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Published: January 17th 2007
Following my last bog entry last Sunday, I decided to hype myself up and booked a place to climb that imposing cone shaped volcano Villarica.
The only day available was the next day and had to get up at 6.30 in the morning, crack of dawn.
After meeting the rest of the group and got all our gear fitted in, we were driven to the foot of the volcano. I was quite surprised to see a ski resort there and it has ski lifts that seem to date from 60 years ago. Understandably the government doesn’t even want to invest in new facilities because in the near future it might end up getting gulped by the lava.
To save up an hour’s climbing on steep crumbling volcanic rock, the guide thought it wouldn’t do us any harm to cheat a wee bit. We did the same as all the other agencies and went up an old ski lift. Those swindlers working there were charging and extra fiver for going up that rusty chairlift! Being against the cheating in the first place, I managed to sneak my way through without any extra cost.
Fearing for my life because the thing was
built by the French, had no security barrier, and seemed much older than my dad (no hard feelings, your still young dad), we went up 500m higher and arrived at snow level. At the top of the lift, I realised how lucky our group was. The rest of the agencies were all full of at least 30 uncontrollable Israelis. They were all packed like sheep herds bleating in Hebrew and starting their ascension. Our group was probably the smallest one. It had a Brazilian couple who had never seen snow before, a couple from Buenos Aires who bragged about how many mountains they had climbed, and a Chilean proctologist going on about bum stories. They were all very friendly and we were the only 100% South American team or 95% for my “half-haggis” part...
When we first started the 2000m ascension, I thought the whole thing would be a piece of cake. From far away, the volcano is almost a perfect shaped cone and it looks like you could climb it in a straight line. Regrettably it wasn’t the case and we went all the way up in zigzags due to its degree of inclination. The further up we
went, the more of an effort it was. Halfway up the group had to be separated. The Brazilian couple could not take it and the man had severe diarrhoea, not the best place to have it. Our second guide continued the climb with them at a slower pace.
The trudge up took 4 hours and the view at the top, 2850m to be exact, was just gaping. Standing in awe, I could see the whole Andes and at least ten different volcanoes and peaks.
We made our way round the crater. Some parts were very difficult to breath due to all the sulphuric smoke blowing in our faces. Looking down the hole, only smoke could be seen but on a few occasions we witnessed some lava bursting out. We had lunch up there and waited an hour and a half for the Brazilian couple to arrive. When they finally made it to the top, the guy looked very pale and like he had left half of his weight scattered in different parts of the mountain.
The way down was obviously effortless and entertaining. We just slid our way down some snow slides, using our picks to adjust our speed.
View from the top
Behind is Volcano Lanin on the border with Argentina and the lower one I forgot.Overall it was a great experience and I now feel ready to face the Aconcagua and its 6,962m.
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Jini a.k.a. Makelele
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Volcano
Wow! upmost respect for you there! I know exactly how you felt, since I had the same to climb up a volcano in Rwanda during Christmas!! Climbed up about 1500m up to 3800m altitude! But I think you beat me there! ;-) Must be among my ''top 5 achievements in my life'' without a doubt!!