The Volcano and on

So, I´ve been a little under the weather with a cold for the last few days - I think due to my spell out surfing at Ritoque in 10 degrees water for an hour (and I´m still not much improved!!).  After the last blog was written I recovered myself a little before the big day on the volcano.

It is not recommended to climb Volcan Villarica in the rain- we did check this the day before going with the chap in the shop- he was confident of no rain in the morning and said if it wasn´t raining when we got up at 6am in the morning we were good to go.  Sure enough, no clouds covering the star lit morning when we got up and I decided it´d be best to soldier through the onset of a cold.  We got fully kitted out on arrival with crampons and waterproofs before heading out with 2 other couples, a chilean and two guides.

On arrival at the volcano the day looked fine with clouds covering the town and lovely sun, it felt sure to be a good day.  We made a slow ascend up the black dusty volcano next to the inactive ski lift (ski season´s open in June) and made it up to the snow line.  Armed with crampons, a helmet, snow axe, and backpack we mounted the snow- gusts of wind were up to about a gale force 10.  

Climbing was slow but we felt we made we made good progress up the snowy volcano where, at intervals, we stopped and asked how much longer- even after we´d been on the snow for an hour we were only halfway and we were up to about a gale force 15 now!!  With ice and volcano dust swirling on the mountain and hitting us on the face we broached an icey ridge we were to climb over' gusts of wind were easily strong enough now to blow us off the mountain onto icey grounds.. - we were told this was fine- if it happened simply lodge your ice axe into the snow and hold on!!!  

Anyway, this was meant to be a challenge so we soldiered on into a 1:3 climb on snow..  I was imensly proud of Cath to get this far, she, before an hour from the top decided it was just getting too much and the guides left her with another guide who was helping.  I kept on going with the rest of the group- we were climbing our 1:3 ascend with clouds of ice being blown into our faces with regular face down all fours on the ground to avoid being blown off the mountain.  We were told the cold was coming in as well as snow and we needed to move quickly- the group wasn´t really able.  I pioneered with the Chilean and finally we came close to the volcano- with the sound of lava underfoot and surfur in the air it was exciting but visability was nothing.  I thought, ´it would be stupid to go on, there´s no way we´ll see anything on getting to the top and cloud was coming in, we needed to go back´.  The guides didn´t listen so we continued up a 1:2 now and got to the ´top´, hardly anyone could breath because of the sulphur which was burning the lungs and we could even see the volcano!!!  We headed back down in a little bit of a panic, the guides were loosing their heads and telling us to move more and more quickly.  There were weaker members of the group really worrying, it was freezing, we couldn´t see how to get down the mountain and we were going down ridiculous gradients on ice whilst ice was literally being blown into our faces at gale force speeds.  I held my own and followed advice, sliding on bums down the mountain and using the ice axe as a stopping agent was the quickest way down- I took the lead.  

We made it off the snow and I was told Cath was in good hands.  Nevertheless worried I continued down were Cath and I met at the bottom shattered from this adrenaline and terrifying experience.  The tour operator asked me if I enjoyed it when I got back, I replied ´I´m pleased to be back alive, it was bloody dangerous´.  Of course we were the only group to get up that day, it was madness to keep on going into the cloud!

Our hostal has been looking after us well since, we put our sopping wet clothes in front of the fire and warmed ourselves to 3 pots of tea and a great dinner.  I´ve continued to be pretty coldy over the last few days unsurprisingly.  Yesterday we managed a great walk out to Huequehue National Park and saw a great waterfall and lake and have fully recovered our spirits.

Nevertheless after this experience and researching our options for going further south to Patagonia, which will be colder and higher (with really the only activities being offered being hiking) we have reconsidered our route.  Patagonia around 1000km long and impossible to travel by road, unless you cross the Andes, therefore it needs to be travelled by boat.  Seeing it properly means coming within a boat ride of Antarctica and being in one of the most challenging environments- we think to do this properly should not best be done in winter; there are few options for travelling off season and even when we get there we can´t face the possibility of more intrepid walks like the one we´ve just encountered.  With our heads held high we have decided to turn our travels to the North and pop into Argentina for a little wine tasting in Mendoza followed by our journey into the desert and onto Peru.  Tonight we mount our 10 hour sleeper bus journey to Santiago followed by an easterly trip to Mendoza- the next you´ll hear from us will be from the country of Argentina!