Round the World Chelle: A Lady Hikes Volcán Villarrica

November 12, 2011

(So, I'm a little behind with this--it's a little more difficult to keep things updated while traveling via Gus.)

Pucón is a small town in Chile perfect for outdoor enthusiasts. After a long morning drive and lunch at the waters edge under and overcast sky, we arrived at the hostel in early afternoon. Helen, Darren, and I had a quick check in and then rented the bikes we spotted in the back of the hostel to check out some nearby waterfalls, Ojos del Caburgua. It turns out while the bikes had brakes that seemed to work when pressing them from a stopped position, they were much less effective at actually stopping a moving bike. The ride to the falls felt a little bit longer than the 17 kilometers we were told it would be, possibly due to the brake situation and the propensity of Helen’s bike chain to fall off while she was pedaling uphill.

On our way to the falls, we stopped to drop off our laundry...
Inside a laundry/jam/tire store.

Looking great in our helmets!

We finally reached the falls and after enjoying the view for a few minutes, Helen talked me into going for a little swim in the lake. (Helen loves the water as much as I do. She is also former water polo player( and synchronized swimmer for England!?!).) Our “swim” would probably be better classified as a “dip” as neither of us lasted very long in the water (It reminded me a bit of being in a frozen lake in Finland, only here there were no saunas to heat us up before or afterwards.), but it was refreshing.

The water is a little cold. Didn't make it in
much longer than to snap this photo.

About to fall off the falls!

They look bigger in real life.

Climbing Volcán Villarrica, an active volcano that rises 2840 meters above sea level, is the draw for most tourists visiting Pucón. One of the five most active volcanoes in Chile, on a clear day you can see a faint glow coming off it at night and plumes of steam during the day. The climb over steep, snow-covered terrain is fairly difficult and requires hiring a guide for the day. Our group secured a tour for everyone while we were out, and we received some gear in questionable state (missing zippers, unglued shoe soles, torn pants) on our return to the hostel.

About to start climbing

Heading out!

The next morning we set off early with our tour guides to face the volcano. The first 1800 meters of the climb are the steepest and most people choose to cover them by chairlift. I had no intention of electing this option though, as it seemed to me if I was going to climb the mountain, I should climb the mountain. However, when we reached the lift, our tour operator strongly recommended that we all ride up so we would have enough energy to summit. (“It would be a shame to climb all that way only to fall short 300 meters before the top” like members of his last group who insisted on walking the first section evidently had.) There was some chaos while the half of the group that had planned up to that point to hike up discussed what to do with this recommendation, and slowly members of the walking group joined the riders. I was still on the fence about it—I really wanted to walk the whole thing and thought that after the hiking I’d been doing at altitude in Peru and Bolivia and then generally having a decent fitness level, I should be okay to walk it. But it got to the point where the guides were telling me I really should take the lift and that I was the only person left in our group hiking and we should all hike together, so I gave in and bought a chairlift ticket. I was about to queue for the ride up when I saw that two guys from my group preparing to walk. To the frustration of my guide (“You need to make up your mind!”), I asked if it was possible to get a refund (It was, though he made me go talk to the chairlift operator myself.), but in the end I joined the walkers. After a brief talk from the guide who would accompany us (“Don’t walk too fast because you want to save your energy and you have a lady going with you.”), we started up the hill.

The four of us steadily climbed, zigzagging across the hill, using our icepicks as walking sticks to steady ourselves in the snow. After an hour and a quarter, we reached the chairlift exit and rested for a moment. While I was grateful for the stop, I was surprised about all the fuss that was made over this section. It was steep, but if that was the hardest part of the hike, I was going to be fine. Toward the end of this first part, our guide lost his balance, his foot went deeper through the snow than he was anticipating, and he ended up pulling a muscle in his leg. He didn’t say anything to us at the time, but once we reached the first stop he had us continue on ahead of him and radioed for another guide to meet us. Of course, he couldn’t let us leave without reminding us to not go too fast—it was a long climb, and there was a lady with us. (For the record, I was the only lady, and I was not slowing anyone down.)

Despite being "una mujer", I made it easily to the top of the lift.
Only 1100 meters of climbing to go.

The walker group

Luckily for us, it was a beautiful day. We continued up the hill and eventually were met by another guide. About an hour and a half from the top, we passed one of the couples from our group who were taking the trek slower than the rest. Forty-five minutes later we reached the rest of our group and climbed the final half hour to the top with them. Despite being a lady, I had made it to the top! (As a side note, the main guide was actually quite impressed by this female feat and paid me extra attention for the rest of the tour. Really. I was “the strongest girl on the mountain” that day. Hmmm.)

The view from the top was incredible. Not only were we on top of a volcano, we had views of other volcanoes to either side. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This was particularly lucky as we only had one day in Pucón and both the days preceding and following our hike were all overcast. (My last tour group arrived there earlier and said they couldn’t even climb the volcano because of the weather.)

On top of one volcano with a view of the next.

There was actually a drop off behind me.
The guy I asked to take the picture missed the point I guess.

Don't step back!

Smells like sulfur

I made it!

After adding many layers (It’s cold on top!), having a snack, and taking photos, we headed down the mountain—on sleds! I have to admit I was a little nervous about this, particularly after getting extra safety gear and being shown how to use—and not use—our icepicks as brakes. But after the first hill, it was all fun. We did have a couple people lose their icepicks on the tracks, a potential danger for the subsequent sledders, but we managed to collect the dropped picks before anything bad happened.