Pucon

After Concepcion we headed inland to Pucon! A very touristy little town it happened to be! Why!??!?! Why all the tourists?!?!??! Cause we all go to Pucon to climb climb climb the volcano! And its not just any volcano...its Volcan Villarrica...and its an ACTIVE volcano!!!! Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :-D

The volcano dominates the landscape for miles around with its perfectly connical form, snowcapped top, and billowing clouds of gas emanating from the crater. And our excitement about the climb grew with each trip outside - because each time you stepped foot outside you were met with a perfect backdrop of smoking volcano against blue skies.

We were up and out early the morning of our climb! And headed striaght to the tourst office to get our kitted up for the climb! The gear we got was so AWESOME! Big steel snow boots, gators, ice picks, crampons, anoraks, snow pants and - most importantly - a plastic butt protector (the reason for which will become apparent a lil farther down the page!)! We hadnt even left the tourist office and I was already happy snapping!

It was a overcast day, with low heavy clouds, and I was a wee bit worried that our climb be cancelled. It wasnt though, (!yay!) and not far into the drive toward the base of the volcano, we drove right on through the clouds and were met with beautiful clear skies and bright sunshine.

Volcan Villarrica is 2847m high. It took Nick and I 3.5 hours to make it to the top. And it was hard going! Snow over a foot deep in some parts, slippery ice in others and butt-burning steep the whole way. I made a mental note on the journey to send a big thankyou to the 50 or so tourists who left their snow steps for me to use. Another big thankyou should also go to the god of the ice pick which saved me from a quick unplanned descent at least a couple of times!

The top of the volcano is a narrow rim of about 300 metres diameter. We stand at the top and look down into the crater. The smell of sulphur is overpowering and you can hear the hissing of the steam released on the wind - it all makes the volcano seem very very alive. A little too alive. You cant see the lava but you can feel it. And the steep drop into the crater is more than enough to make you a little tense and I take an extra safety step back!

The wind up the top was icy. A short lunch stop, a quick walk around, some more happy snaps, and it was time to head back down. YAY! YAY! YAY! And it sounds strange, but going down the volcano was definitely the highlight of the day! BECAUSE after climbing all the way up!up!up! you get to slide all the way down!down!down! to the bottom of the volcano ON YOUR BOTTOM! Haha!

And oh my word it was awesome awesome awesome! So much fun! There are ice troughs that lead all the way down the Volcano! And you put on all your gear, tie on your butt protector, hold your ice pick as keel and brake, and send yourself down the biggest best icy slide in the world! I laughed almost the whole way! Nick shot off like a rocket and got up so much speed he even did a 360 at one point! He had some serious ice slide techinque going on! And Im not sure, but I do think I could hear the faint sound of his voice on the wind "row, row, row the snow".....Haha! 3.5hours up. 30 minutes down. Best fun ever! Smiles all round! Hello happy tourists!

xS