Arriving in Pucon and following on from the epic bike ride which didn`t involve as much exercise as anticipated, we thought we would actually smash some proper exercise out. We`d done a mountain so we thought we`d slightly deviate from the norm and climb a volcano. That coupled with the fact that everyone goes to Pucon to climb this volcano. So we checked into our hostel with our American receptionist Utah Washington.....that´s right an America bloke called Utah Washinton. Only in America right?! That´s like me being called Leicester London.
So with our minds made up we got a good nights sleep before the big day. Waking up at 6am (thought travelling meant lots of lie ins!) we suited up and awaited the tour guides to pick us up. They got here about 30 minutes late and then we faffed around for a while making sure we all had the ride equipment and sizes etc. We thought we had it easy with a decent walk not anticipating the kit we`d have to carry with us. Seemed like the W trek all over again.
Getting into the carrier we were pretty comfy, until they realised they didn`t really have enough space for the 16 of us along with 5 tour guides between 2 people carriers, so we had to squidge 4 people onto a row of seats for 3. After leaning forward for the 45 minute drive to the base of the volcano, we arrived with the sun just about fully illuminating the mountain.
After a short safety briefing we set off up a small walk to a ski lift thingy, with the tour guides all highly recommending that we took the ski lift option to save an hours hike and to save energy. BALLS, MEGA BALLS. Sorry, nothing to do with the blog, just went on bbc to find Leicester down 0-2 to Watford at half time. Back to the blog.........With most the group opting for the hike option (including me) we hiked on up, watching Jen and another girl floating by on the ski lift above our heads. Turned out to be a great shout, the first hour to the top of the ski lift was the hardest part of the whole day! We hoped the rest of the climb wouldn`t be quite this hard!
Thankfully the climb evened out a bit after that first ascent. The three girls and the guide who had taken the ski lift didn`t wait around for us though, by the time the rest of the group had got to the top of the ski lift they had already done one without us.
At the ski lift drop off point we were told this was the only toilet, so I took the opportunity to relieve myself, only to find a frozen toilet, round the corner would have to do.
After a short 10 minute break for the hardcore climbers, we set off again and pushed the pace to catch up. And catch up we did, getting to the next resting point only 10 minutes behind the girls who originally had a 40 minute lead on us (Jen will probably disagree but the lift took 10 minutes and the walk took an hour so look at the maths!). (Yes Jen most certainly disagrees, we were waiting for there group for longer than 10 minutes and in our defense we had a rather large unfit guy in our group so we took the pace slowly!)
Getting to the resting point we all met back up and took in the views and appreciated what we had just climbed already. There were plenty of other groups at this pòint as this was where everyone stopped to put on the crampons (spikey grip thingies you attach to your walking boots to grip to the snow). Jen didn`t think I`d believe her, but when I was walking up the first bit she met our mate Cyrille at the top of the ski lift. This guy turns up everywhere!
Obviously not the 15k+ we had on the W trek, but still a fairly hefty backpack with some weight in it, mainly for the summit and way down, but we`ll get to that later.
Crampons attached by the tour guide (who incidentally was the 8th person to call me Pique) and a good old break to take in water etc and take in the views, we set back off again, waddling like ducks trying to get used to the crampons. Single file was the theme of the day, still not sure why but the guides weren`t impressed when I broked formation to chat to Jen!
It was getting so bad at one point that one guide had to carry a girls bag and also tie her to him via a rope in order to get her up the volcano. At the time we thought that was pretty funny as anyone would.
However karma quickly reared its ugly head on us, more specifically Jen! Climbing up the steepest part of the volcano (which was only about a 100m climb but that steep that we had to zigzag our way up for about 30mins) Jen`s feet gave way. Again it sounds amusing but slipping on the snow coupled with the fact that crampons are attached to your feet suddenly removes the comedy from the situation. With the snow giving way under Jen`s right leg (I always thought that was her fattest leg) it fell down with her left leg soon to follow. Of course with crampons strapped to feet, they are soon to follow the leg and with that, Jen impaled herself with her crampons. She was clinging to the side of the volcano with her pick axe, with one foot plus crampon stuck in her leggings at the top of her thigh ( that was one bending leg!). Looking at the situation with Jen on the floor, it didn`t look to bad. A hole had appeared in her leggings and all we could see was a scrap on her leg. Thinking she had gotten away with it, the guide asked to take a look.....raising the hole in her leggins slightly revealed the extent to the injury, a good cm deep gash.
