Pucon II: Climbing Volcan Villarrica

This is the second part of a two part series on a trip to Pucon, Chile.

Day 3: Volcan Villarrica

After two days of hiking around Pucon, we woke in the darkness to prepare for our climb of the volcano. The rain and clouds of Saturday had left overnight, leaving a crystal clear sky overhead – perfect for climbing.

I had gotten up almost an hour before the rest of the group, so I busied myself invigorating the fire in the wood stove and boiling water for coffee and tea. Shortly after 05:00, the rest of the group began stirring. The time until 06:15 was spent preparing breakfast and packing bags before the van picked us up.

We spent some time back at the offices of the guide company filling backpacks and going over a final gear check before piling back in the van with the four guides and four other clients (all from Spain). The drive up to the ski lift passed back by our cabaña and upwards, eventually turning into a dirt road. The van parked at the lodge of the ski resort (closed for the season) and we put on sunscreen and shouldered our packs. The sun had risen by this point and we had a nice view of Pucon and Lago Villarrica below us, and volcano Llaima to the north.

As we started up, the summit of Villarrica loomed above us, venting volcanic fumes.

Despite the precipitation the previous night, the bottom of the climb was free of snow and we started along a well-defined trail up the mountain. We were not the only group on the mountain – we heard every guide company in town had filled their quota of twelve climbers, and most of them looked to have arrived before us. So we joined the procession.

As we climbed higher the ground slowly turned white, and eventually the guide at the front was kicking steps into snow. Fortunately most of our group was reasonably fit and we were passing other groups as we gained elevation underneath a ski lift.

The moderate temperatures meant the snow was reasonably soft, so we waited a while to put crampons on. After getting above the ski lift we briefly paused behind a rocky outcrop to drink water and take our ice axes off our packs. The rocks sheltered us from a light breeze but also had us shaded from the day’s young sun, so it wasn’t long before a chill urged us to keep moving upwards.

After cresting a ridge, we stepped into a large open bowl. The snow was a beautiful, smooth blanket on the mountain. Above us, several ski mountaineers were skinning up the mountain. Looking down the bowl, I was jealous of the fun I knew they would be having on the descent.

We continued upwards, zig-zagging the slope and leaving a thread of boot-holes in the snow.

Eventually we reached the top of the bowl, marked by an abandoned concrete shell which presumably marked the top of a now-abandoned ski lift. We continued above a ways, before digging seats into the snow slope to sit down and don crampons. Villarrica tops out at 2860 m (9,380 ft), which is not that tall in the grand scheme of things (in fact, the summit is the same elevation as our campsite was on a hike two weeks earlier in Santiago). The next two hours were more of the same: methodical progression up the mountain as the summit slowly grew in size.

Mountaineering (n): walking slowly uphill while not feeling well.

Volcanoes often have shallow lower slopes which gradually increase to an “exciting” angle at the top. The last few hundred meters of Villarica kicked upwards to an angle of 35 degrees (or perhaps even a bit steeper). I enjoyed this part, the stage between steep hiking and vertical climbing, but it was short.

After things got steep we quickly achieved the summit of the volcano, arriving around 12:30 after 4.5 hours of hiking. What a sight! The crater opened below us, spewing volcanic fumes, and the view from the top was spectacular.

We spent a total of 30–45 minutes on top, taking photos and soaking in the view.

It was an awesome experience, standing on the rim of the crater of an active volcano. Though the crater Villarrica sometimes hosts a visible lava lake, the level was too low for us to see. But this meant lots of vents releasing volcanic fumes inside the crater and creating large clouds.

The view never got old. It is always incredible to see mountains stretching off into the distance and plains reaching towards the sea.

And then, too soon, it was time to start our descent. We plunge-stepped our way down the first few hundred meters before stopping on a snowy knoll. There, we removed our crampons and began the ever-fun descent of mountaineering: glissading.

Wet spent the next hour or so sliding down the snow slopes as if we were sledding. Always good fun, and much better than walking for hours!

Facing outwards while sliding down the hill gave us plenty of time to soak in the view of the landscape before us, watching as puffy white clouds grew below us and drifted over the town of Pucon.

We returned to the vans around 15:00 and made our way back down to Pucon to return gear and have a snack and refreshment. Afterwards we returned to the cabaña and collected our things (modulo a short delay to pay for an extra half-day of use, since we’d left our stuff there all afternoon) before leaving. Neil, Claudia, and Anna departed for Santiago, and the rest of us went back into Pucon to divest ourselves of the rental pickup truck, have dinner, and get on the bus to head home. We finished the day of climbing with the perfect meal: pizza, french fries, and beer.

After dinner we went off in search of a pisco sour to cap off the day, and found ourselves at what is reputed to be the center of nightlife in Pucon: “Mama’s and Tapas” We entered the empty restaurant / nightclub (it being a Sunday night) and sat ourselves far enough from a speaker to hear each other talk and alternated between recounting the weekend’s adventures and wondering how the bar had come by its name. It was a fun, and at times silly, conclusion to the weekend. Afterwards we walked to the bus station, climbed aboard, and woke up in Santiago…

View the rest of the photos from the climb.