Sledding down a volcano

I climbed an active volcano today with the excellent folks at Summit Chile and then sledded most of the way down. It was an incredible experience. Claudio, the owner and lead guide, picked me up at 615 and we headed to Pucon to gear up for the climb. The top part of the volcano is still covered in snow, sits on a glacier, and is sometimes quite windy. I wore most of the clothes I brought -- a good test of my light packing. There were nine other friendly folks in the group: 2 from the UK, one from Germany, and the rest from Brazil. Two other guides accompanied Claudio and the group. We drove to the base of the ski area, about a third of the way up the volcano, and then hiked a short distance to the one ski lift that operates in summer to skip over a very soft, sandy (volcanic ash) section at the beginning of the climb. We walked down it later and it would have been a calf screamer to walk up, especially at the beginning of the climb. None of us were particularly bothered by taking the lift. After all, if you really want to "conquer the mountain", you would need to start hiking from the base in Pucon.Here's a shot on the old double chairlift, with my seatmate Bea from Germany:That's the lake that abuts both Villarrica and Pucon. When we got to the top, it was time to strap on our crampons, grab our ice axes, and start climbing.You can see the volcano "breathing" in the top left of the photo. Here's another view back towards the lake:We would climb for 45 minutes or an hour and then take a break to eat, hydrate, and admire the views. This panorama, shot with the Fuji XE-2 and 18-55 lens -- both of which made the climb along with the iPhone 4S responsible for many of the other photos, gives an idea of the views back towards the lake from the first third of the climb.The wind was blowing quite hard all day -- up to 65mph on the summit approaches and summit itself, according to a weather device Claudio carried -- and it was amazing to watch the clouds roll up the mountain, almost like waves breaking on the beach. Here you can see one of our guides, Osiel, with the clouds racing up the mountain behind him.It really was fun to watch the clouds blow in and then envelop us.One more, just because it was dramatic.Soon it was time for a break, and I devoured the first of two PB&Js I made for the climb. Aside: it is indeed possible to buy peanut butter in Chile!And then we kept going. We had to step carefully on the varying surface conditions -- sometimes very soft, sometimes a bit icy. The wind was strong enough to knock us around if we didn't maintain a good grip on the mountain with our crampons and ice axes. The black volcanic rock was really cool looking. And the clouds kept building below us.The volcano "breathing" makes it look like my head is steaming, but I was too cold to sweat.The wind was really blowing hard, and I was very glad I packed the windproof softshell at the last minute! We kept going up and we could tell that the summit was not far off.And soon enough we made it to the edge of the crater at the top of the volcano. The wind was nearly strong enough to knock us over up here, and the blowing ice bits and dust from the volcano made it hard to see when moving into the wind.At this point, I had donned a pair of heavy-duty waterproof trousers in preparation for the descent. As the title of this post suggests, we sledded most of the way down, either on our butts or sitting on little plastic shovels, using our ice axes as brakes and to steer. It was an unbelievable experience. Claudio took some video with a GoPro camera: Sledding down Villarrica. It was amazing and everyone had a blast.Eventually we ran out of snow and had to walk down the sandy volcanic ash we had sailed over on the chairlift earlier in the day.And then we emerged back below the clouds, walked down the path you can see snaking through the middle of the picture below back to the base of the ski area, and hopped in the van and headed back to Pucon after an awesome experience.Details of the hike here on Strava.

Hanging on for dear life

I was wandering around Pucon on the afternoon of January 2 finalizing arrangements for my climb of the Villarrica Volcano with the kind folks at Summit Chile when they suggested I head a few doors down and talk to the guys at Freeride Pucon about going mountain biking. They are the best riders in Pucon, and Juan Pablo agreed to take me halfway up the Villarrica Volcano for an afternoon of freeriding with a little cross country mixed in along the way down. Before we could descend, we had to ride up a little farther towards the summit. The views both in front (volcano) and behind (lake) were outstanding.It ended up being an epic guided tour of some seriously gnarly terrain on some otherwise impossible to find local trails. We had to hop over or through more than one barbed wire fence on the way down.I've been riding mountain bikes since I was 12, but parts of the descent took me to the absolute outer limits of my ability. The ground was extremely soft and loose, made up as it was largely of volcanic ash and crumbly rock. This photo of Juan Pablo descending one section gives you some idea of what we were riding.It was very difficult to scrub speed, but the sheer drops on the side of the trail made scrubbing some speed necessary to ensure we actually made it around the turns. At point we were riding alongside, and high above, the river bed where the lava flows when the volcano erupts.Later we rode in the lava river bed. There were many rock drops on the trail itself. Halfway through the ride, I understood why Juan Pablo had asked me earlier at the shop if I wanted a full-face helmet and body armor (both of which I foolishly declined because I've been riding mountain bikes forever and never wear anything more than a normal helmet). If you crash here, particularly at speed, it is going to hurt. Thankfully, neither one of us bit it and other than getting whipped by a few thorns, we emerged unscathed and with big grins on our faces. Juan Pablo is one of the most skilled descenders I've ever ridden with, and he was a great guide.Ride details here.