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Melia looking ready at the start!
Base point of the Volcano hike. We drove to the base of the ski lift which unfortunately was not running!We arrived in Pucon in the morning after taking a great all night bus from Santiago. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit overcast and a bit cold. The ground was wet and it looked like it had rained the night before. Melia and I wandered around the town after finding accomodations and tried to figure out what we wanted to do here. Pucon is listed as the outdoor adventure capital of the Chilean lake district. We had read our book and found all the typical activities one would expect....mountain biking, hiking, fishing, rafting, horse riding, ropes courses, volcano climbing etc..... Mount biking...hmm not for us, hiking..why pay when we can hike on our own, fishing...don´t have a kitchen so what would we do with the fish?, Rafting...we just did that in Mendoza, Horse Riding....weather wasn´t great, Ropes courses....maybe, Climbing a Volcano....Climbing an Active Volcano.....WHY THE HECK NOT??!!!! I'm always eager for a challenge! Who needs to be in shape?? After Melia said, ¨ go for it, I will relax in a cafe while you freeze,¨ we went in search for a tourist agency to book the climb.
Melia and I walked around and talked to 3 or 4 various agencies
that offered the trip. The prices varied, equipment varied, but all assured me that if I was in reasonable shape it was possible and they would be happy to take my money. It´s important to note that because of the weather we couldn´t see the volcano so it was just a picture in a brochure after all. I made up my mind I was going to attempt the climb to the summit but wasn´t convinced I had found the right agency plus I wasn´t sure I was in shape! We talked with our hosteria and the family said you have to go with Poli Tour. They were muy caro (expensive) but had the best gear. Melia and I decided to check it out. The lady at Politour was an excellent sales lady and had a great powerpoint presentation with people smiling on a sunny day while walking up a volcano. It seemed the most professional of the bunch so we told her I would think about it. She also was the most honest and told me straight up the chair lift wasn´t operating right now (the first hour and 1/2 of the hike can be bypassed by taking a ski
chair lift up a portion of the volcano), which the others told me was operating so the hike would be easier.......
As Melia and I walked more around the town, Melia said ¨you know, the pictures looked great. I don´t think I want to miss out on this.¨ The lady told us only pregnant and old people (direct quote not trying to offend anyone 😊) couldn´t make it up. I was a bit surprised since it was listed as 4-6 hours of hiking up and 1 hour or so down in ideal conditions. After talking it over we decided we would both sign up but maybe do it in a couple days after we could see the volcano on a clear day. We went back to the agency and the lady said the internet forcast for tomorrow was going to be good but very cold and climbers the last 3 days had to turn back 1/2 way because of the conditions so we really should go tomorrow. Throwing caution to the wind we BOTH signed up for a 7am departure the next day.
At the agency, we tried on shoes (full hiking/gortex) and wind/cold weather jackets and pants.
20 minutes later (and a lighter wallet later!) we were done for the day! We decided we should carbo load the night before and eat pizza. We ate a huge pizza and drank chopp (draft beer) because it had to have carbs as well (and well, I think our nerves needed it!).
The next morning we put on every layer of clothes we had, full thermals, multiple layers on top and packed the lunch meats, cheese, and bread we had bought the day before into a pack and headed for the agency at 6:45 AM. Upon arrival at the agency, we were greeted by a group of 10 or so brave souls gearing up trying on everything. We were also given a pack for the day that included our helmets, gloves, ice pick, crampons, etc. The first thought in my mind was that the pack wasn´t that small or light...was Melia, or I for that matter, going to be able to hike with all that weight up the volcano??????? My second thought was to size up the competition, I mean the other climbers in the group. The group looked like they knew what they were doing but I was
relieved when I saw an older gentlemen who was a bit overweight and figured I wouldn´t be the slowest up the mountain.......
We all piled into a van and headed up to the mountain. They drop you off at the beginning of the ski hill (5 or so chair lifts). It was then that we got our first great look at the challenge that laid ahead of us...and it was freezing! Everyone layered up, which for us meant putting on our fleeces and their gear. I looked around as people got out their personal camelback systems (pouch of water you put in the pack with a convenient tube that makes drinking anytime easy without stopping or opening their packs), their high-tech climbing/trekking gear and again wondered if this was such a wise idea. But surely we had done enough cross- training recently...Walking all day for 7 hours in Cordoba, including climbing up and down throughout the Zoo-Check, Bike riding all day while drinking wine on flat roads in Mendoza-Check, Walking along the beach through sand which is more difficult than a path-Check... Yeah we were ready and besides the old man was still there!We were going to be all
Old Shelter
I think there was a huge avalanche and some people died in this shelter 20 or so years ago. The guides told us in Spanish and I was just trying to breath so not sure..... right!
As we spent the first hour and 1/2 walking up the ski hill I was cursing the jerks for not running the chair lift that day. The brochure showed switchbacks up the mountain (I had asked to make sure it wasn´t a straight ascent) and sure enough we switch-backed up the ski hill. The only difference, and it was a BIG one, was that in the brochure it looked like you would walk a while and then turn directions where in reality it was 5 steps one way 5 or 10 the other way always climbing UP!!
We walked single file with three guides (one front, one middle, one back) between us. About 500 feet into the trip, one lady decided she couldn´t make it and stopped. Everyone else was doing good although its amazing how hot you get climbing up even when its cold outside. We stopped as everyone had overlayered at the base and people shed layers and put them in their packs. The old man was sweating a ton, but I was glad to see he was doing well because we couldn´t move faster, meaning that my slow hiking style (due to my strict
training regimine) was hidden from the group.
