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Published: June 19th 2008
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An unpleasantly early start was a necessity for the Volcano trek. We arrived on time at our meet point only for the guides to arrive late. Marginally miffed. The rest of the group were extremely pleasant. 6 mountain bikers from Germany who spoke excellent english and spanish (show offs) and a US couple, the chap Mike had the George W Bush knack for mispronunciation - but was otherwise harmless.
Communication was clearly not an objective of our guides who largely ignored us, we simply followed on behind in the hope we'd be ok! The pace was quick, but not too bad. It was however, a bit weird as after surging past numerous other groups we then stopped for ages. We weren't told what was going on just sat around.
The miserable guides faded away as the secenery opened up as the morning sun rose. The landscape is spectacular. The photos don't do it justice.
The start of the ascent was on rough scree like paths - not that much fun. On the snow things picked up a bit and I enjoyed using the ice axe - always makes me feel extremely manly. The cool air coming off the
snow also made the temperature more comfortable. The volcano chugged away, the smoke rising constantly as the tourists slogged onwards and upwards.
For the final snow section we put on our crampons which is always enjoyable. We did however, take a different route to the other groups. This was ok to start with but once off the snow/ice and onto more rock/scree stuff things went south rapidly. The guides looked a bit clueless and at one point all 3 went different ways and beckoned us to follow them! Shambles. Alas i was unaware of the spanish for 'You don't know what you're doing' (- sung in a football anthem style). We scrambled over some very loose stuff to eventually get back on the main route - significantly worse than required.
Anyway we were off to the top our detour had left us behind the stragglers which slowed us down a bit but finally we got to the top. The panoramic view was exceptional, lakes, mountains, volcanoes, glaciers - the lot.
The summit crater was pretty massive and looked a lot like Jabba the hut's layer. Took plenty of photos and stopped in our tracks as 6 condors
circled the summit. Fantastic stuff. They stuck around for a bit before swooping off to continue condor activities elsewhere.
After some food we walked as far round the crater as possible taking some photos and soaking in the view. A truly spectacular place to be and well worth the slog.
The route down is never great and our guides sought to further their reputation as clowns by leading us down an extremely loose route - again not used by the other groups. My glove didn't fit so when i slipped i got a nice cut which I refered to as a gache in order to exacerbate the drama. The gaping wound bled quite extensively making me look rock hard despite it not being very big or sore - result.
The guides offered their support and encouragement by descending off in fornt of us. Cheers. When we got to the ice things got better. It was possible so slide down the ice on one's backside. As we were a bit late the sun had made it a bit mushy but it was still good fun and saved the knees getting a pounding.
Towards the end of the
Solitude
Arrive early to avoid disappointment ice section a huge (it seemed huge) slide drops steeply in a toboggan type style - absolutely fantastic stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The final slog back to the start was invariably a slog. The guides disappeared off as we picked our way down. Their haste to get back was all the more confusing as once back we sat around waiting for the bus to pick us up. A good 25 mins it took. Muppets.
Back in town we were shattered and dragged ourselves out for a beer which ended up being a coffee otherwise we'd have been asleep. Went for tea at Trawen an outdoorsy type restaurant which was brilliant. Hard to explain, but relaxed atmosphere and great food, as ever in chile excellent wines and more importantly the only place we could find with Kunstmann beer. Advertised everywhere but hardly ever sold - it was worth the wait - v nice indeed.
We also bumped into our trekking buddies for a bit of banter and general abuse of the guides. The guides were utterly rubbish but it didn't spoil what was an excellent adventure in a spectacular setting. Anyone who goes should climb the volcano its
brilliant.
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