Volcano Zipline World First – Zipline over volcano in Vanuatu

It was on short notice that Frederick was called to help on an especially intriguing trip to Vanuatu. He needed to help a friend who needed surgery and take his place rappelling guests down an active volcano. He knew little of what the contract entailed nor did he know who the client was. He joined the UVE crew for an adventure of a lifetime.

They battled poor weather for almost three weeks. With basecamp inside the crater of an erupting volcano, the term “poor weather” might be better replaced with extreme weather. The rain inside the volcano was extremely acidic, eating their equipment, including the climbing and safety equipment, and even burning their eyes and skin. The wind gusts were strong enough to collect thousands of marble-sized rocks off the ground and blast them at their legs and blow debris into their face and eyes. The fog was so thick that flashlights could only penetrate a few meters and team members could only find their way back by radioing the camp to make noise and signalling with banging pots so they could find their way to camp. When the weather seemed to break, they would put in long days (16-hours) while sideways acid rain pelted them.

Their client happened to be anonymous special guest that we cannot reveal for her protection. Not everyone gets to say that a special client made them dinner after a day on the volcano. Then again, not many people get to say they got to rappel into an active volcano either.

The team achieved two world firsts. Frederick and the team rigged the first ever rappels into the Son of Benbow crater for the client to be the first person to rappel into the 200m deep crater (a separate crater inside Benbow volcano’s crater) to visit it’s active lava lake. Frederick and the team also rigged two-200m ziplines inside Benbow Volcano for the client to visit it’s lava lake. What a great project to join and be part of the crew of and a great team to be a part of!

Stay tuned. More crazy adventures with Frederick are here at www.oneaxepursuits.com/extreme