Day 54 - Hike up, Slide down! Volcán Villarrica
January 8 - Volcán Villarrica, Chile
I was a little hesitant for this volcano trek, not because it would be hard, but 1. because it cost a lot of money - we don't normally pay to hike (except park fees, of course) - what could possibly be worth a guide and all this gear, at over $100 per person, and 2. our Israeli friends had gone two days prior and only got half way before the entire group headed down due to an expected storm, wind and hail. They were issued no refund.
But, we put on our best optimism and reported to get geared up for the volcano at 6 AM. Luckily, the place we needed to go was next door to our hostel, so we had no excuses. When we arrived, the company had already set out and labeled boots, rain jacket, pants, and a backpack with our names and identified sizes. We put everything on to test sizes, then geared up in the mountaineering boots and gaiters, then got on the van. Evan was super impressed with the brand new, raised-roof Sprinter van that hauled 12 of us plus 4 guides comfortably.
When you arrive at the base of Volcán Villarrica, you have the choice of paying over $10 (more ching) to take the chairlift, or walking an extra 1.5 hours up boring switchbacks with no views. Despite my penny pinching tendencies, we wanted the day to be enjoyable and thus took the ski lift. The lift was "Chilean style" as they called it, no safety bar or anything, so I got a little bit of butterflies getting on, but it was quite a nice ride. You could see the looks of the people hiking below us, with a little smirk of regret.
Our group reconvened and began the journey up. The first part was mostly dry, but also quite steep. We reached snow before too long and paused for a little education on the approach. We each received an ice ax and a demonstration on how to use, both as a walking stick on the uphill side on the snow, and as a safety device, should your feet sleep and you begin sliding down the slow. (See photo on the right - Please note: two ice axes is not advised...). Given the grade, both seemed essential. We also reviewed how to best use the boots in the snow, digging in to the full footing of the person in front of you, toe all the way to the edge, avoiding breaking the foot steps and screwing up everyone who followed you. We were comfortable with this and so when they asked who wanted to go in a faster group, we volunteered.
This volcano gets thousands of hikers a day, and guides are required, so we were one of many groups ascending to the top. This cheapened the hike a bit, as we weren't used to so many people, but I guess something to consider is that there are no trees, no place to obscure the amount of people, as there often is when we hike in the Pacific Northwest.
The guide set a solid pace, and those in our crew fell in line, following the tracks he made, winding in switchbacks where the grade was significant. We practiced switching the ice ax in our uphill hand as we rounded the switches. We had a few more breaks, including one right before the final summit, where we dropped our packs for the remainder of the ascent.
At the top of the volcano, we had masks available for the gases and smoke coming out of the crater. Apparently the government recommends minimizing exposure to the volcanic gases to ten minutes or less. The masks are supposed to extend that, but they didn't seem all that effective. The inside of the crater was marbled with different colors, and went so deep we couldn't quite see the bottom. There was magma, and apparently you can see lava some days. It is surreal being on an active volcano, especially considering the last eruption was only five years ago. The 360 degree views from the top were amazing as you could see several of the other volcanoes in the area, including a few in Argentina.
We ventured back to our bags and consumed our last sandwich. Evan was super impressed we ate a whole loaf of bread in one day...I was not, but hey, do what you gotta do to survive in the wilderness. ;)
We regrouped then started the venture down. We were going to be glisading (basically sliding on our butts) most of the way down. We put on our snow gear, which meant the pants, jacket, gloves, and what we referred to as "the diaper", a hefty material that strapped through the legs like a diaper, protecting the booty. We also had as simple piece of plastic with a handle as a "sled" for the flatter parts.
Suited, up, the guide led us to a chute that obviously had been used before, and one by one hopped on, sort of like waiting in line for a water slide at Wild Water West. When the person in front of you got a safe distance, it was your turn. The first few chutes were steep, and we were taught how to use our ice ax as a break. We flew down the hill and I couldn't help but giggle the entire way!!!...Until Evan was behind me! He picked up way more speed than I, catching up to me, and giving me a push with his feet, that little turd. We arrived at the bottom, laughing and completely covered in snow. This repeated like six more times before we got to the end. On maybe the third chute, one of the guys with us dropped his ice ax halfway down, which meant he and a guide had to walk back up the steep part of the mountain in the snow, alongside the chute, looking for the ice ax, while we all sat in the snow at the bottom. This started out as not a big deal, but as we sat there and the cold started to sink in, we were not impressed. Luckily, he found it! And we were back in business.
No pictures of the sliding as it was a wet and wild affair, but you can see us prepared to go down in the pic below.
I was a little hesitant for this volcano trek, not because it would be hard, but 1. because it cost a lot of money - we don't normally pay to hike (except park fees, of course) - what could possibly be worth a guide and all this gear, at over $100 per person, and 2. our Israeli friends had gone two days prior and only got half way before the entire group headed down due to an expected storm, wind and hail. They were issued no refund.
But, we put on our best optimism and reported to get geared up for the volcano at 6 AM. Luckily, the place we needed to go was next door to our hostel, so we had no excuses. When we arrived, the company had already set out and labeled boots, rain jacket, pants, and a backpack with our names and identified sizes. We put everything on to test sizes, then geared up in the mountaineering boots and gaiters, then got on the van. Evan was super impressed with the brand new, raised-roof Sprinter van that hauled 12 of us plus 4 guides comfortably.
