We could see the active volcano from our Tree House hostel, which was lined with colorful hammocks & playful pups, standing at 9,341 ft. We booked our trek the instant we arrived to climb that very next day. Sized for shoes (which turned out killing my heel & leaving two painful blister friends on either side) & coats by our guide Mauricio & given the paperwork to sign our lives away, we began to fuel up for the big day ahead of us!
Rising to see the sun rise at 630, Mauricio picked us up, drove us to our departure point, gave us our stylish orange gear & we all decided that its stature didn't frighten us all that much anymore. Then after 6ish hours of hiking switchback in Crampons & ice picks, we may have changed our minds a bit on that initial assessment. Every crevasse we thought was the final one, we were pleasantly surprised with another peak -over & over & over again.
About three quarters of the way up (after holding it for at least two hours already) I decided I was going to need a pit stop before the day was over. Just after we, & many other groups, finished up eating lunch and rejuvenating, I took my opportunity! Mauricio lead me down a few feet off our tracks & with Dana laughing hysterically above me & snapping as many inappropriate candid shots as humanly possible, I let my bare bum nearly freeze in my makeshift ice crystal seat :) I would not have made it any other way & was very relieved.
Then we arrived. The top was purely incredible. With a 360 degree view of the other neighboring volcanoes, lakes, rivers, towns, & even the Pacific was barely visible off in the distance, this was unlike anything I could have imagined. The smoke & steam billowed up over the edges of the cravasse as we cautiously peeked over into an active lava lake inside its crater. Some days, visitors can even see the lava spilling up, over & down the mountainside!
Rising to see the sun rise at 630, Mauricio picked us up, drove us to our departure point, gave us our stylish orange gear & we all decided that its stature didn't frighten us all that much anymore. Then after 6ish hours of hiking switchback in Crampons & ice picks, we may have changed our minds a bit on that initial assessment. Every crevasse we thought was the final one, we were pleasantly surprised with another peak -over & over & over again.
About three quarters of the way up (after holding it for at least two hours already) I decided I was going to need a pit stop before the day was over. Just after we, & many other groups, finished up eating lunch and rejuvenating, I took my opportunity! Mauricio lead me down a few feet off our tracks & with Dana laughing hysterically above me & snapping as many inappropriate candid shots as humanly possible, I let my bare bum nearly freeze in my makeshift ice crystal seat :) I would not have made it any other way & was very relieved.
Then we arrived. The top was purely incredible. With a 360 degree view of the other neighboring volcanoes, lakes, rivers, towns, & even the Pacific was barely visible off in the distance, this was unlike anything I could have imagined. The smoke & steam billowed up over the edges of the cravasse as we cautiously peeked over into an active lava lake inside its crater. Some days, visitors can even see the lava spilling up, over & down the mountainside!
The air was warm, with a crisp wind, & every once in a while a breath of hot smoke would leave you wheezing & gasping for air -Summitting Volcán Villarica was unbelievably breathtaking, to say the least.
Then, with some very temporary initial hesitation (after we had breathed in enough smoke & steam & snapped enough summit pictures -& pictures of us in the ultra-reflective glasses of our guide) we used our ice picks and sleds to slide down the face of this mountain at outrageous & terrifying speeds! Laughing & still all feeling in awe of our day, we headed back down the mountain to our hostel where we crashed instantly upon arrival.
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