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We climbed that!!
view from Pucon, near our house Yep, we did that volcano that loomed over our house in Pucon!!...and I finally got to look inside the crater of a volcano and the added bonus was that it was spitting magna- absolutely amazing! The downside was the faceful of sulphur and other stinging volcanic gases if you got too close or thw wind changed direction!!
So off we trotted,ice pick in hand for a second time which I wasnt expecting to be given and crampones on the feet...Sal was a bit nervous about the climb especially when they were handing these things out...and I have to say it was definitely a harder climb than I anticipated...we ended up climbing up some sections that were up to 35 degree angles!! But it was all worth it for the fact that I finally got to peer into volcano, we went bum sliding down the mountain and I got to go glissading off piste!!
We set off at 8:30 and reached the summit of Volcan Villarrica at 2:30, so somewhere in between we managed the ascent up to 2840m!! It was a pretty hard constant climb, the first bit was the part I didnt really enjoy...in peak season the
ski lift takes you up which takes an hour off but...our luck meant that the lift wasnt working so we had to trudge on up ourselves!! Once we were properly in the snow it was loads more fun, we had to do a mock fall to ensure we knew how to use the ice picks...Sals was soo realistic that I didnt dare fall too hard cos she sounded like she had battered her whole body...I got told off for not being serious and if I didnt do it properly at the next stage then I wouldnt be going up...all because I was scared of throwing myself to the floor hee!!
Once I had acclimatized and stripped off 2 of my 4 layers and 1 pair of trousers (I think I had come a little too prepared for horrendously cold conditions like up Huayna Potosi), we moved on up the mountain - me, Sal and our guide - Evaldo, and as we shimmied on up we ended up finding our pace and joined other groups so as to form a kind of big group which was cool, so we had more people to share the pain with!! A Brazilian girl
was struggling and ended up turning back...my heels were rubbing and hurting quite a lot so I finally succumbed and let Evaldo plaster me up (had put it off because of the hassle of undoing the boots!), which helped loads and meant I could walk properly again!! One girl had already mentioned to me about the way I was walking, think she was worried I was going to trip myself up and knock us all down the mountain hee!!
We had another struggler whom our guide escorted to the top going at her own pace so he dropped behind with her and we tagged on to another group to get to the top, about 5 rest and food stops later we reached the summit!! Me n sal had a big hug at the top - I was so proud of her and it was soo cool that we had done the final thing on our South America checklist together!!
We got some piccys and then I rushed over to peer down the crater of the volcano - wow - it was exactly how I had always imagined - smoke bellowing out from a stoney black and red crater
that was pretty fire damaged, the only thing missing was to see the big lava pool inside, which was too deep inside to view from the edge of the crater, but it did provide us with a shock when it spat magna up into the air!! I kept trying to get closer to peer inside but then the gases would be expelled that stung the eyes and burned the throat, it was so overpowering that at one point I had to run back from it as I couldnt take a breath!
The views all the way our climb and from the top were amazing, it was probably one of the best days to do the climb as you could see for miles! In the distance were the other three volcanoes in the area, lakes, other mountains (which from Pucon look massive, from up the volcano they look tiny!)!! Evaldo also pointed out where previous lava flows from the last eruption of 1984, one in 70s and one in the 60s had gone - amazing but a little scary especially as we were climbing up the side of the most active volcano in South America that you are allowed to
climb!
After many snaps later and yet another bite to eat (me n Sal liked this trip - you got to eat loads and much of it sugary food for energy - heaven!! hee) we set off back down the volcano. Its easy to forget that you have to mission it down when all you think about is getting to the top...so another 2 and a hlaf hours down....but when we got to go ´bum sliding´after an hour it was brilliant and much needed to take pressure off teh legs!! This was awesome fun but a bit scary at times - you bomb down the mountain on your ass,trying to keep your legs together so as not to lose control and only have your ice pick to use as a brake into the ice/snow - so you can imagine, I was all over the place and airborne at points on the bumpy bits!! I also got to go ´glissading´which is skiing but with no skis - so basically sking with your boots, which was pretty cool! One of the guides took a shine to me and notice dthat I liked to go pretty fast on the bum sliding so
he took me off piste and we slid down the steep bits, he was lots faster but I got better, but made my legs ache loads, just like when you first start snow boarding!! He named me Mirena Shana - Queen Shana - I like that title hee!!
We ended up finding where another guy had taken a couple of days before when he had carried on bum sliding (when told not to) and ended up crashing and hurting his head and dislocating his shoulder (he had used the ice pick in the wrong way)- it was horrible as they had left his bloodied hat in the snow!! But I was perfectly safe with Edwin as he knew what he was doing and had hiked the volcano hundreds of times before!!
We finally reached the bottom and it was time to go home, I was happy and tired and was definitely ready for a well earned beer!! The sunset on the drive home was amazing and we stopped to take a final piccy of teh volcano - it was amazing to look up to it and realise that we really had climbed to the top of it!!!
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