Climbing the volcano in Pucón, Chile

We have many updates, but this will focus on our final day in Pucón and more updates will follow tonight hopefully. On Tuesday, we were able to climb the volcano, having been turned away on Monday due to bad conditions. But we were more prepared and well rested this way and our weathered guide told us that conditions were perfect as he looked towards the clear blue southern sky.

Let me preface our experience by saying that fun is not a word I would use to describe climbing this particular volcano. We started at the rocky base with the inert chairlift dangling above us in heavy snow clothing and just plowed forward and upward. For me, this was the hardest part, sliding on gravel and very steep slopes, and we were all quickly drenched in sweat. After about an hour or 2, we arrived at the top of the chairlift, where we saw a few other groups hop of the chairs that had magically started to work. This was frustrating. So we, the tired group, were also the slowest group going up the mountain. This produced mixed feelings in me: relief because they would be hit by falling rocks first and able to advise us, and fright because if any of them lost their step, they would slide down into our group (I was seriously doubting all of our ability to actually use the provided ice pick in a panicked situation).

I also want to say that I'm sure this hike is wonderful when the weather is clear and you can see the lake and mountains in the distance. But all we could see were clouds. The 5 hour hike was certainly strenuous, but not unbearable, it was actually boredom that made me want to turn around. I just had nothing left to think about. I spent hour 1 preoccupied with extreme fatigue, hours 2 and 3 going over in my head exactly what to do with my ice pick if i slipped, and hour 4 calculating travel time to Perú. And then I was spent.

At one point as we neared the crater on top we were pelted by hail and wind so strong that it threatened to blow us over as we stood planted in the footprints of the hikers before us. All groups were forced to turn around merely 200 meters or so before reaching the top because there was too much smoke coming out and too many boulders falling. So we began our descent, sliding down the volcano on our butts using our ice picks as a brake. Which was kind of fun, until somebody ran into my back and broke my camera screen.

Moral of the story: only climb the volcano if the weather is perfectly clear and the views merit the journey...otherwise go rafting or eat some Antarctic krill empanadas.