09/11/2019 – Joshs’ Volcano Summit, Pucon, Chile

After a fairly restless night thinking of the day ahead, I found myself waiting for the 5:15 alarm to go off. I notice out of our window the most beautiful moon laying low on the horizon of the lake, the colour was as orange and bright as a sodium street light, never before have I seen the moon this colour! Luckily, Jen was awake and was able to share this marvel. After the excitement of the moon viewing I quietly gathered my things (laid out from the night before) smothered on some sun cream and made my way down stairs for bowl of cereal and a coffee. Nea, (another work away’er) joined me as we waited for the other guests and transport to arrive.

During our journey to the volcano, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the amount of breakfast consumed and tucked into my packed lunch… The peanut butter roll was quite delightful but I would probably pay for this later on the trek. After arriving at the starting point, a nature toilet stop was had by a few of us before starting the long incline to the summit, the air was fresh and the ground was laden with mushy snow and Ice. Quite an eerie spot, all the surrounding tree’s were bare of bark and leaf from the volcanic activity over the years. I did enjoy the layers of ash and sediment the eruptions had left to formed the banks on either side off the road.

All ready, we started the climb. It was light by this point, but the lack of direct sunlight made the temperature quite noticeable. Heads pointed down, silent and single file we plodded along using the footprints made from the guide at the front, this definitely helped walking through the snow as the ground started to steepen. After an hour or so we came to what looked like an old rusty ski lift, chairs with no bars across and metal cables in a tangle on the floor. It was obvious it had been out off service for years but was quite a lovely spot for our first rest point. A quick glug of water and a couple squares of chocolate we were ready for the next part of the trek. The silence (only broken by a chirpy guide trying to encourage our slow pace) still fell around us as we marched on. Not long after the stop we had broken into the sunlight! This was pleasantly received as it was pretty chilly up to this point. After another hour or so we came to our next resting point. Bags down on the snow doubled up as seats as we had our first real chance to look over the surrounding valleys and lakes whilst eating some more chocolate and trail mix. The views were absolutely stunning around 1800m, especially in the golden hour. We could see Pucon next to the lake and work out roughly where the Chili kiwi hostel was, after 10 minuets or so we our guides had us up and en route to the top. We slowly zig-zagged our way up the steep snow covered volcano, taking various short breaks along the way until we breached the summit around midday. What an amazing sense of achievement we all felt as the sulphur dioxide caught on the backs of our throats. We were looking down into the Earths crust! Imagine what a typical child’s drawing of a volcano looks like, two tapering parallel lines, joined together at the top end by an upside down semi circle… That right there is this volcano. It couldn’t be more perfect. As we soaked up surrounding views of the neighbouring snow capped volcanoes across the valleys it was time to head off back home. We got changed into our dry clothes provided and mounted our plastic bum boards. The guides explained how to use them and off we went. Nea, who brought a snowboard up with her was reeking the benefits now as she zoomed passed us! Around 14:45 we had all reached the bottom, bruised and battered we get out of our dry clothes and waited in the car to be taken home. I opened a packed off biscuits and offered them round (They didn’t last long!) and nodded like the Churchill dog all the back to the hostel. We arrived and were given a can of larger each, sat on the stone circle where we had our briefing the day before and chatted about our adventure.

Over dinner, and reunited with Jen as she worked behind the bar, we discussed, compared and contrast the differences and similarities between our journeys. With a stomach full of food and my eyes requiring match sticks to keep them open, I retired and it was time for bed.