Expedition to the Pico del Teide

El Pico del Teide.  In June 2005 we tackled the walk up the (possibly dormant) volcano El Teide, from the car park at Montaña Blanca to the peak.  We began on the afternoon of the 21 June and walked the zig-zag path to just below the peak of Montana Blanca (2748m), then on up the steep solidified lava flow to the Refugio Altavista (3270m).  This part of the walk took over 4 hours, the temperature when we set off at 3pm was around 30C, by the time we reached the Refugio as the sun was setting it was a much cooler 12C.  The refuge offers comfortable cabin type bunk beds, toilets and kitchen facilities, although we had brought our own sandwiches (and one of us who shall remain nameless had a 5-course gourmet meal including smoked salmon, roast chicken and hard-boiled eggs with silver cutlery and napkins - no butler though!)

After a restless night (he who shall remain nameless having complained he'd never sleep and then kept the rest of us awake with his snoring).  We were up at 4am to make our way to the peak for sunrise.  The morning was freezing cold and windy, and the going was hard work to the cable car station at 3555m.  By the time we reached this point the wind was howling and gusting at over 80kmph, we (literally) crawled a little way up the final peak but decided that discretion was the better part of valour and crouched behind some rocks about 10m from the rim of the crater to watch the sun rise.  Unfortunately the journey back, which should have been a gentle cable car descent followed by a hearty breakfast, turned into a 5 hour hike back the way we had come.  Beware - the cable car does not run in high winds!

The journey begins (l to r; Martin, Alan, David, Nick)	On the way to Montaña Blanca (the solar observatory in the background)	Looking back to the Orotava Valley (wreathed in cloud)
The path to  Montaña Blanca	The path to  Montaña Blanca (peak partly visible on right)	Looking down on the path to Montaña Blanca
The path to the Refugio	David	Looking back at the peak of Montaña Blanca (on the right, 2748m)
The intrepid explorers	Johanna & Nick	Las Cañadas (lava flow in foreground)
Martin	The going gets tough...	...for everyone
It's a steep climb...	....and each man (or woman) for themselves	The shadow of the peak begins to slip across the cañadas as the sun sets
The shadow of El Teide	The final climb to the Refugio	The Refugio Altavista
The view from the Refugio (3270m)	The first hint of dawn	Sunrise from 3545m
Dawn	It was rather blowy up there..	Hence the fuzzy pictures (from camera shake & fingers too numb to turn the flash on)
A sea of clouds	l to r; Nick, David, Alan, Johanna, US	The gallant band
Relaxing at the Refugio on the way down (Alan & Nick)	Tired but happy	The Orotava valley (still hidden by cloud)