Andrew Strain Photography

The weather came through today and we were able to make an attempt at climbing Volcan Villarrica, near Pucon, Chile. I don´t have enough time for a full post right now, but I wanted to throw up a summit photo before I jump on a night bus for Santiago.

Me with a bottle of Chilean Carmenère for the top of a Chilean volcano:

(Photo credit: Reid Irwin)

**Full trip report with photos now up in the full post**


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Well, I didn't have much time in Santiago so I'm finishing this one off back home in Vancouver. Climbing Villarrica was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, but it almost didn't happen - a high ceiling and no rain are requirements of travel on the volcano, and we had anything but for the first couple days of our stay in Pucon. It felt like I was back home in Vancouver during the October/November pineapple express season... constant downpour. The weather report for our last day in town was looking bleak as well, calling for overcast skies and a reasonable chance of rain. I went to bed expecting wake up to the sound of pouring rain.

I dragged myself out of bed at 6am the next morning, heard nothing, and poked my head out the window to a view of wood-stove smoke plumes rising lazily above Pucon, basked in the glow from the early morning light cast by the full moon. Shit, that was poetic. Game on.

I knew it hadn't exactly been warm over the past few days, but I was slightly surprised when we encountered the first fresh snow on the drive up to our start point, the base of Ski Pucon. There was a good 5cm in the parking lot, which had me wondering what the conditions would be like near the summit, 1400m above. Our guides were unconcerned by the snow, so we began the trek to the top.



The ascent was slow and steady, with the group soon separating into 2 packs as those not accustomed to alpine hiking began to tire. Personally, I felt it was a pretty relaxing pace, which was a pleasant change from the sweat-soaked deathmarch uphills that I usually subject myself to. It had been a few years since I'd hiked above 2300 metres, anyways, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel at the 2847m summit. The slow climb made it a non issue for me, and I reached the top remarkably dry (those who know me, know I'm a sweaty beast) and breathing easy.



I have to admit, I was a little disappointed upon reaching the top; there was no lava too be seen, and the fumes from the crater were so strong that we couldn't walk around the rim of the crater to catch a better view into the throat of the volcano. Just had time for a few photos and a victory swill from the bottle of caramere I lugged to the top before retreating down to an area of lower SO2 concentration for lunch.

A summit pano:


Volcanic gasses:


Our path up had been mainly crampon climbing over windblasted glacial ice, but the descent took us through a fairly sizeable area of 50cm deep windslab, which had me substantially more concerned than the volcanic activity above. Stepping above the track had 2m long blocks, 50cm deep popping out from under me... Our guide assured me that the slope, being only about 40 degrees, wasn't really steep enough to slide (umm, what?). The slope had been traversed by 20 or so hikers already, so I quickly glissaded my way down to the relative safety of exposed ice, without incident (I almost ripped my knee off on a rock while demonstrating my graceful glissade skillz further down the mountain, but I didn't take any photos so as soon as the scab heals, it never happened).

A view during the descent:


When we got back down to the ski area base, my stoke was doubled when we saw some local shreds busting out the boards for the first snowfall of the season:



There's a bunch more photos (camera jpegs) from the trip on my flickr photostream, but I'm feeling a little reluctant to post them here now that I'm back home and working on the RAW files. I don't usually shoot RAW+jpeg, but it was handy for the trip to be able to quickly upload the jpgs for my blog, and its really interesting to be able to see a side-by-side comparison of the camera jpegs and my Lightroom edits.

Stay tuned for a trip summary with RAW edits, a RAW vs jpeg comparison, and a note on the gear I took with me.

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Heavy rain in Pucon is putting a serious damper on my plans to climb the Villarrica Volcano while I´m here. We leave for Santiago tomorrow night, and the forecast looks... well, better than today. Fingers crossed the situation improves.

With soggy skies (am I home already?? Southern Chile feels alot like Vancouver) there wasn´t much to do other than hit up the supermarket and buy singles of all the different craft beers brewed here in Chile. The north may be for the wines, beer definitely seems to be the fermentation of choice in the south. A strong German influence in this area means most beers are brewed in adherence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Breweries such as Kunstmann (Valdivia) and Austral (Punta Arenas) provide many delicious options. My only complaint is that many of the offerings that I tried were a little bland - highly drinkable, just a little uninteresting. I´ve yet to see an IPA on the supermarket shelves - maybe I´ll just have to look harder tonight.

Home in Vancouver! No, its just Pucon...


