Chilean Holiday: Pucón Weekend – Day 2 – Lanín Volcano
After having casual beers at the beach the night before I woke up extremely excited. All I wanted to do was to ride my bike up to the mountains. The weather was perfect, actually quite hot at 8 o’clock already but that is definitely better than rain.
I knew the ride was going to be amazing but I didn’t really know what to expect other that it was 75 kms to the Argentinian border with a category 1 climb and some cool switchbacks.
I left around 10 after having some breakfast and coffee. There is a bike path along the road on the way out of town but it is nothing to compare to the bike lanes/bike paths that we have in British Columbia, they are extremely dangerous and at a touristy town the driving isn’t the best either. I followed it anyways until the end which just threw you into a dirt path.
Along the road I found a sign that was familiar, distances to 4 Hot Springs near Pucón. I’ve been to the San Luis one with my family probably about 14 years ago and I don’t remember the road at all but I do remember the Hot Springs being incredible.
Road to the mountains // Lanín Volcano pictured behind the hills, destination of the day
The road was pretty flat towards the climb, traffic wasn’t an issue and there wasn’t any shade so it got hot real quick. You could see Lanín Volcano while the mountains started to close on you getting near the climb and I had no idea that volcano was the destination of the ride, kept going and you don’t really notice the climb starts because the road is so open. The first kickers are 10% and it doesn’t mellow out for a bit, I actually had to turn on a grade screen on my Garmin to see what was going on because sometimes I didn’t know if it was flat.
Beginning of the switchbacks, there was a lot of them // And another one
The switchbacks started a few kilometres after, this whole section was between 10% – 15% with some shade and a very wide road, people driving would honk and wave at me going up through these corners, I also remember seeing a ton of little lizards running in and out of the road, it was the best climb I’ve ever done.
After the switchbacks it didn’t really mellow out but the road was straight and a few kilometers in there was a lake I didn’t know about. All I wanted to do was to jump in because it was 35 degrees up there, obviously the lake was freezing cold with water coming straight from the volcano so all I got in was my feet.
Top of the climb, after riding pass the lake // After the lake, top of the climb almost at the boarder
The road at the top of the climb was beautiful, the volcano seemed to be so close and there was Araucaria trees everywhere. I got to the very end of the road, there was a Chilean flag at the border and decided to take a photo of it with the Lanín Volcano on the background, it was so beautiful up there.
A few kilometers after turning around I stopped at the lake, there was a stand with a guy selling “Mote Con Huesillo”, a Chilean drink that is very refreshing. Filled up my water bottles and started making my way back.
Drinking “Mote Con Huesillo” from a stand at the top, next to Quilleihue Lake. // Quilleihue Lake, 1,300m above sea level
The descend was crazy fun, super technical with all of the corners, wide enough to see if cars were coming so I was taking them pretty wide. Unfortunately at the bottom I realized that I had a headwind for the way back and on these flat roads there isn’t any “hiding” so I dragged myself back.
After 150 kms I made it back and sprayed myself with the hose, it was the hottest ride I’ve done and ended up drinking about a bottle per hour if not more.
There was still another Volcano to climb on the way back to my parents place and another 175 kilometers which means more fun!
Take a look at Fabian’s Strava file for the ride:
Paso Mamuil Malal – Los Andes climb