Advertisement
Published: February 11th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Start of climb
The lazy option Well, we managed to survive the volcano anyway. We were up at half 5 on Saturday morning to get to the tour office at half 6. They gave us a backpack that Edmund Hillary would be proud of. Crampons, hat, helmet, sun glasses, massive glove mitten things, wind and waterproof trousers and jacket, ice pick and a tie-on blanket/sledge thing. We were driven up to the ski lift and given the option of taking the lift or walking an hour up to where the lift ended. Sarah was determined to do the whole lot, so we walked.
The first hour wasn´t too bad and we met up with the others who had taken the lift. The next couple of hours gradually became more difficult, and then we got to where the ice and snow started......
We had to use the ice picks like walking sticks with every step to stop us slipping down as we zig zagged up the volcano. After about an hour or so, we got to what we originally thought was the summit only to find we were only about two thirds up and the summit was about 800-1000 metres away. It started to get a lot
steeper and we had to really concentrate on every step we took to avoid slipping. It still felt quite safe as there were dozens of others snaking up the volcano behind us who could stop us if we had slipped. One bloke in our little group was wearing his earphones all the way up and every now and again would randomly start singing really loud and out of tune. At first it was funny, then after a couple of hours, we felt like using the ice picks on him. After 5 hours of climbing, we finally made it to the top. It was a great feeling to get there as it had been a hard climb. The views were incredible. Amongst the hills, lakes and mountains, we could see another 3 volcanoes to the North and a few to the South including one that was over 200 km away. We walked round the top of the crater and had a look down. There was no lava to be seen that day but there was lots of sulphury smoke wafting around that got to our throats after a while. There was also the occasional rumble and even the odd explosion sound
coming from inside the crater. After about 45 minutes at the top, we put on all our gear including the thick apron thing that we tied around our legs and backside to use as a sledge. The next hour and a half was unforgettable and definitely one of the best experiences we´ve ever had.
There were loads of tracks in the snow and we basically took it turns to slide down these tracks using the ice picks as brakes. After a couple of practice runs, we were let loose on the tracks. Some of the tracks were slow, but on some of them, if you don´t use the brake, you can go really fast. It was fun. One of the tracks started out like a bobsleigh run with high sides and loads of curves, then it opened up into a straight, full-on downhill run. We had figured out that if you sit leaning to one side on just the one buttock, you could get some real speed up. Dave leaned a little too far and picked up a little too much speed and ended up face first on the belly and whizzing down trying not to do any damage
with the icepick.
We couldn´t take any photos of this because we would have lost or damaged the camera but it was absolutely amazing and well worth the 30 quid.
We got down in less than a couple of hours and had a good night´s sleep. We then spent the next 3 days camping by a lake called Lago Caburgua about 30 minutes from Pucon. It was much more peaceful and less crowded than Pucon and we could really relax. On Tuesday we went up to Nacional Parque Huerquehue and spent another hard day walking up steep hills. It was a beautiful area with lots of trees, flowers, lakes and waterfalls. We also saw hummingbirds and heard hundreds of loud frogs. Sarah really enjoyed the park and was looking at the wildlife book to find what all the different flowers and animals were. Dave was enjoying it as well until on the way down from the park, 3 mental flying things like hornets all decided to sting at the same time on each leg and left wrist. Sarah thought it was funny at first and thought I was running away from a gnat or something until she saw one
of them clinging to the leg and not letting go. It was very painful for a couple of hours.
Anyway, we are now back in Pucon and due to catch a bus to Valdivia at half 6 tonight. We hope to buy some more camping gear there for the rest of the trip. We are both doing fine and hoping that everyone is safe and well at home. Thanks for all the messages and e-mails.
We´ve managed to get more photos on this and also a video at the top of the page. Click on Play button and it will hopefully work.
BYE!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.041s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0203s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Beth
non-member comment
wow!!!!!!!!
I'm so impressed with you for climbing all that way up and the sliding sound soooo much fun! I am extremely jealous! x x x