Avachinsky Volcano

Avachinsky rises to 2,741 metres directly behind Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and is one of the pair of volcanoes - with Koryaksky beside it - that people mean when they call them the home volcanoes, visible from the whole city; the two are studied together as a Decade Volcano. It is active, with a substantial eruption in 1991 that filled the crater with a lava plug still steaming and fuming today. It is also the volcano most people climb in Kamchatka, because the route from the base camp on the Avachinsky pass is a walk: about seven kilometres and seventeen hundred metres of ascent on scree, ash and old lava, with no technical ground and no glacier, taking eight to twelve hours return. That accessibility is deceptive - the ascent is long and steep, the scree is punishing, weather comes in fast, and rescue is not quick. The base is reached by off-road vehicle from the city, and marmots and bears are around it.

The landscape

• The cone - 2,741 metres directly behind Petropavlovsk, one of the home volcanoes.
• The 1991 plug - a lava mass filling the crater and still steaming.
• The walk-up route - seventeen hundred metres of ascent on scree with no technical ground.
• The base camp - a staging point on the pass reached by off-road vehicle.

When to go

July to September, once the snow clears. A long day - eight to twelve hours return from the base. Start very early.

Things to know

Non-technical does not mean easy: seventeen hundred metres up loose scree defeats a lot of people, and weather turns fast with no shelter. Volcanic gas near the crater can be dangerous. Bears are around the base camp. Off-road transfers are charged and needed.

Nearby

Koryaksky stands beside it; Petropavlovsk and Avacha bay are south.

Key facts