Photo journal from Volcan Baru (3474m), the highest mountain in Panama.

Photo journal from Cerro Chirripo (3820m), the highest mountain in Costa Rica.

There is a lot of potential landmines lying around on Cerro Mogoton (2107m), but Roberto from Nicaragua safely guided us to the tallest mountain in Nicaragua.

Cerro El Pital (2730m) is the highest mountain in El Salvador. It's also the easiest country high point in Central America because there is a road almost to the summit.

Cerro Las Minas (2870m) is the highest mountain in Honduras. We expected a remote jungle experience, but it was more like a long walk in the park.

Copan Ruinas is a "hidden" treasure in Honduras, and the lack of tourists in this troubled country will make sure it remains tranquil for the unforeseeable future.

We were supposed to climb a couple of volcanoes in Antigua, but things didn't turn out as planned. It might be wrong to say that we wasted 3 days in Antigua, but that's exactly what we did, at least from a mountaineering point of view.

Santa Maria (3772m) towers like a pyramid above Xela and protect this city from the very aggressive Santiaguito crater on the other side of its slope. It's notorious for armed robberies on the trail.

Tajumulco (4220m) is the highest mountain in Guatemala and Central-America. Unlike the other volcanoes in Guatemala, it's considered very safe, except for the dangerous chicken bus to/from the trailhead.

Flores and the nearby Maya ruins of Tikal is maybe the most famous place in Guatemala. Words from other travelers told us that this was going to be one of the highlights of our trip in Central America.

Entering Belize on Good Friday in the Holy Week, proved to be more difficult than we had anticipated. Luckily we were able to get all the way from Tulum to Orange Walk Town in one day.

I certainly like Tulum more than Cancun. Less tourists, much less developed and some lovely Maya ruins on a tall cliff above the white beach.

Cancun was not part of our original plan. But I had to go there to pick up my new passport, so why not enjoy the perfect white beach on the Caribbean coastline.

Chichen Itza is the most famous Mayan ruins in Mexico. It was a nice experience, but thousands of annoying souvenirs vendors occupied the site, and we couldn't climb any of the pyramids.

Palenque is a prime example of Mayan culture and has a spectacular location in the dense jungle of Mexico. It took us almost 24 hours to get from the slopes of Orizaba to Palenque.

Pico de Orizaba (5636m) is the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North-America. We almost failed to summit due to bad weather.

The La Malinche volcano (4461m), also known as Matlalcueitl, is the perfect place to acclimatize before a climb to Pico de Orizaba. La Malinche is also a very prominent mountain.

Four Mexican bandits, high on drugs and armed with guns, robbed our bus outside of Mexico City. A quite scary experience that I hope will never happen again.

Pyramid Peak (4273m) is often regarded as the most beautiful of the 14’ers in Colorado. It is not as famous as its two neighbors, Maroon Bells, but the foreshortened view of the North Face is neck-binding and unlike anything else in Colorado. I personally “discovered” the peak in 2001, but had to wait 4 long years for the opportunity to climb it.

North Maroon Peak (4271m) is nestled in the heart of the Elk Range, 16 kilometres west of Aspen in Colorado. North Maroon and its slightly higher companion South Maroon form the spectacular Maroon Bells, often referred to as the "Deadly Bells". 4 years after my successful but near-disastrous climb of South Maroon, I returned to these peaks with mixed feelings.