Pucon
Dragoman Day 3 - 5
December 26th - 28th
Day 297 - 299

Sleeping in the tent went ok but I was looking forward to spending a few nights in a hostel. After breakfast we headed in the truck to go to Pucon. We got there about lunchtime and had a group lunch together. It was chris' group to cook, he looked very awkward but did a 'great' job slicing tomatoes.

Pucon is a nice town having an alpine feel with lots of wooden chalet type buildings with lakes and a snow capped active volcano.

We stayed in a very nice hostel in dorms. We had the strangest largest bathroom with a jacuzzi bath, his and her sinks and three open showers! I'm not sure it was designed to be a hostel at first.

Our first day we had a talk regarding all the activities we could do including white water rafting, climbing mount Villarrica, biking, hiking, etc. I was interested in biking and hiking but was somehow persuaded into the volcano climbing which we would do the next day with everyone in our group.

We spent the rest of the day chilling by the hostel pool, and in the evening we had a BBQ! We also had to have a fitting for the clothes we would need for the climb. This included heavy snow boots, waterproof jackets and trousers, thick mittens, crampons, helmet, and ice pick....

The next day we woke up at 6am to get dressed, have breakfast and prepare some lunch for our big day. Pick up was at 7am and I felt very nervous. In the minibus on the way there it dawned on me how tough this would be.

Unfortunately the weather conditions were not as great as it had been and the chair lift that would have taken us from 1400m to 1800 m was not working!! This meant we had to walk it adding an extra 1.5hrs to our trek up taking it to 5hrs. It also meant we had to hike up 1500m to get to the summit.

This first part was tough it was hiking upwards on gravel. At times it felt like no progress was being made as we slipped downwards. After what seemed like a long time we arrived to the foot of the snow.

After a quick break and lesson on what to do if we slipped we started the snow trek upwards with the helmet on and ice pick in hand. After a few hours we reached what we thought was the summit but in actual fact the summit was still a few hours away. I made the decision to go down at that point I had pain in both my inside thighs but Chris continued on.

To get down we had to use a bit of plastic that we sat on and then slide down. It was really good fun until I had to stand up halfway down to climb over some rocks!!! I stood up and couldn't feel my legs and couldn't bend them! I panicked and started making a scene, in the end they had to radio for help and a stretcher. After lying down on the snow for about an hour with my feet resting on ice picks I felt much better. However I felt pretty stupid for causing such a scene and even worse when I saw the guys with the stretcher!

Next day I didn't leave the hostel nursing my ego and my legs in the swimming pool.

Xx