The lava it burns
- Mar 3, 2016
- 2 min read
The lava burns!
The lava is supposed to be in the crater not in my leg.
I'm half way up the side of a 2800m hissing and breathing volcano in Pucon, Chile.
Villarrica is one of Chile's most active volcanoes but right now it feels like the bubbling boiling liquid that recently spewed forth from Villarrica's mouth is in my left thigh muscle.
The town of Pucon sits far below and the top of the volcano even further up in the clear blue sky. I'm in no man's land. I can't go on. It looks like I'll have to lie here in the snow and ice and eat myself when I start to starve.
The rest of my group continues on. Zigzagging its way further away from me and further up the volcano.
I signed up to make the popular climb with Summit Chile - a tour company with a great reputation for safety and one that cares for their clients. For me this means I won't have to make that deal with myself where if I die I eat myself. Guide Joaquin signals to the other guides that he will stay with me.
Joaquin gets me up Villarrica and I stare into the monsters mouth and watch the lava dance.
It’s baby steps up the remaining 1400m. A little rest a little water and the aid of Joaquin’s poles. Step by crampon boot we inch our way up. I also “pause” many times to take in the spectacular vistas.
On this clear day, Lago Villarrica sparkles far below and several other cone-shaped Mount Dooms loom in the distance. Villarica stands in the Chilean Central Valley as the westernmost of an alignment of three large stratovolcanoes. The alignment is attributed to the existence of an old fracture in the earth’s crust. The other volcanoes in the chain, Quetrupillán and Lanín, are not quite as lively. Volcan Villarrica erupted on in March 2015 forcing mass evacuations.
Ash and lava spewed a 1000m into the air. Tour companies were finally allowed to scale Villarrica’s omnipresent guardian in November 2015.
The sulphur sifts in obnoxious clouds. And peering into the mouth of the crater red splashes of lava fly and explode. I share a smile with Joaquin.
The lava is back where it is supposed to be - in a hole in the earth and not in my leg.
It’s time to descend this belching beast and what’s the best way to get of an active volcano? On your arse of course!
Equipped with a piece of plastic the size of a two cheeks I sweep down the Villarrica’s icy slope like an out of control curling stone. After lugging my ice axe all the way up I finally get a chance to use it. The sharp end stops me from skidding off the edge of a precipice and into the abyss allowing me to get back to Pucon and reflect in my mountaineering glory.
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