Conquering Volcanos Vertical Limit style in Pucon, Chile

Hey all, I'm now in Pucon, Chile where here lies the big Volcano which is called Villarica, which means House of the spirit, and we climbed the bastard yesterday, man what a day it was. We got started at 7am to put on our climbing gear and head up to the volcano where we started above the clouds, and we WERE going to take the chairlift up to a stage and push on to the top, but the chairlift was closed due to winds (yay!) so some hard uphill walking (more or less) with some climbing here and there and we were knackered and at the first stop. After this it ACTUALLY got easier! The ice pick in hand, we scrambled up rocks at a leisurely pace that allowed for a photo or two, then we stopped at some rocks and were the snow began. I'd never seen, touched or even walked on snow before this apart from a little bit I picked up at Ushuaia, but it hardly counted in my book. The whole time was walking up snow steps which went for around 2km up the steep slopes of the volcano in a zig zag, so with the extra length, it was more like 3km up a volcano which has a height of 2847m, so nearly that length in height alone. The trek was harder and a constant painful slog up the snow for a few hours, but what was worse was the fear factor attached with the idea of thinking 'if I step here will the snow break away and I'll fall 100m into the other climbers and knowcking others down' or 'I can see it melting, is it ice now and I'll slip and fall' but it's a mental game as I found in Ushuaia, with the successful climbers who make it to the top are the ones who block out the fear and just on with it and get moving, so as Coldplay is in such a strength here throughout South America, I just played a few of their songs in my head, and I felt my moral go right up to get me through the toughest parts until we reached the peak. I could see the lava flows from the past with rocks and volcanic material that looked exactly like tree roots frozen in rock and cracked in some places. As people climbed up, they would occassionally push out loose rocks, or small boulders that would come tumbling down the moutain as the guides would scream out in Spanish - Rocko! Everyone would scramble to safety as the rocks passed and all was safe again, but they were of volcanic material so a bit lighter and felt more pummicelike than normal rocks, nonetheless, I'm sure if one struck someone in the head from the height they were falling, a eulogy would be read soon after. As we got to the crater, we could feel the warmth of the lava lake that lay below us and the ground grumbled erracticly with slight tremors that would show us how small we were, and then as teh sulphur gases passed over us in thick clouds, we saw a huge shot of volcanic lava shoot about 300ft into the air with a blast of hot air to knock us pack, to see it was surreal was an udnerstatement. As I look down into the lava very cautiously, I saw them, Frodo and Golem were duelling until the ring was thrown into the great lava lake and Sauran was no more! Ok, so that last part didn't really happen as you can tell, so I've had my fun and say now I'll say what happened when we reached the summit, long story short there were no ground tremors or heat we could feel, but the crater was vast, but the clouds of sulphur that flowed past us made us cough a lot and we couldn't see anything, no folks sorry, but no lava for us, but it was a great experience to do it. Soon our descent followed after a brief break and dawning on the (so called) waterproof pants. We walked back down the rocks observing all of the volcanic rock (which is amazing) for the last time, and back to the snow and the ice steps, which proved a little tricky for some, then the fun part where a slide had been made through the snow, I slid for 800m like a slippery slide at a water park, but having to use my ice pick as a break as I dug it in further as I was gonig faster and faster I hit ice and it flew out of my hand leaving me to dig in my hands and feet in a cat brace attempt at breaking which worked, leaving me to climb up very slowly after slipping back a few times to retrieve the pick which lay within a few centimeters reach, all whilst a guide yelled 'Please do not lose the pick!', which normally would've been the last of my concerns, but as the unknown lay ahead and it was my means of breaking down a snow covered volcano, it was my only concern to get it back. As I started back down I stopped breaking and went faster and faster to enjoy the ride and feel my legs and butt becoming very cold and eventually numb. Just after I stopped at the end I discovered a snow crevice which to fall down would've only had one outcome. We walked further down and slid some more down the incredible slides that mustive been 2km of sliding I did in total - such fun! DON'T READ IF YOU'RE EASILY FREAKED OUT ======================================= But, I never realised how hazardous these treks can be, and I'm not the only one as the others I climber with were very shaken up at stages. The worst when one guy I've been travelling with, Peter fell slipped and fell off a snow ledge to dig in his ice pick into the shelf but lost his grip leaving it inside the snow and he rolled down through the snow off the edge screaming into the blackness and we thought he was dead, but only to luckily find him 60m down against a pile of dirt was a streak of luck I can't describe. He was fine, and made it back with all of us to when we met up with the guides friends who sold us a beer for 500 Chilean pesos each, or U$1, so not bad. After a bit of dinner it was off to the hot springs and thermal baths were I eased off a hard days work climbing volcano's with a few cervaces and a grerat old laugh with some guys and girls. You can go rafting here, or horseriding and I know of others who've been skydiving, so there's no shortage of things to do. ======================================= So, now it's Saturday in Pucan, Chile and I'm doign great, feeling great and have just come from lunch at a pizzeria down in centro and will probably go to sit by a lake which has an exclusive cut off area only for the rich, but us budget travellers are allowed to sit by the edge and soack up some rays. Tonight looks like some wine tasting and visiting another set of thermal baths before we get going early in the morning to Santiago where I say goodbye to a great lot of people I've met since starting in Rio De Janeiro all that time ago already! I've recieved a funny nickname that resulted from a jacket I purchased in Punta Arenas for 9300 Chilean pesos to keep me warm, after learning a very harsh lesson to be prepared after my climb in Ushuaia. Anyhow, the jacket has the name 'Big John' embroided on the front and the guys will ask me if we're going out for a hike, 'Adam, are you taking Big John with you, do you think it will be that cold?', and then it migrated to me being known as Big John, haha so it gets a laugh around the campsites we visit, and I find it amusing too I'll admit :-) So, in saying all that and if you're still awake, this is Big John signing off for today, take care all! Adam