-Leaving San Martin do los Andes at 6:00 in the morning is never a fun start to a day, but the best way to maximize our time in the next city. So six hours later and crossing two border control points, where they seriously took away all food items and levied fines on one woman who tried to seek salami in without declaring it…we arrived in the small town of Pucon, Chile. The main draw to this city is the huge active volcano, Volcon Villaricca, and a beautiful lake side town.
-We decided to check into a “Tree House” Hostel which sounded great. I even climbed up the tree house to get a better view of the grounds. I could even see the volcano from the tree house which was fun. We were off to explore the city and find lunch as we were famished. We came across a great restaurant with outdoor seating, so we decided to sit for lunch. Unfortunately, once our food came, so did the bees and Colin really doesn`t like bees. I don`t either (and am highly allergic to them), but I have learned the less I do to wave or draw attention, the less they do. In the end, we decided to move inside to enjoy our food bee free.
Climbing the Volcano
-After a day of relaxing, catching up on sleep, reading, laundry and Internet, we were ready to face the world and tackle the volcano. Our guide came the night before to fit us with trekking boots, waterproof outerwear, and fill us in on what to expect for the volcano. The next morning at 7:15 am, we were off to the volcano and were hopeful for good weather. We were told there was a chair lift that was extra money, but would save us a much longer and steeper 2 km climb up a tough loose sand. We were fully on board to take the chair lift as we heard the rest of the climb was still very physically challenging. Once we got to the starting point where the chair lift was, we learned it wasn`t operating as it was too windy at the top. Lucky us…we got the full experience of the climb from the ground up!
-So with news of no chair lift and an additional hour climbing in the morning. The guide said the weather was 50/50 for a good day without having the turn back. That meant we had a decision to make. If we wanted to wait another day for better weather, we could and they would take us back to town. If we wanted to go for it and started walking, if the weather turned bad (and the guide had final decision on this), we would have to turn back. Our entire group was ready to go for it so we were off.
Actual time schedule for the climb:
8:30am
-We started climbing (the area we should have taken the chair lift straight up hill). This took us 55 minutes, and I was already feeling the burn in my legs. We saw the first woman (in another group) stop for asthma. There was no way she would make it up the volcano. I was thinking to myself, “Will I be able to make another five hours of this”??? Luckily we got a 20 minute rest to sit.
9:45am
– Now we started climbing the first part of the volcano, which was a lot of rocks and loose sand, but manageable. We also got our first lesson in how to use the ice pick so we could practice on the dirt before we hit the ice. This is the point when a larger man in another group called it quits and just sat down. He said he couldn`t go further and was fine waiting for a few hours for everyone to come down.
11:00am
– First main stop right at the first part of the ice, and we aren`t even halfway up the volcano. I had recently climbed ice at on the glaciers on Antarctica, but this looked much steeper. Plus we really had to learn to use the toe and sides of our boots to dig into the ice and follow the trail of foot steps before us. During this part, we got to one of the windiest parts on the whole volcano…and it was so cold my legs were freezing. I asked (the previous night) if I should wear thermal pants and the guide said no as we would be so hot and sweaty…but at this point I really wish I had thermal pants on as my legs were SO COLD! This part was also a little scary as the wind was so strong, I didn`t want to be blown off the mountain. We stopped a little further ahead to rest, and I was really thinking of stopping as I wasn`t feeling that safe. I then asked the guide if the rest of this was as windy and he said no. He also had radioed to the other guide in our group that took the fast guys (who seriously wanted to run up the volcano) and the weather was still good to continue to the climb. At this point, there were three girls in another group that the guide asked them to seriously think if they could make it as they were going so slowly he didn`t think they could make it and didn`t want them to hold the whole group back from making it up. So many people were struggling and other guides were turning their groups around as they weren`t physically fit to continue.
12:30pm
– We are nearing the top…but it still looks so far away and still really steep. My legs were already feeling shaky but we were so close. I wanted to continue and reach the top. We got stuck behind a slower group in front of us (as we had to follow the same path up the snow in a single file), and I was thrilled as the slower pace helped, but I still needed more time to rest with the incline.
