Pucon sits on the eastern shore of Lake Villarrica under the shadow of the volcano Mt. Villarrica which dominates the southeastern skyline. The town is about eight hours south of Santiago and a popular place for Chilean tourists in the country's lake region.
If you spend a day in Pucon the obvious thing to do is hike to the top of Mt. Villarrica. The peak is covered in snow and ice so you'll need to have the proper gear before starting the hike. The hike itself is a bit strenuous but the reward isn't simply reaching the summit. The best part of the climb is that instead of hiking back down you can sled back down in tracks carved into the snow. It's a fairly similar experience to a the Luge Olympic event but you use your backside instead of a sled to slide down the mount.
The hike up the mountain was a bit difficult hike even with crampons. The guide lead the way using his crampon's to kick a switch back route through the ice. Everyone else followed in his footsteps. The mountain side was steep and everytime I looked back I thought I'd fall over the side. If I slipped and I’d slide quite a far distance. Every climber in our group was tethered together to make sure if someone did slip they didn't go halfway down the mountain.
At the summit I went into the volcano but a horrible sulfur smell, especially when the smoke kicked up, made it difficult to breath and spend too much time in the volcano. After thirty minutes on the summit we began the human bobsled back down. When the mountain side started to level off I used a "butt saucer" to gain speed - you could really fly going down the mountain. The tracks had curves to them and if you went to fast you'd go flying off the track...fortunately the crash landing was into a bank of snow. The ice pick could be used to control speed but I typically went fast and went flying out of the shoot a couple of times. With all the ups and downs and curves and mini-jumps my butt and rest of my body were very sore at end of the sledding. Fortunately, Pucon also has hotsprings in the area to recover from after the hike.
The hike up the mountain was a bit difficult hike even with crampons. The guide lead the way using his crampon's to kick a switch back route through the ice. Everyone else followed in his footsteps. The mountain side was steep and everytime I looked back I thought I'd fall over the side. If I slipped and I’d slide quite a far distance. Every climber in our group was tethered together to make sure if someone did slip they didn't go halfway down the mountain.
At the summit I went into the volcano but a horrible sulfur smell, especially when the smoke kicked up, made it difficult to breath and spend too much time in the volcano. After thirty minutes on the summit we began the human bobsled back down. When the mountain side started to level off I used a "butt saucer" to gain speed - you could really fly going down the mountain. The tracks had curves to them and if you went to fast you'd go flying off the track...fortunately the crash landing was into a bank of snow. The ice pick could be used to control speed but I typically went fast and went flying out of the shoot a couple of times. With all the ups and downs and curves and mini-jumps my butt and rest of my body were very sore at end of the sledding. Fortunately, Pucon also has hotsprings in the area to recover from after the hike.
For additional Pucon photos see FLICKR ALBUM.