Chile - Volcan Villarrica

As you are reading, you might think kayaking is the only thing I do. Let me justify my blog - backpack gone wild - by revisiting some of my good old days living out of the backpack. After Cotopaxi, Iguazu Falls, Machu Picchu, and even the Galapagos, I saw the most amazing landscape on Volcan Villarrica on the Chilean Andes. Under the white snow cover that looks as docile as a rabbit bunny, lies the most active volcano in South America and one of the only four lava lakes in the world. Its spectacular scenery was complimented with the breathtaking sulfur gag. If it was just snow everywhere it would have been boring. But there were icicles in all sorts of crystalline forms growing in the most unimaginable dimensions. The strenuous ascent was rewarded by stunning panoramic views of lakes, ice-capped peaks, blue sky and white clouds that extended all the way to the bulging horizon. This photo was taken 500m below the summit. Imagine seeing this 500m higher and 360 degrees around.

The climb started below the snow line at 1520m and the 1327m ascent took 6 hours to reach the summit at 2847m. The hard plastic boots provided by the alpine guides gave me bruises on my lower legs early on and soon it was painful with every step. I had to slow down considerably and was about 20 minutes behind the others.

When my leg was hurting so much and the climb seemed to have no end, I asked the guide how much longer it would take. 50 minutes, he said. I decided not to check my watch any more and not stopping until I got to the top. After what felt like 2 days, I met the fast climbers coming down. I resisted but finally asked, “How much longer until the summit?” A Dutch girl said without blinking an eye, “Five minutes.” It was like the atropine I needed to jump start my heart. With a new battery, I was marching up the icy slope like the Energizer Bunny. Fifteen minutes later, my guide turned around, shook my hand, and said, “Congratulations, welcome to the summit”. On the way back, I thanked the Dutch girl for lying to me. “If you had told me six minutes instead of five, I would have turned around and come down. I wasn’t going to take that punishment for longer than five minutes!”

Five and a half hours of climbing earned me less than 10 minutes at the summit. Getting too close the active volcano’s smoking crater had proven to be hazardous. A month before my climb a woman fell into the crater, landed on a rock outcrop, survived the fall, but was soon choked to death by the sulfur gas. With wind speed topping 20 miles an hour, the acidic gas was burning my eyes, nose and throat even when I was a few meters upwind from the crater. That was no place for picnic.

Coming down required bending the ankle forward and therefore was even more painful and awkward. To my delight, more than half of the way coming down, where the snow was packed, we could sit on our butts to slide down. That not only saved my agonizing legs but made it so thrilling and fun. On the steeper slopes it got really fast. At the beginning I was not good at balancing and rolled a few times and had to use the ice pick to stop the slide. Soon I got a hang of it and sliding down was like a breeze. The slide was better than any ride in Disney, and that's what backpack gone wild is all about!

This is an extract from my travel journal. To see more pictures of my travels in Chile, view my Chile Album.