Climbing Volcan Villarica

On February 12th, we hiked Volcan Villarrica, which is one of the most active volcanoes in South America. It’s last major eruption was in 2015, when liquid hot magma shot nearly 9000 feet into the air from the peak of the mountain. The volcano itself is about 9,400 feet. On clear days one can see a constant stream of smoke rising from the volcano from the nearby village of Pucon. It is one of only a few volcanoes in the world that has an active lava lake in the center of its crater. Unlike a lot of hikes we do, this is one that can only be done with a certified guide. The good news is that it is a relatively safe climb (as far as climbs go), and that there are thousands of people who make the climb each year with relatively few incidents. This volcano is the main reason we visited Pucon, and is the main source of the town’s thriving tourism industry.

First things first, we had to choose a company to go with. After some research online and asking locals, we decided to go with Summit Chile. The company is owned by a Chilean/Canadian couple. Our lead guide, Claudio, spoke perfect English and was a fantastic guide, keeping everyone safe and in high spirits through the more difficult parts. We would highly recommend Summit Chile. We purchased our excursion a couple days ahead of time, and tried on various pieces of gear. They give you tall, sturdy boots, waterproof jacket and pants, gators, a diaper, a helmet, an ice-ax, waterproof gloves, work gloves, and a backpack containing a gas mask, little sled (for the way down), and crampons. In addition, we brought our own snacks, water, sunscreen, camera, and lightweight mid-layers. It’s a lot of things to bring, but all of it was absolutely necessary.

When the day of our hike came, we were up before the crack of dawn. We ate our chorizo hash, which has lots of starches and protein, and headed out the door. We had to arrive at the Summit Chile office by 6:30, and in hindsight we wish we would have planned to arrive early. As soon as we got there, we loaded our bags, put on our boots and gators, and threw the bags on top of a rickety van. We felt very rushed during this process and would have liked to have more time, but it was fine in the end. We put sunscreen on our faces and arms on the ride to the volcano. The ride itself took almost an hour, and was very bumpy and uncomfortable. They drove pretty fast, passing other vans along the way. We stopped for our guides to check in with the park authorities, our price for the excursion included the park entrance fee (the volcano is the center of Villarrica National Park). After some more treacherous dirt roads, we finally parked the van at the base of a chairlift. Apparently there is a ski resort on the volcano during the winter months. At this point, we had the option to pay $10,000 CLP each, or about $17 USD, to take the chairlift. Most people, including us, chose this option, while those that didn’t faced an additional hour or so of hiking up. If we were in better shape we might have chosen to hike and save our money, but we hadn’t lifted weights for over 6 months, and with Peter’s recent ankle injury hadn’t done much hiking in the past month or so.

After the chairlift, we found ourselves pretty high up (or so we thought). At this point we were surrounded by hundreds of other tourists doing the same thing with different groups. It was obvious at this point that some groups and guides were much more prepared than others. We saw people without ice-axes or even helmets, which is illegal. We saw people in jeans and tennis shoes, which is simply inadequate for a hike of this magnitude. There are pretty well defined paths on the way up, so there was a significant traffic jam at the start. However, before long, we were able to strap on our crampons and bypass most of the other groups, as very few of them had this option. We’ve hiked in them before, so it was easy for us, but wearing crampons can make it really easy to roll your ankle, which Peter had just done a few weeks ago, so we went pretty slow and took it carefully. Whether hiking on the ice or on the dirt, the volcano is too steep to go straight up, so our entire route was switchbacks. The ice-axes where used as like a short walking stick during the climb up, which helped keep our balance and drive us forward. We would highly encourage anyone doing this hike to use the ice-ax or trekking poles if possible.

After about an hour we shed our mid-layers and hiked up most of the way in t-shirts and hiking pants. The suns rays are extremely strong in the mountains, and this was no exception, so we were dripping with sweat before we were halfway up. In sum, the climb is about four hours to the summit. We stopped a few times along the way to snack on what we needed, mostly trail mix and cliff bars. A girl from Germany shared some chocolate with us, which lifted our spirits. To be honest, the climb is physically difficult but not the most difficult we’ve done. The real challenge with this one is mental. It’s like climbing a set of stairs for hours on end, and looking up or down there were plenty of times where we felt like we might not make it. This is where we really appreciated Claudio’s easygoing attitude and high spirits, which made it easier to march on. Shortly before the top, we took off our crampons as the peak is mostly dirt and rock, and left our bags with Claudio. We took with us our camera (Hannah’s GoPro), and our gas masks. We also had to wear work gloves, as the rocks near the top are sharp and the climb required the use of your hands.

A very long half-hour longer and we were at the top. The peak here is not like most peaks, because there is a giant crater in the center. It smelled of sulfur, but we didn’t need to use our gas masks on that particular day. Apparently they are only needed sometimes, depending on the wind direction and temperature. We basked in the happiness of reaching the summit for a while, taking photos of the crater and the surrounding view. We couldn’t see the lava in the center of the crater, which apparently has been a new normal since the 2015 eruption. Prior to that, lava was visible with the naked eye. We couldn’t stay long though, because we still had to head down the volcano.

The hike down was much more exciting than the hike up, however, because we got to sled down! We put on the waterproof jacket, pants, diaper, and gloves, and made our way to giant grooves in the snow. We got to use the little plastic sled to speed down the face of the mountain in less than half the time it took us to go up! We actually had to use our ice-axes as breaks, and still had a couple of incidents where people went too fast and could have gotten seriously hurt if the guides weren’t there to help out! Both of us where laughing with joy, brought back to memories of growing up sledding down hills in the Midwest winters. It was so fun!

After a little ways, the snowy peak gave way to rocky/gravel slopes. We hiked down for about an hour. At this point we were really happy to gave the gators on, because our feet sunk pretty far into the loose gravel, which was actually really helpful on the knees. This last hour went quickly. We reached our bus just after 3:00pm, and didn’t mind in the least how bumpy the ride back was.

Overall, climbing Volcan Villarrica was one of the most exciting things we have ever done, and would highly recommend it to anyone ever visiting Chile. 10/10!