With the guide bandaging her up on the side of the volcano, we were now quite some time behind the rest of the group. The tour guide was lightening the situation though asking if he had permission to touch her leg, whilst turning to me and saying he had a wife and kids so he wasn`t in it for the kicks and that his wife would kill him anyway if she found out he had touched another girls leg! So Jen got patched up. For some reason Jen didn`t really feel much and decided to troop on, even though a rusty manky spike had just intruded her leg tissue. She refused to look at the bloody wound, but that didn`t stop her picking herself up and making her way up the volcano. I didn`t mention at the time but it was pretty dam close to her femoral artery which could have potentially been life threatening (dont worry folks it wasn´t that bad).
Following the "incident", we continued in our little group of 3 (Jen, me and the only tour guide of the 5 who seemed the slightest bit bothered by what had just happened) making our way up the last bit. With Jen understandly shook up and feeling a bit wobbly, the tour guide was holding her hand whilst pulling her up, and I was taking the weight of her backpack ( Jen says she didnt notice this so doesnt believe any weight was taken) and making sure she didn`t slip from behind.
After 3 times the amount it should have taken, we finally got up the last couple of hundred metres, over snow and rocks whilst still in the crampons. Here`s Jen`s victory pose when at the top, whole in leggings (and leg) on show.
The top was epic, but cold...... on goes the waterproof jacket and trousers we had lugged up the beast. 5 hours since we started we could pose away.
And the volcano itself was pretty cool, if you were lucky you could see steam coming out as it is active, with some lucky people even getting to see lava being blowed upwards (but not out). Unfortunately we were neither of those people and just saw a crater on top of a hill!
But it was still definately worth the effort, enhanced by the fact that Jen had pushed through her self mutilation. YYEEEAAAAHHHH, sorry Leicester scored! Just two more now lads!
The other side with view. You can make out another massive volcano in the distance.
There was a slightly higher part that you could climb to which many did, but Jen didn`t feel up to it favouring the resting of the gammy leg....
......didn`t stop me going up though! Here I am coming back down, captured by Jen (thanks for the "bigfoot sighting" comment Jen)
With the views soaked in and warm dry clothes on the fun could really start now! How do you get back down a mountain in a fifth the time that you made it up? Skis is a good shout if that was what you were thinking but we didn`t have those so what`s the second best option? That`s right, sliding down on your arse....so that we did.
This turned out to be a right laugh, bobsleighing down on your arse, using your ice pick to speed you up if needed. Turns out I definately didn`t need that sliding wildly off the path upsidedown with the tour guide yelling to slow down. Problem was, I couldn`t slow down, even when i tried to slow down with my pick axe. Must have been all that extra Argentian steak weight I had accumulated. It was a different story for Jen though, she couldn`t speed up....so pathetically so that she was pretty much completely stationary for the most of it! With me laughing whilst watching her struggle from below, I finally took pitty on her and ran back up to met her, linked ice axes, and pulled her down the track whilst running alongside. Cos that`s just how nice I am!
Getting down the volcano and back to the hostel we dropped off our backpacks and had a complimentary beer, thankyou very much! We showered and got changed in our new room for the night....this big tent.
With the hostel folk, we decided to celebrate our acheivement with more beers so went out for that and a burger, which turned out to be yummy. Fortunately we also had 2 nurses on the tour who took a look at Jen`s leg and randomly 2 doctors who we had recognised from the navimag boat where in our hostel and also looked at it and redressed it. So Jen was in good hands. Here`s the doctors handywork!
The next day the sun was out and we could really appreciate what we had just climbed. Here`s the volcano in the background as we walked around the streets of Pucon. Well, Jen hobbled actually!
Soooo turns out Leicester are in the championship for another year as I finish this blog.
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