Che trying to climb the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City, 1956 - Che Photo #3

Che trying to climb the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City, 1956 - Che Photo #3

"Let me tell you one quality that sums him up, one that I most appreciated, among the many I observed in him ... Che suffered from asthma. Near Mexico City, there's a volcano, Popocatepetl, and every weekend Che would try to climb Popocatepetl. He'd get his equipment in order — the mountain is tall, over 5,000 metres, almost 18,000 feet, with snow year-round — and he'd start the ascent. He'd make a tremendous effort, but he'd never make it to the top. The asthma prevented him. The next week he'd try again to climb Popo, as he called it, but he wouldn't make it. He never made it to the top, he never reached the peak of Popocatepetl. But he kept trying to climb the mountain, and he'd have spent his entire life trying to climb Popocatepetl. He made a heroic effort, although he never managed to reach that summit. So there you see his strength of character. That gives you some idea of his spiritual strength, his constancy." - Fidel Castro interviewed in My Life: A Spoken Autobiography

From a collection of Soviet archival photos of Che. The Left Chapter will be doing a daily series of these often unusual Che photos from this archive over the month of February, some with quotes and history.