When you arrive at the base of Volcán Villarrica, you have the choice of paying over $10 (more ching) to take the chairlift, or walking an extra 1.5 hours up boring switchbacks with no views. Despite my penny pinching tendencies, we wanted the day to be enjoyable and thus took the ski lift. The lift was "Chilean style" as they called it, no safety bar or anything, so I got a little bit of butterflies getting on, but it was quite a nice ride. You could see the looks of the people hiking below us, with a little smirk of regret.
Our group reconvened and began the journey up. The first part was mostly dry, but also quite steep. We reached snow before too long and paused for a little education on the approach. We each received an ice ax and a demonstration on how to use, both as a walking stick on the uphill side on the snow, and as a safety device, should your feet sleep and you begin sliding down the slow. (See photo on the right - Please note: two ice axes is not advised...). Given the grade, both seemed essential. We also reviewed how to best use the boots in the snow, digging in to the full footing of the person in front of you, toe all the way to the edge, avoiding breaking the foot steps and screwing up everyone who followed you. We were comfortable with this and so when they asked who wanted to go in a faster group, we volunteered.This volcano gets thousands of hikers a day, and guides are required, so we were one of many groups ascending to the top. This cheapened the hike a bit, as we weren't used to so many people, but I guess something to consider is that there are no trees, no place to obscure the amount of people, as there often is when we hike in the Pacific Northwest.
The guide set a solid pace, and those in our crew fell in line, following the tracks he made, winding in switchbacks where the grade was significant. We practiced switching the ice ax in our uphill hand as we rounded the switches. We had a few more breaks, including one right before the final summit, where we dropped our packs for the remainder of the ascent.At the top of the volcano, we had masks available for the gases and smoke coming out of the crater. Apparently the government recommends minimizing exposure to the volcanic gases to ten minutes or less. The masks are supposed to extend that, but they didn't seem all that effective. The inside of the crater was marbled with different colors, and went so deep we couldn't quite see the bottom. There was magma, and apparently you can see lava some days. It is surreal being on an active volcano, especially considering the last eruption was only five years ago. The 360 degree views from the top were amazing as you could see several of the other volcanoes in the area, including a few in Argentina.
We ventured back to our bags and consumed our last sandwich. Evan was super impressed we ate a whole loaf of bread in one day...I was not, but hey, do what you gotta do to survive in the wilderness. ;)
We regrouped then started the venture down. We were going to be glisading (basically sliding on our butts) most of the way down. We put on our snow gear, which meant the pants, jacket, gloves, and what we referred to as "the diaper", a hefty material that strapped through the legs like a diaper, protecting the booty. We also had as simple piece of plastic with a handle as a "sled" for the flatter parts.
Suited, up, the guide led us to a chute that obviously had been used before, and one by one hopped on, sort of like waiting in line for a water slide at Wild Water West. When the person in front of you got a safe distance, it was your turn. The first few chutes were steep, and we were taught how to use our ice ax as a break. We flew down the hill and I couldn't help but giggle the entire way!!!...Until Evan was behind me! He picked up way more speed than I, catching up to me, and giving me a push with his feet, that little turd. We arrived at the bottom, laughing and completely covered in snow. This repeated like six more times before we got to the end. On maybe the third chute, one of the guys with us dropped his ice ax halfway down, which meant he and a guide had to walk back up the steep part of the mountain in the snow, alongside the chute, looking for the ice ax, while we all sat in the snow at the bottom. This started out as not a big deal, but as we sat there and the cold started to sink in, we were not impressed. Luckily, he found it! And we were back in business.
No pictures of the sliding as it was a wet and wild affair, but you can see us prepared to go down in the pic below.
When we were done, we emptied snow out of everywhere....pockets, crevices, shoe laces - we were covered. We hiked down the dry section towards the parking lot, and waited there for the rest of our group. The rest of the group was MUCH slower, so our wait was approx an hour and a half :/ We arrived back in town at approximately 5 PM, making it almost a 12 hour day. They had a bin system for wet gear, and so we sorted our stuff and then they provided ice cold Coronas (Mexico piss, ,as they referred to it) alongside the tip jar, which of course was a paper mache volcano that you would see in a science fair.
In the end, while expensive, I could see why. We had four guides for twelve people, all day, and all were great, helping those that were struggling, and encouraging those that just needed a little push. They kept us safe, were well informed about the region, and also quite charming.
We cleaned up, then decided to treat ourselves to a post-Volcano dinner. We decided on a place that we heard good things about, that did more local takes on sushi. We think we were at the time of the beginner crowd (that awkward time post-lunch, pre-dinner) as the service was super awkward and the sushi wasn’t that great. We also ventured to a coffee roaster that I had been eyeing, and I splurged on some amazing coffee to bring back to make in the mornings. We went back to the hostel and hung out with the Israeli couple. No volcano trek is complete without ice cream, so later in the evening, rather than a second meal for dinner, we ventured out for ice cream later, at a place called Cookeez, which mad cookie ice cream sandwiches. Pretty delicious. We sat outside to hear a musician playing on the street alongside a bar; Evan was super impressed by the man's epic and underappreciated shredding of Led Zeppelin on the guitar.
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