Volcan Villarica

(Pucon, Chile)

We (me, two guides and 3 couples from Isael, Brazil and England) left a little after 4 AM. It was funny seeing all the Pucon partiers out on the streets or returning home as we were just getting going after a short night of sleep. We got all our gear together and drove to the base of the volcano at 1200 meters. We began climbing in the dark with headlamps, which was a great idea because A) the bottom part wasn’t that beautiful and B) it got warm later. As the sun started shedding some light, we could make out the clouds below us. We also saw some red sparks coming from Volcan Llaima, which became very active on Jan 1 this year. It was pretty hard hiking at times, due to the continuous incline. It got easier once we reached the snow. We were equipped with boots, gators, pants, jackets, and ice picks, in case we lost our footing. We brought along our own sandwiches, fruit, chocolate, water, and took breaks every 45 minutes or so. All in all it took maybe 5 hours to get up to the top, at 2800 meters, were we could look into the crater and sometimes smell toxic gases. But the weather apparently was the best they´ve had for this climb in many weeks, so I got really lucky. A lot of people have booked the climb, gotten all suited up and driven the volcano, only to have to turn around due to windy conditions. I can´t really describe the view from up there. I guess it was a cloudy day down below, because all we saw were clouds, and mountains like islands in a sea of white. But for us it was sunny and gorgeous. We could make out at a ton of volcanos (did you know that 10% of the world volcanos are in Chile, some 2000).

We hung out atop for a good hour. Then we put on the snow pants and an extra sort of butt apron thing and headed down. The way down used a technique that my Costa Rican buddy Vernie once dubbed bajando por culo, or descent by ass. We did a series of slides down the volcano, using paths in the snow. We used our ice picks for brakes, at least at first. It was quite a thrill ride. Sometimes we made trains and really got some speed going. The entire decent took maybe an hour and a half.

Climbing Volcan Villarica was so far the best thing I´ve done in the solo portion of this journey. I think I picked a good agency (Mountain Life). I´m glad I splurged and did it.

My camera is still dead, but the nice English couple from my hostel let me share their pics (Thanks Grant and Korinna).

We couldn´t see any lava, but we could hear the explosions down below.

Woo hoooooo!