Home » Chile » Valderi, Valdera...some people call it a higher plain

I could just about crack it for a few bars of “The Happy Wanderer” Is it just the lack of oxygen? I don’t think so, there must be something more….but everyone is so cheerful! Along the road the road workers grin and wave, a gaucho herding some horses along the river bank waves his hat, I almost expect him to pull out a colt 45 and fire a few shots into the air, backpackers waiting patiently by the road wave and smile, call out greetings, cyclists nod or wave, depending if they’re on the ascent or descent, at every stop along the way people wave and smile…it goes on and on…<br /><br />

Valderi, Valdera...some people call it a higher plain

Bill Shum
2006-03-24 21:16:36

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of the litigiously unchallenged, but here, anything goes! (there was a small
Volcan Villarricadisclaimer notice, in español, in the booking office advising against this trip for the old, vertigionously challenged, heart conditions, asthme or pregnant! (the sulphur fumes chicas, relax, not an attack on womanhood!)

At the top of the chairlift we get a 30 sec safety talk on how to hold your ice-pick and we’re off on the first traverse across the snow. Head down follow the footsteps of the person in front, its slightly steep and the safety instruction is close in my mind, if you slip, hack the long spike into the snow to stop yourself sliding down, into the rocks or over the precipice…oh yeah.If I slip I reckon the first thing is I'm gonna drop will be the pick!

It’s getting harder, breathing hard, when are we going to get a break??…legs are going to jelly, lungs burning, sweat pouring out from the little helmet and onto my glasses, we stop for a 5 min break. A sight to gladden an old smoker's heart, many of the young are carking it..

When we move off somehow we have become groups of 10 to 15 with our individual guide, and although it seems chaotic, and there are another couple of similar groups
on the mountain, they seem to have it all under control, sort of!

Below me, I can sometimes hear the shnglekrgnlting of my braziliano mate, his sinuses enjoying their big day out!…he’s going to start a flipping avalanche if he keeps it up!

Looking down is very positive as the base station is a long way down, looking up however is daunting, I can see the small groups of climbers way above, slowly plodding back and forth across the ever increasingly steep face. And above them, where the top of the volcan seems to be leaning back out and over me, more smoke from the core.

The group I’m with are plodding along with our guide ...