Volcan Villarrica

Pucon: Entry to the Mountain Ranges

I am writing from our third and final destination in Chile, Pucon. Pucon is a city in the lake district where the land is shaped by glaciers. Jagged mountains rise over smooth lakes, both formed by the movement of ancient glaciers. Pucon is nestled at the edge of a lake and the foot of the Vulcan Villarrica, Volcano Villarrica, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The sight of the mountain is stunning; its summit is the tallest thing in sight and covered in snow. The opening of the volcano emits white hot steam when the clouds part from its top. In the evening, when the sun sets, the glowing light of the day's last sun is caught by the smooth while slopes of the mountain's sides and reflects back a warm honey orange color. It's breath taking.

The town of Pucon is a mountain town; one main street full of shops and bars and restaurants. The surrounding streets hold accommodations from hostels to 5-star hotels. The streets are calmer here, the dogs less abundant, the international tourists, plentiful. You could be in Montana or Colorado if it weren't for all the Chileans in town. There is a plethora of outdoor activities here; mountain biking, white water rafting, hiking trails and climbing the volcano. The volcano is one of the main reasons people travel to Pucon. There are a handful of outfitters that organize group hikes to the summit of the volcano. They supply transportation to base camp, the gear you need to get to the top and a guide to lead you.

When we arrived in Pucon, we weren't quite sure which of the dozens of outdoor activities we were going to choose from; there was mountain biking, white water rafting, horseback riding, thermal pools, hiking and mountain climbing. We spoke with some of the kids at the hostel we were staying at and all of them had done the volcano hike. Hearing their stories and listening to the excitement in their voices, I knew I had to climb that volcano.

Everyone in the hostel used the Sierra Nevada Outfitters to do the climb, so we headed there. The day before the climb, we were fitted for our gear: stiff climbing boots, water-proof pants and jackets, and helmets. The tour doesn't provide food, so we had to hit the supermercado for some sandwich fixins, granola bars and water. We bulked up on carbs that night for dinner and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning was early, 7 a.m. at the outfitters. We dressed ourselves in the the pants, jackets and boots we tried on the day before. There was also a backpack full of more gear we would need; a covering for our boots to keep out snow, gloves, hats, helmets and crampons. Crampons are the spikes that you attach to hiking boots so that you can trek your way up snow. Also inside was our "sled." We were going to spend about 4 hours climbing up the mountain. The quickest way back down is by either skiing, snowboarding, or sledding. Our tour used sledding. But, it wasn't a sled as you would imagine it to be, it was more like a giant diaper that you strapped to you butt and slid down the mountain on.

There were seven of us in our group, Mike and myself, three Brazilians, our main tour guide, Miguel, and an assistant tour guide, Frances. We all pilled into a van and took the 30 minute bus ride to base camp. We left Pucon and ascended the mountain passing lodges and cabins usually full in the winter high season. The paved road turned into a dirt road, and the dirt road turned into a one lane passage way taking us further and further up. Every so often, we would get a glimpse of the mountain through the trees; we were going to climb that today!

Base camp was just a parking lot at the foot of a chair lift that would the first portion of our ascent. We hopped out of the van and were hit with the cold. It was much colder at base camp than back down in Pucon. I quickly struggled to put on my gloves and get my hat, my hoodie's hat and my jacket's hat on before I froze. Although I was wearing a t-shirt, my hoodie, my North Face jacket, jeans and socks, all topped with the wind/snow resistant pants and jacket, I was still shocked by the intense cold. I haven't been in weather that cold in many years and my body wasn't used to it! Once bundled up, the guides distributed packs and snow axes to all of us. Yes, snow axes. This was going to be serious! I also took my camera with me, fitting it perfectly into the belly pocket my my jacket.

For an extra 5,000 pesos, you can take two chair lifts up the mountain. They cut off about two hours of hiking, so we definately chose the lifts. The ride to the top was rather peaceful. It was early morning, the light was barely coming through the clouds that hung over the mountain and there was no sound, just the low steady sound of the chairlift pulling us up the mountain. There wasn't much wind during the first lift ride, but the temperature of the air was still cold enough to freeze my toes through my boots. By the time we hit land again, I had lost all feeling in my toes. The second lift ride wasn't so peaceful, the wind started to pick up. By the time the lift dropped us off, the wind was fierce, and cold! Any exposed skin was subject to intense cold. My hands hurt from the wind while we strapped on our crampons. My feet froze inside my boots. Wind even found a way to blow up the back of my jacket and freeze my back. I was wondering how I was going to deal with the cold for the rest of the day. (If you know me, you know I hate being cold.) I started dancing around just to get my blood flowing and try to get warm.

The top of the second lift was the starting point of the hike. There were about a dozen groups all huddled around putting on the last of their equiptment, arranging scarves and hats to block the wind, applying sunscreen and chapstick and eating quick snacks. After our group helped each other with the equiptment, we gathered around Miguel, our guide, for a brief "how-to hike a mountain covered in snow" speach. Our snow axes were very important. We used them as a walking stick most of the time making sure we always held it in our hand that was closest to the high side of the path. They would also be used as a "brake" if we were to fall. Other than that, we were told to walk carefully! Then we were off, and up.

