El Volcán

I looked down to see the clouds yesterday with my feet on the ground. It was about 12:00 and after close to a six hour journey we had reached the crater at the top of Volcán Quetrupillán. The group consisted of myself, Peter the owner of the hostel here, two of his friends from Pucón Jorge and Marcello, and his old friend from back home in Holland, Boudewijn. Most tourists here take the still difficult but guided tour up Volcán Villarica, the active volcano that I am looking at out my window as I write this. We went for the slightly smaller but more secluded and less traveled volcán. We began the hike in the dark forest an hour and a half before sunrise, following our small path with headlamps until dawn. The forests here are beautiful. An aqua green fungus of some kind hangs from the branches of the massive trees like silly string above the rich green of the forest floor. The streams are a mineral blue and the rabbits are as big as dogs. By the time the sun rose I was more or less awake, and just in time. We had lost our trail and decided to follow a dry riverbed up to the volcán. It was full of huge volcanic rocks, moss and fallen trees. We ascended with our helmets on using tele poles and ice axes to anchor us on the way. About three hours in, at 9:30 we had scaled the first sizable ridge and the Volcán was in site. We sat down to catch our breath and have a bit to eat on a snow patched perch from where we could see both the ground we had covered and what lied ahead. We had all the staples: chocolate, cheese, sausage, bread, fruit and water. The morning was brisk, probably in the upper 30´s to lower 40´s, but not yet even close to the temperatures and winds we´d face on the next leg of the trek. After we finished eating I was given a brief lesson on how to handle my axe and use it catch myself if I lost my footing on the hard snow. About an hour later we had to stop to put on our crampons, claws that we strapped to our boots to scale the peak. At this point the wind had started to blow and we put on all of our clothes and strapped down our helmets and hoods. The views were incredible. Pucón sits on Lake Villarica in a volcanic valley. I saw at least six volcanoes yesterday during the climb. Villarica was active, spouting smoke and flame behind us. The final two hours or so before we reached the top were exhausting. The wind bit my face and froze my fingers as I walked zig zags up the steep summit. But oh the reward when we reached the top. From the top we could see the Volcán Lanin, a huge volcano that sits in both Chile and Argentina, reaching above the clouds. It was spectacular. There was celebration. But we couldn´t stay long because of the wind. The decent was interesting. I was amazed how far we had come on the snow and ice. I had a better sense of my surroundings on the way down because on the one hand I could see the terrain layed out before me and on the other because of the relative ease of the decent I could focus my attention more broadley. I made it up the mountain by not looking too much at the peak. Rather, I would choose a rock 50 or so meters away and think only about it until I got there, where I´d pick another point. Later we were lost in the woods for more than two hours. That, I don´t need to do again. We were following a stream down the mountain and all was well until the waterfall. At some point we lost the stream and the wilderness adventure commenced. We trudged through anything that came in our way which was actually quite fun for maybe an hour. But then it was like being repeatedly smacked in the face and kicked in the shins blind. We were again ecstatic when we found the path and walked the last hour or so in peace on a beauty of an afternoon. On to the pictures.
These first two are from our first resting point. The first is where we had come from looking at Volcán Villarica. The second, the view in the other direction, our peak.


Just about to put on the claws and bundle up.

On the way up. That´s me in the distance. Oh, and by the way thanks to Peter for doing all of the photography on this trip.

Victory! Volcán Lanin towers over the clouds in the background. Foreground, me with an axe in one hand and bread in the other on top of Volcán Quetrupillán.

And the happy group atop Quetrupillán with Volcán Villarica in the background. From the left myself, Jorge, Marcello, Boudewijn, Peter.

Headed back down. The picture is cloudy because we are in a cloud.

An hour or so later...

The woods just above the tree line before we lost our trail.

And finally almost back to the truck. That´s Volcán Quetrupillán behind us in the distance.

Tomorrow I am headed back across the Andes to San Martin where I´ll meet up with the gauchos I´ll be living with next month. More on that later. Gotta go. Hope all is well in your worlds. Until next time...