The guidebook says “sturdy boots” and leaves you wondering if that means your weekend hiking sneakers or something that could survive a trek across Mordor.
When Your Shoes Become the Only Thing Between You and Melted Rubber
Volcanoes don’t care about your Instagram aesthetic. In 2019, a tourist on Mount Etna—Europe’s most active volcano—learned this the expensive way when their running shoes started melting on fresh lava flows that registered around 700°C. The soles liquified. They had to be carried down by guides.
You need boots with Vibram soles rated for extreme heat, the kind wildland firefighters wear. Not suggestions. Requirements. Because solidified lava fields are also razor-sharp—Hawaiians call it “a’a” lava, and it will shred regular hiking boots in under an hour. When volcanologist Jess Phoenix climbed Kilauea in 2018 during its lower Puna eruption, she went through three pairs of specialized boots in two weeks. The sulfur dioxide eats through leather like acid through paper.
The Respiratory Equipment Nobody Thinks They Need Until They’re Coughing Up Lung Tissue
Here’s the thing—volcanic gases aren’t just smelly. They’re toxic.
Sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen fluoride billow from active vents. In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a massive CO2 cloud that suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in minutes. Just sitting there. Invisible death rolling downhill. Now, you’re not climbing into a limnic eruption, but even mild volcanic degassing can hit 30 parts per million of SO2—enough to cause serious respiratory distress. The OSHA limit for workplace exposure is 5 ppm.
Pack a proper respirator mask rated for acid gases, not a cloth face covering or surgical mask. Those do exactly nothing against volcanic emissions. Companies like MSA and 3M make them; they cost around $150 and look ridiculous but your alveoli will thank you. Wait—maybe vanity isn’t worth permanent lung scarring?
Layers That Make You Look Like an Onion With Trust Issues
Temperature swings on volcanoes are bananas. You start at the base in humid tropical heat—say, 28°C on Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano. Two hours later, you’re at the summit where fumaroles blast 400°C steam while the ambient air is 12°C and wind gusts hit 60 kilometers per hour.
Wool base layers wick moisture without holding odor (unlike synthetic fabrics that smell like death after one wear). Mid-layers should be fleece or down that you can strip off. The outer shell needs to be both waterproof and fire-resistant—yes, both. When Mount Sinabung in Indonesia erupted in 2014, pyroclastic flows traveled at 700 kilometers per hour and incinerated everything within 5 kilometers. Regular Gore-Tex melts at around 300°C. You need something like Nomex or treated aramid fiber.
Sounds paranoid until you remember that volcanoes are geologic blowtorches that don’t send calendar invitations before erupting.
The Navagation Tools That Assume You Won’t Get Swallowed by Sudden Fog Made of Poison
GPS on your phone dies at around 15% battery when exposed to cold. Volcanic summits are cold. Also, sulfuric acid corrodes electronics faster than you’d think—ask anyone who tried filming inside Erta Ale’s lava lake in Ethiopia and watched their $3,000 camera corrode in real-time.
Bring an actual compass and topographic maps printed on waterproof paper. Old school. Embarrassing. Effective. In 2017, a group got lost on Mount Agung in Bali during a surprise eruption because their phones died and cloud cover obscured all landmarks. They wandered for eleven hours before rescue teams found them using radio triangulation.
Turns out, paper doesn’t need a charging cable.
Food That Won’t Become a Liability When Everything Smells Like Rotten Eggs Permanently
Volcanic environments reek of hydrogen sulfide—that classic rotten egg stench. It obliterates your appetite and sense of taste. Climbers on Cotopaxi in Ecuador report that normal trail mix tastes like cardboard soaked in sulfur after a few hours near the crater.
Pack high-calorie foods with strong flavors that can compete: spicy jerky, dark chocolate with chili, crystallized ginger, salty nuts. Hydration tablets with electrolytes, because you’ll sweat buckets without realizing it in the dry heat. One researcher studying the 2021 Fagradalsfjall eruption in Iceland lost 4 kilograms in three days because she didn’t compensate for the insane caloric burn of hiking on uneven volcanic terrain while wearing heavy protective gear.
Your body is basically a meat engine that needs fuel to not shut down at the worst possible moment.