1:30 pm
– At this point, we are so close the top and can see the smoke coming out of the top of the volcano. My legs are about to fall off, and I just want to stop and rest but can`t. There was rain coming and the guide wanted us to get up before that and start our descend…so he had me go to the front of the group with him, so he could help me on the right path following his steps as it would be easier. This was the toughest 30 minutes of the whole trek…but we made it!
2:00pm
– We reached the summit of the volcano and all I could do was collapse at the top! We were all so tired and exhausted that it took us a few minutes to realize how far we came. We climbed to 3,000 meters (or just under 10,000 feet) and it was such a vertical climb! As we looked around, we saw the caldera that was smoking and very cool. I thought it was lava on the top, but later was told it was dirty snow on top of the lava…but regardless…it was really cool. The view from the top over the city was out of this world and the city looks so small. We could see the entire Lake Villaricca as well. I even shared a beer with one of the guys in our group to celebrate! There were other people at the top that were all lying lifeless (of wait….that was me too!) After 15 minutes, we had to start our descend to make sure we got back in time and hopefully avoided the rain.
I got a short video of at the top of the volcano with the panoramic views
Click here to view on youtube.com (or paste into a new browser)
The Volcano Descend
– All in all, this descend took us only two and a half hours vs the five and a half to get up. The descend was one of the most fun parts as we got to go sliding down snow chutes…like a toboggan. We got to strap on special butt protectors (that the guide called Pampers) as they really looked like diapers. This was to help protect our clothes from rips on rocks and the cold (I think)…but it was still cold. The first chute was crazy steep and so fast. We were supposed to use our ice picks as a brake, but on this chute, it was too fast and we couldn`t break and my elbows did much of the breaking (and ended up with some bruises the next day). There were about fifteen different chutes to slide down which was so fun and made for a quicker descend. I ended up going faster and kept crashing into Darren in front of me as he slowed down too much. Oh well…didn`t mean to, and we laughed about it.
-On the descend, it started to rain on us, but we were already so sweaty, dirty and gross, what`s a little more rain. We were also sliding down in the soft dirt and rocks and all the boys in my group were just running down the dirt, but I took it a little slower. Such a fun experience. We finally got to the car at 4:30pm and back to the hostel at 5:30pm. So a very full 10 hour day.
-I will say this volcano was this most physically challenging experience ever. I think it was more challenging than our four day trek at Machu Pichu and that was really tough. At least there, we got more rest and it wasn`t a non-stop climb.
Thermals Pools
-After a rough day climbing the volcano, most people just collapse and do nothing for a day or so…but not Colin and me. We decided to hit the natural thermal pools which were the happening place to be after 8pm. Colin hadn`t ever been to natural thermals, and I knew it would help our aching muscles. Only problem…once we were driven out to the thermals, we knew there was a long hike down steep stairs (which would mean a steep climb back at the end).
-It was well worth it as we brought some beers with us, found a cozy corner in the rocky pool and just relaxed in the hot waters. We started in the warm water pool, then moved to the extreme hot pools (where I found the source of the hottest water that was scorching!)
-Just to get the whole experience, we then moved to the showers, not knowing they were freezing cold, but it was a nice contrast. Colin experienced the really cold showers to cool down and I just splashed a little on myself. The thermal experience at night time was wonderful and just what our sore bodies needed!
Lake Villaricca
-Waking up the next morning after the climb was tough. Every muscle hurt…and every move was a lot of effort! So we decided to take it easy and relax a bit (and even got to watch an episode of Friends and ER on TV as we slowly ate breakfast).
-Our big plan was an overnight bus, so we had the afternoon to explore more of town, and we decided to walk to Lake Villaricca that we saw from the top of the volcano. So we brought a picnic to the beach, and I even chilled the beers in the cold lake water as it was so hot outside. It was fun to walk out into the lake and turn back to see the volcano as the previous day we were looking down on the volcano.
In the end, I loved Pucon. It was such a great small town surrounded by amazing beauty where ever you looked. On top of that, climbing the volcano was one of the coolest and most challenging things ever and I`m glad I made it up!
Logistics:
Tree House Hostel – www.treehousechile.cl – really enjoyed our time here with the laid back feel and helpful staff (and cute resident dog!)