-de-toluca-xinantecatl/150798#chapter_7
• http://peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=8028
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevado_de_Toluca_National_Park
• http://www.ecotura.mx/nevado.php