The last days of winter – up a volcano, of course!

After Colombia, next up on our tour of Latin America – Chile. All as per: busy – meetings with partners we’ve been working with for many years and also large clients; new acquaintances, and a few university lectures – since educating specialists for careers in cybersecurity needs to be done as early as possible. University is a little too late; better to start at middle-school level (which we do, but that’s a whole other story). Still – better late than never…

Fortunately, between the working portion of the Colombia visit and that of the Chile visit – weekend! Time for some active tourism. So out came the map of Chile to work out what we could check out in two days. Not that it took long, for as soon as I saw them it was as good as decided: volcanoes!…

That photo is of the caldera (~crater) of the Sollipulli volcano (here). Impressive, eh?

Now, up in the northern hemisphere it’s nearly the end of summer; meanwhile, down here in the southern – it’s nearly the end of winter. And though it’s best to scale this volcano in summer when it’s snow-free and you can quadbike up most of the way, we were here in winter, so we settled for the only option we had: going up on foot!…

Around a third of the route runs through forest with breathtaking views all around – views to be beheld, that is, if you have the strength to lift your head and turn it this way and that, which for us was rarely. Yes – the going was tough, and it only seemed to get tougher. The only thing we could think of was how many more hundred meters up the vertical we had to go. The views simply seemed too… trivial when our stamina was being tested to the max…

While there’s tree cover – the going’s rather pleasant: not too hot in the trees’ shade. But higher up the trees peter out and the sun adds to the endurance test. Not pleasant. And factor-50 sunscreen is mandatory…

But up top – it all becomes worth it. And coming back down – equally magical scenes:

And other nearby volcanoes also looking good – and giving Mount Fuji a run for its money ->

Waterfalls, hot (almost) springs…

The above pics and few words were introductory. Now for some detail…

Sollipulli volcano really is something. At its peak there’s a caldera that’s simply massive. How massive? Wait for it…: around 3×4 kilometers massive! Here it is on the map (around 600km to the south of Santiago) ->

Btw – we’re near the 39^th parallel down here. Just so you can get an idea of where that is, the 39^th parallel north has along it cities like Lisbon, Athens and Pyongyang – pretty warm places. However, down here – at ~2000 meters above sea-level there’s a full-blown glacier!

To the top of the volcano it’s a six-seven-kilometer walk (through the snow), taking you around a kilometer up the vertical. But the path’s a goody and the incline’s steady – so even sedentary tourists shouldn’t have a problem with it ->

Up top – the views: oh-my grandiose-and-gorgeous! Over there on the horizon: the Llaima Volcano – one of the most active in Chile ->

The ascent up the volcano starts from the northern side. There are two options: either from the roadside parking lot (suitable if you’re taking all your own stuff with you), or from the Lodge Nevados de Sollipulli tourist camp:

But don’t be shocked by the prices – they’re not in USD, but Chilean pesos!

Organized group ascents with a guide start out from here. You can also rent snow shoes and trekking sticks here and buy snacks to take with you. The lake nearby is a pretty one, but, alas, it’s iced over in winter ->

You can also stay the night here; however, we were booked in somewhere a little more salubrious (more on that later) ->

Meanwhile, we begin our ascent; we open the gate and off we pop!…

As mentioned, the going was tough – taking us a full five hours to get to the top; however, the views…

…For example – this here 40m-high waterfall:

Llaima ->

Chilean “Christmas trees” ->

The tree-cover ends…

We were real lucky with the weather. For several days before our ascent it was windy and snowy; for several days after – also. Just our day (we were told later) was one of clement weather! ->

We still had quite a way to go (actually – 1500m in altitude) above the tree-line ->

Up and up and up; on and on and on…

The views made up for our over-exertions ->

Nearly there!…

We make it; hurray! ->

Since we set off way too late in the morning, we only got to the top after 3pm. And we only returned back to camp after 7pm – after the sunset (=> bad mood). But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me return to the good mood up top. Check out the caldera:

Inside the caldera – a glacier covered in snow (in summer (December-March) things look somewhat different).

Yet further confirmation that volcanoes are better than mountains ).

There’s Llaima again ->

Zoomed in ->

Over there – Argentina! ->

Two Argentinian lakes ->

Time to be heading back down – which was of course quicker and easier (but the same distance!)…

Love these endemic trees. But I’ve forgotten what they’re called. Can any of you, dear readers, refresh my memory? ->

Almost at the bottom…

Done. A quick look at the map showing the route we’d taken ->

And that was that.

PS: I write this already on my way to Beijing via Paris. More on that – in an upcoming post…

The rest of the snaps from Chile are here.