Kunstmann (Valdivia)Unfiltered Lager. I really enjoyed this one.



After the tasting, we headed out to a bar for some 2 for 1 drinks, followed by some casino action. I won 9000 playing blackjack. 9000...Pesos. Yeah, thats less than 20 bucks.

Some more photos of my samplings in the full post:

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Polar Imperial Lager, Punta Arenas, Chile:


The Austral family (Punta Arenas, Chile):


Volcanes del Sur Premium Lager:


Dorada - this one was ultra cheap, and strong. Surprisingly good, too.



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We visted the Senda Nativa Romahue today, just outside of Puerto Varas, Chile. A far cry from scrambling through the boulders atop Cerro Catedral, we spent the day below the canopy of the Valdivian temparate rainforest, one of the largest of its kind in the world (second only to my stomping grounds on the British Columbia coast).

After eating a lunch that featured the best steak I´ve ever had, we went for a short horseback ride through the forest (a first for me, much to Meghan´s delight), then spent some time with an orphaned Puma and several tiny Pudú (miniature deer). After watching the Forest episode of Planet Earth, I was thoroughly stoked to actually get to see a Pudú while I´m here...

Ayun´s mother was killed when he was 15 days old. He´s essentially a big, happy housecat now... purrs when you pet him, loves attention, and likes to play futbol. You can see some footage of him (from someone else) on youtube.


A Pudú, full grown at 16 or so inches:


Many thanks to Silvio and Susana for their knowledge and hospitality, as well as the work and love they put into preservation and education.

We´re moving on to Pucon tomorrow for 3 days. Volcanos and hot springs are on my to-do list. More photos from today in rest of the post.


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Range-fed beef, about to become lunch:


Best. Steak. Ever.


The Valdivian rainforest:


Meghan, amused to see me not having any idea how to ride a horse:


Ayun poses for the camera:


This was from the bus window as we were leaving Bariloche the other day - the city looked incredible from across Lago Nahuel Huapi. I would´ve loved to stop and setup a proper shot, but I´m on vacation. No tripods allowed.


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While I´m running around in Patagonia, my good friends at Katal Innovations took their Landing Pad to Lake Louise for its first ever public session. By all accounts, it was a huge success. I wish I had been there, but I guess I can´t really complain...

Here´s a teaser of what went down at Louise:

Katal Innovations Website Teaser from Tyler Mifflin on Vimeo.

I couldn´t spend time in Bariloche and not go on a recon mission to the local ski hill, Catedral. The snow hasn´t started to fly for the winter season yet, but they run a cable car up to the top so people can run around and do touristy things like take photos of themselves with Bariloche and the Argentinian flag in the background.

The tourists that don´t speak Spanish do stupid things like neglet to read sigs, hike a couple kms away from the lift, and almost miss the last gondola down for the evening. Oops...

Cerro Catedral




I said aidos to Argentina this morning, bussing through the national parks of the Lake District to Puerto Varas, Chile, where I´ll be for a few days before heading north to Pucon and eventually Santiago. Argentina was awesome, I´ve been gone for a few hours and I´m already thinking of when I´ll be able to come back - and how on earth I´m going to find Quilmes´excellent Red Lager in Canada...

A couple more photos of Bariloche and Cerro Catedral after the jump:

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The view towards Bariloche (background) and Catedral village (foreground):


The rock garden fingers of Cerro Catedral:




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Took it easy today and wandered around Bariloche in the intense Patagonian wind. Down on the lakeshore, none of the trees have branches on the windward side, so I´m guessing that its pretty much always crazy windy here...





As usual, a few more photos can be seen in the full post -

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Sunrise, from our hostel


Random street dogs followed us around all day


Ocean-sized surf


More meat than your body has room for!


A church





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After spending a few days in Buenos Aires, wandering around the city by day, and eating glorious amounts of parrilla at night (not to mention the fact that beer is about a buck for a 1L bottle...), I got on a double decker night bus headed for Bariloche. I´d heard great things about the Argentinian long-haul sleeper busses, and the 20+ hour ride across the country didn´t disappoint. Fully reclining seats and included meals made the 1600km of driving the most luxurious public transport I´ve ever experienced...

We have 3 days now to explore Bariloche and its surroundings before jumping across the border to Chile. I could easily spend much, much longer here... I wish I could stay for a few more months through the winter.

Some photos from the trip so far...





Read the full post for more photos (¿is there no colon on spanish keyboards?)

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