Russia - Kamchatka, Day 6 - Gorely Volcano

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Our next adventure was to head to and climb Gorely Volcano. The Beast came back to pick us up, only this time we had to take ALL our luggage because the hotel would not keep our extra stuff overnight. We were assured that the extra luggage (like, my work laptop) would be kept in the Beast overnight. We stopped again for snacks and set off. This ride would be much longer than our previous one, so we settled in. For a while, we were just travelling along main roads, then main flat gravel roads, but we were soon obviously deeper into volcano territory. Everywhere we looked, there were grand peaks, many of which were conical. A few of us had also noted what appeared to be a constant jet trail, but it was actually smoke from an active volcano in the distance. So cool!

Vilyuchinsky Volcano and Pass

Our first stop was at the Vilyuchinsky Pass, a clear stop for everyone and oh my god were the views amazing! No matter which direction you looked, the scenery was breathtaking, but looking at the giant volcano itself was super impressive! It is just over 2100m height but appears to be dormant, still quite imposing though and because it is off on its own, you can see for miles. We spent about 30 minutes here, taking photos, relaxing. There is a lot to see: totem poles, signs describing the regional vegetation, and of course, lots of photo spots. I had also noted from the road on the ground what looked like four man-made structures in the distance; here you could see they were octagonal buildings, i think a weather station or something. And the weather was just perfect! Then it was time to continue onto our destination.

Gorely Volcano

Not much further on, we came to a busy parking area to start our next hike. Gorely Volcano was labelled as the most technically challenging of our trip, but just 4-5 hours hiking. Thankfully, I found it to be the easiest of the hikes, just pretty much straight up for 3-4 hours and about an hour down. Our guide was telling our group not to rush as there were a couple of slower people, so Luke and I took our time. I was a bit winded, but making good progress and just absolutely enjoying the incredible views. You could clearly see Vilyuchinsky from where we were as well as the overall Gorely Volcano complex, which had clearly migrated across the valley.

A little more than halfway up, you need to climb a glacier (still my favorite route), though due to all the human activity, this glacier was far more slippery. There were lots of people out climbing that day as it was great weather and not a terrible hike with incredibly rewarding views. It looked like those coming down the glacier were struggling with the slick path though. After the glacier, it became even steeper, just zig zag climbing up, sometimes on loose scree, but nothing compared to Avachinsky. The technically challenging part never really kicked in.

Once at the top.... oh my god. Now, THIS is a volcano! You look right down into a beautiful blue acid lake, the layers of ash and rock were clear and colorful, mist closing in and constant steam coming out. It was incredible. We took lots of photos with half our group there, while our one guide kept yelling at us to continue on. There was more! At this point, we are just hiking around the rim of the volcano (again - wish I could uplaod videos!). So, we moved on to a more flat area and where you could really see the juxtoposition of colors between the lake, rock, mist and sky. Amazing. But even more to come! There are many craters here as this is a very active volcano and the cones and calderas are continuously shifting location. So, we hiked a little further, leaving our bags with those who were just resting at this point. However, the clouds really started to come in at this time and for me, rather than summit summit (maybe another 30 vertical meters, nothing really), I chose to continue to the opposite side of the rim and was rewarded with some spectacular scenery. We also got some good photos here! A few continued to the top, but most just hung around the rim.

As we made our way back to the resting area, we started to get word that we were in a hurry to get back down. Why the sudden rush? I was a bit annoyed as this view was just breathtaking. We were told that the sooner we got back to the Beast, the sooner we could drive to our campsite and the closer we would be for the next day's hike. The previous day we were told it would be a 27 km hike to Mutnovsky - yikes! If we were able to make good driving time, we could make it 15 km instead! So, we rushed back down the mountain, though trying to be careful on the slick glacier. We got back to the truck in just over an hour and made our way forward. Then we found the most amazing campsite in the world (more on that in next blog) and were told we had successfully reduced our next hike to less than 15km. Hurray!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Volcano
You are enjoying some amazing views!