Question: tell me more about tobogganing down the active volcano

Richard Fielder answered on 24 Jun 2020:

Villarrica is one of the most active volcanoes in Chile. It’s nearly 3000m high, so it has snow cover all year even though the area nearby is quite warm. You can climb right to the top of the crater and look down into bubbling lava. When we visited in 2015 it was still more active than normal after errupting earlier in the year, so we had to wear gas masks near the top. Since there’s snow, you can then slide down on a normal plastic toboggan instead having to walk all the way back down again. It’s quite steep and dangerous in places though, so you need a guide to tell you where it’s actually safe to slide, and have to use an ice axe as a brake to control your speed.