As we reached the snow/ice level in the mountain I think we both were a bit tired but doing surprisingly well. It´s amazing how many steps you can take up a volcano if you just make sure to not look at how far you still have to go! At this point we were down one guide because my secret friend, the older man, was way behind and one guide was with him. Melia was doing incredible! We geared up with helmets, ice picks, and put on the crampons for the snow/ice. We got a quick lesson on how to walk with them on and what to do in case you fell and started sliding down the slippery mountain. It involved not losing your ice pick and rolling over to one side and stabbing the long end of the pick into the ice (while being careful not to stab yourself)...hmmm that shouldn´t be that hard if necessary....don´t they teach classes on this to climb Mt. Rainer?????.......
A bit tentative at first, we slowly got used to walking with the crampons on. Ice pick in the uphill hand and full footprints into the
snow....how hard can this be? Up until this point it had just been cold with no wind. About 1/2 way up the snow section, though, it all changed as these huge gusts of wind battered us. Melia and I were clearly the slow two of the group at this point (old man was gone, done for the day at this point), and we had one guide helping us pick a path. We also saw one of the ladies in our group ahead of us get blown over sliding down the very steep ice/snow. Fortunately, her husband was able to grab her and the guides got the two of them vertical again. This sight was not the most encouraging sign, since the winds were fierce and none of us wanted to have to use the emergency ice pick stopping technique. Fatigue was also setting in at this point. As we were reaching the summit we also saw someone being brought down after some type of fall which again made us think twice.
The winds continued to be really strong and quite a bit scary. At Summit´s edge Melia declared victory and decided against going to the top. It was another
10-15 minutes hike, but the wind gusts were so strong she was afraid of blowing away. With her encouragement, I continued on to the top, while Melia bonded with one of our guides, Leo. I joined the group and climbed up the last push. The group climbed a bit faster than my legs cared to go but with end in sight I was welcomed by brutal winds at the summit. The views around the Volcano were incredible but unfortunately the views into the volcano were scarce. It was a smoky day and the volcano was spitting out nasty sulfur-tasting smoke. Because of the winds, the guides wanted to spend only 10 minutes for photos and not the hour or so you can spend walking the crater on nicer days. Trying to take photos while not getting blown over was fun and then we started our descent. 10 minutes later we were back to the summit edge where Melia and I got to take more photos. At this point both of us were exhausted and were looking forward to getting back. We got another quick lesson on how to walk down the icy slopes with crampons, and were told we would
Stop to put on the snow gear!
We had to put away the climbing poles (old ski poles from the 70's) and get our the ice picks and put on ice crampons (SP? and not sure the real word) for our shoes.... get down soon. I hit a bit of a wall as my quads were killing me and climbing down was brutal but fortunately Melia and Leo waited for me. The rest of the group and the other guide were on a faster descent.
When the weather is better there are half tubes in the snow/ice that you can slide down the volcano, and save a large portion of the climb down. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong and fortunately our guides elected for the safe route down. The route down was brutal because our legs were shot. After we finished the snow portion Melia was dying as her feet were killing her. The volcano dirt was like sand in that with every step you slip quite a bit. Leo (Melia´s new best buddy) took Melia´s pack and helped her down some of the tricky portions. We eventually reached the bottom (and got to say we were the very last people on the mountain!), where we were greeted to a round of applause by our group for making it!!!
We were so happy to have completed the adventure!!!! After returning and thanking our guide Leo for all of his
help (we might still be on the mountain without him) we cleaned up before meeting most of our group for a celebretory drink(s!). Beer has never tasted so good!!!! Afterwards, we had a great dinner with our new friends, Nick and Jodene from New Zealand. It was refreshing to hear that the others thought the climb was brutal, and were equally really worried with the winds. We thought it was just us the inexperienced climbers from the Northwest! Everyone´s feet were killing them, and we thought Melia had gotten by with a few blisters and two extremely painful big toes.
Here are the stats of our volcano: Volcano Villarica, one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world. Height: 9,341 feet/2,847 meters. Climbing time advertised: 7 hours. Our climbing time: 9 hours. Feeling of exhileration when done: PRICELESS.
The next day it was cold and windy and we spent a portion of the day catching up on our blog (Mendoza and pictures for Cordoba and Salta) and relaxed as we walked gingerly around the town. We decided a soak in the natural hotsprings the next day would be good for us and were ready to sign up
but the price was a bit large and we didn´t have enough cash with us, so we went off in search of the ATM. We walked past a hotel/casino and decided to see what was playing at the movie theater in the hotel. As we walked in the lobby I noticed a Spa out of the corner of my eye. We decided to check it out. We were pleasantly surprised and when we found out we could chill in the spa all day with use of pools and steam rooms for a little more than the cost of 1-1/2 hours in the natural spas our minds were made up. SPA DAY! That night we found a needle (not the easiest thing in a small town and when you don´t know the Spanish word for needle) and Nurse Bryan took care of the huge blisters underneath Melia´s big toes. Sorry for the details, folks.
The next morning we woke up still very sore and headed for a Day at the Spa. It was so relaxing and so worth it!!!!!! It was a splurge but both of us got a massage for an hour and spent all day until dinner relaxing
and soaking in the various pools/saunas. After two months of traveling it felt great!!!! (Melia wants you to know it was the first time in 2 months that she used an actual hair dryer!)
The next day we decided to leave Chile and it´s high prices behind us, and head for San Martin de los Andes in Argentina. After all, with the volcano conquered there was not much more for us to do!
We hope all is well!!!!
Bryan and Melia
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marcy
non-member comment
huray brian and meli you climbed a high mt.
hey guys love your stories.. we miss you too and counting the days till you guys get back to get all the family together and hear about the trip. Meli, thinking about you and the pain on your feet, i've experienced blisters before but hey you had dr brian with the needle see how handy spouses can be (ha ha) love you guys and cant wait to see your next blog. and brian that final photo of you deserve it you're damn right!!!!