Went exploring today to a whole new area of the island. Mt Teide is the highest mountain of the Island; an old volcano and major tourist attraction. I went to the summit on my previous trip to Tenerife some 17 years ago, but this time, my attention had been placed on the quirky volcanic crags around the base of the conical peak. The road up to the mountain is an adventure in itself. The Tarmac trail has been bulldozed and laid through the rubble of lava that once flowed from the volcano. Amazingly, somehow (lower down the peak at least), trees have begun to colonise the slopes, in what must be the most meagre amount of soil possible. They seem to be growing straight out of the lava.
Up at 2000m, we left the hussle of the car park and its bus loads of tourists and took a short walk across the lunar type landscape to the pinnacles of rock that we intended to climb. While planning the trip, we had hoped to try and ski from the often snow capped summit of Mt Teide. Lucky we left our skis at home as there wasn't even a patch of snow up there!
We soon found a place in the sun to sort out kit and get climbing.
Our first route was a really fun corner upto the top of an old volcanic plug.
Temperatures were perfect given our higher altitude - sunny but not sweaty!
Between sunbathing and lunching we did several routes, all of which were great quality and top adventures, the last few being really pumpy!
The advantage of all the tourists meant that having walked away from our last climb, feeling like we were in the middle of nowhere, we soon found ourselves at a refreshing cafe!
Before leaving, we nipped up to a few of the photo points to get the classic views!
The drive back down the mountain was even more impressive, with the sun setting in the distance.
We stopped several times to admire the view. There was a sea of cloud below us to the north and the sun was making the sea shimmer over to the west.
Back at the pad, we thought it only right to pop open some bubbles after such a great second day to the year, before sitting back and enjoying the show of colour...
Mt Teide - Capricho
- Via del Deidro Severe (4a)**
- Asin No (6a)**
- Bararesa VS (4c)***
- Waterloo VS (5a)**
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