Pucon, Chile

Villa Rica volcano from my hostel rooftop

Now with a day less than planned in Pucon in the Chilean lake district I decided I had to make it worthwhile and signed up to climb the active Villa Rica volcano.

After a chilled first day in Pucon we set off. The weather was sunny but very cold and windy and I pretty much froze all day, but it was still a great experience.

The view on the way up

The trek up wasn't as tough as I'd expected, partly because using crampons and ice picks meant we took it pretty slow. Halfway up we had to wait out the weather and later discovered we were the only group to make it to the summit that day. At one point we took refuge in an old chairlift that had been destroyed in a previous eruption. Scary.

At the summit

As we neared the summit the climb became tougher with smoke and sulphurous fumes escaping. When we reached the top it was covered in cloud and smoke and we couldn't see anything. But slowly the sides of the crater became visible.

The beautiful crater edge

And the excitement wasn't over there. Instead of a slow trek back down we sledded all the way on plastic trays, at first scary but soon exhilarating. Soaking wet and cold at the base we hopped into the warm bus and returned to Pucon where I was taking a night bus that evening back to Argentina.