Wednesday 1 February 2012

Tenerife, Canary Islands - Part 4 - Pico del Teide

Teide – the highest peak in Spain. We knew we’re gonna climb up there. To say “climb” is a bit far-fetched… we were going to get there ;) We could see it from everywhere. That was the first part of Tenerife we saw flying in (over the clouds from the plain) and the last thing as well. It was visible from most of the places (as you could also see in the pics).

Already before our departure to Tenerife I booked two access permits to the peak of Teide here . It’s possible to do it in person in Santa Cruz de Tenerife,  but we knew we’re gonna have no time to go there. And it’s much more convenient to do it on the Internet.

We packed our winter jackets, got to the car and headed off to Teide National Park.

We got to the cable car station – Teleferico Teide . Starting height – 2,356 metres. Finish height – 3,555 metres. When we were waiting to board the cable car we saw a notice that some of the routes are closed for tourists due to weather conditions – well, snow in particular. At first we didn’t read the names of the routes so we thought that’s it for our climb to the peak. But up there we found out that the route to the peak of Teide is the only one open really, so having the permits we could go on climbing. We were walking in kind of snow tunnels for some time and then on solidified lava to the peak of the volcano. We could smell sulfur up there and we saw green gas leaking from the crater. That gave us the idea that the volcano is still active (well, quite many people think that it’s already out). The views from the peak were… WOW!!! Indescribable, perfect. There was a guy celebrating his 50th birthday with that climb – honestly a great way to do it.

We spent some time up there. It was so peaceful, so quiet, so perfect. Just to sit there, relax, contemplate. Do nothing. After some time we started moving down. Back to Teleferico, back to the car, back to the hotel.

Warning – some people might have trouble climbing all the way up due to breathing problems.  If you don’t have any, it’s worth all the effort.

One day I’m going to get back there. And climb it all the way up. Not via Teleferico…















There were loads of such lizards everywhere in Teide National Park

There were a couple of such picnic areas in Teide National Park

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