Climbing Volcan Villarica

From Chile

After Panama, I wasn't sure if I wanted to climb another volcano...because although the view at the top was great, it was hard--the excruciating kind of hard that you don't appreciate until later. But climbing the volcano seems like the thing to do here in Pucon. Every adventure outfit in town has volcano trips that leave early morning. The prices were variable, so we shopped around for the best one.

Tseela already signed up with some of her Israeli friends. They came to our hostel to tell us about the great price they found, $35.000 CLP ($10.000 cheaper than most of the other places). We went to check it out and decided to sign-up as well. Nature Adventures is an Israeli-run hostel/adventure outfit. The people there are so nice, and Martin and I didn't really mind that we were the only non-Israelis in the group. Although we joked that in the event we were stranded on the mountain, we would probably be the first to be eaten, being so outnumbered. They fitted us for snow-trekking boots and packs and told us to come back at 6:45 AM.

We were disheartened to learn the weather forecast for the next day called for rain. The weather here can change so quickly. The day before it was sunny with clear blue skies. Our trip was postponed until the next morning.

The next day we did the early morning wake up again, but we were better prepared and actually had time for breakfast. It was beautiful weather again with clear blue skies.

The adventure outlet already had our sizing from the day before and we were fitted with boots, waterproof pants, and gaiters. They gave us pants with a waterproof jacket, crampons, a weird butt pad thing, gloves, a helmet, and an ice axe.

There were 12 of us in the group--with everyone speaking a weird mix of Spanish, Hebrew and English. We had three guides with us, and Claudio, the head guide, was all business.

There were no unscheduled breaks, no stopping or slowing of the pace, we all had to keep in formation. He was serious about getting us to the top. The steep climb and falling rocks make for a potentially hazardous climb, but he assured us if we followed his instructions and used our tools properly (ice axe, crampons, and helmet) we would all make it to the top.

If anyone started slowing down and the line started to stagger, he would make the person stand to the side, and radio to the other guide, who was bringing up the rear with the slower group.

Our original group of 12 was staggered by the halfway point. Two people ended up going back with one guide. The slower group and faster group had five each. It was unusual having a guide who was so strict, but it was clear that Claudio knew exactly what he was doing. I felt really safe compared to some of the other groups with other guides who looked like they were just wandering the mountain. Snow and ice really aren't my element, so it was good to feel confident in Claudio

The climb was hard, but not as hard as the Panama one. I was directly behind the guide the whole way up, so it was just a matter of keeping step. I found that about halfway up, I hit my stride and got my second wind. Wearing crampons was kind of cool, and so was wielding an ice axe.

From Chile

We did make it up the volcano at exactly the time Claudio said we would due to his strict scheduling, and it was completely worth it. The views were beyond amazing. We could see smoke coming out from the opening, and the top of the volcano had an otherworldly look to it.  The patches of snow mixed with the volcanic texture and made the curved surface look almost alien.


Going down was a lot more fun than going up. On the snowy parts, we got to go butt sliding, which I guess is the reason for that butt pad thing in our packs. We put on the rest of the clothing in our bags that was unused until this point, and followed our guides to the sliding areas. There were seven or eight slides going down. The very first one was the best. It was carved out like a tunnel/slide, and it felt like riding the Matterhorn without a bobsled.

From Chile