The first part of the walk proved to be more difficult than expected. The path we took zigzagged up the incline, but the ascent was still steep, and Miguel had the energy of an ox. He guided us up, a a very steady pace. In no time, my legs were starting to feel the burn. I also was having some trouble with the altitude. I would guess we were at about 8,000 feet, and the thinner air was making it difficult for me to get the oxegen that I needed. I sucked it up and pressed on, higher and higher up the side of the mountain. We kept the same pace for about an hour with only one or two very short breaks. There were a few times where I thought I might not be able to do this, my legs were really feeling the incline and I was having trouble breathing. But, then I would look down and see how far I'd come, then I would look up and see where I was going. I had to do this.

We were relented with a break for lunch at about the halfway point. We dropped our packs, heaved in air and rested our aching muscles. Eating was the last thing I wanted to do, but gnoshing on the ice cold sandwiches and half frozed granola bars was a much needed energy boost. We ate, drank and rested for about 20 minutes. I snapped a few pictures but using the camera in the cold proved to be incredibley challenging. I had to take off my gloves to change the settings on my camera, and the exposed skin promptly froze. So, I just set it to "AUTO" and did my best to snap pics through my gloves.

After our rest, we reassembled and mentally prepared ourselves for the second half of the climb. It was a little difficult considering we were staring up at an almost verticle ascent. But, I fixed my sights on the summit and started off. We started to climb and I got myself into a routine: One step, two step, ax. Baby steps and long slow breaths. One step, two step, ax. Baby steps and long slow breaths. It worked. The pain I was feeling in my legs and lungs had all but disappeared; I had found my second wind. I had somehow gotten myself into "The Zone" and I wasn't having any difficulty with the climb. We continued our ascent, stopping every half hour or so for very shorts rest/water breaks. The wind was still blowing and the air was still cold, but within the layers of protection, I was sweating my @$$ off!

The higher and higher we climbed, the more steep and dangerous our trek became. The wind began to increase and clouds began to shade the sun. There were a few points were my vertigo kicked in, but I quickly stopped shooting glances at the track we had taken, now far beow us. We were taking more rests now, Miguel was making sure the group was able to continue. We all would assured him that we were ok, and then we would continue. I was sitll in my "zone" and feeling good despite the wind and lack of visibility. We came to a stopping point and Miguel pointed up. There, only a few dozen feet up was the summit. We were almost there. We rested on last time and pushed off. My second wind started to fade at this point as the ascent was now more like steep stairs. It was getting harder and harder to lift my legs. My knees were becoming more and more unreliable and the wind was threatening to blow us away. But it was right there, the summit was withing reach, only a few short yards to go. I pushed the pain to the back of my mind and made my legs work. I had to get to the top. there was no way I wasn't going to do this. I had come this far, I can't stop now.

My self encouragement, along with some encouraging words from one of the Brazilian guys behind me, I dragged myself up the last 20 feet of "steps." I made it! I was at the top! I was standing at the summit of a volcano! All the pain I felt on the way up dissapated and all I felt was pure accomplishment. I could not believe I had jsut climbed up the side of a mountain, through snow, wind and weather. I did it! I cannot express what it felt like in words. It was simply one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

The summit of the volcano was like another world. The wind was dangerously fast, the gases being emmited from the volcano gave the surrounding snow a brown color and filled the air with a noxious smell. The cloud coverage permitted no visibility while up there and we didn't stay long, just time enough to snap a few photos and a few celebratory hugs throughout the group, which at that point was only the two Brazilian guys and myself. We had lost our guide to the group members that couldn't make the last few hundred feet. Instead, we continued on with another group and thier guide.

We quickly escaped the dangerous conditions of the summit and made our way down via another path. Once we were away from the summit, the noxious gases ceased to tourture our lungs and throat and the wind died down, the visibility was still terrible. But, we sill had to get down the mountain. Our new-found tour guide explaind to us how we were going to do it. We were to strap on our "sled," sit with our legs together in front of us, knees bent slightly, and our ax angled down to our side. Our heels were to be used as brakes and the ax was used to control our speed. We sat like you would in a kayak. There were paths already carvedout in the snow for us to slide down on and one by one, we took the plunge. At first, the challenge sledding on your @$$ coupled with the zero visibility ahead of you instilled some fear in me. But, after I got the hang of controlling my descent, it actually became fun! We would slide for a few hundred yards, pick up and walk a few feet, then slide some more.

We met up with Miguel and the other in the group that didn't make the summit. Then, we continued to slide! Our descent last for about an hour, sliding, walking, sliding, walking. About half way down, we passed below the cloud line and we could see again. Below us was Villarrica Lake and Pucon, a world away at that point. In the distance were other snow capped mountains topped with clouds. At this point, the sledding was pure fun! Being able to see where you were going made it much easier to let go of your speed and we hauled @$$ down the path. I laughed and screamed the entire way down. All the pain I felt earlier that morning had disappeared, this was too much fun!

Not all of our descent was via sled. We had about 45 mintues of walking through slushy snow at the foot of the slope. It was at this point that I began to feel the wear and tear on my body. I could feel pain on the back of my heels from the boots, my knees could barely keep me up, and my nose was raw from wipping snot all afternoon. But I did it, I climbed a volcano. It was worth the pain I am currently enduring.

Back where we started at base camp, we dropped our gear, gave some more hugs of congratulations and pilled back into the van. Exhausted, we arrived back in Pucon about nine hours after we left. It had been a long day. We returned our clothes and boots and packs full of equiptment. We said goodbye to our fellow climbers and said thank you to our guides. We made it back to the hostel wet, wounded and cold, but proud. I was unbelievably proud of myself for climbing that volcano. Like I said earlier, if you can jump off a bridge with only a cord strapped to your ankles to save your life, you can do anything. I think I just proved that.