One hour into our walk it is an absolute whiteout, thick fog, white snow and a wind driven horizontal drizzle. By the time I realise that the rain is significant it is already too late. I don my rainproofs but I am already really wet. Upward ever upward we trudge at times the snow slope is steep and slippery and I have multiple near falls any of which would leave me slipping hundreds of metres down the near vertical snow cliff. It is here that the cheap and nasty replacement footwear that I was forced to get reveals its deficiencies.
After four hours we reach the crater of Mutnovsky volcano and it is a whiteout up here also. As we sit down and eat lunch the sun punches through the mist and we start to see the fumeroles spewing out the sulphurous gas we can already smell. As we start taking photos we are in luck and substantial breaks in the cloud occur and we see a geothermal wonderland. Fumeroles everywhere, boiling mud, acid lakes, a glacier, ice caves and an acid river. This is truly an amazing expression of the power of nature.
To get to this volcanic area it was effectively a 3 day drive on our 6WD truck. A stop at the tiny village of Esso provided some relief from camping and a cultural interlude showcasing the indigenous native “Even” people and their lifestyle. It is interesting walking around the streets here so many of the people have rounded slightly Asiatic, eskimo looking facial features.
On the day before Mutnovsky the sun rises bright in clear skies and we ascend Gorely volcano. Again it is a steep 4 hour steady climb but today the weather allows us to see the panorama of snow capped volcanoes all around. At the top we gaze down int the deep cylindrical cone down to a beautiful turquoise glacial lake. Wandering further around the next cone has a muddy, khaki coloured sulphur lake. The scenery is otherworldly and we are lucky with the weather today.
