Tenerife
Sunrise from the summit of volcano El Teide.
No need to say more.
D200, ISO400, 1/90 sec @ f/4.8, Sigma 10-20mm
D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/8, Tamron 28-75mm
D200, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm
volcano
All posts tagged volcano
Tenerife
Fresh and unaware of the agony lying ahead we started our hike. It all started very easy and things were nice and dandy and we were kind of wondering how this could possibly take 5,5 hours. In this tempo we would be at the refuge in 2,5-3 hours. Even with those 20kgs we were each carrying.
D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/9.5, Tamron 28-75mm
Fairly dead landscape. Not (yet) the black volcanic stones that we saw on many places elsewhere on the island. Instead a colorful reddish-yellow sand with occasionally big boulders on the side of the road.
D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/9.5, Tamron 28-75mm
D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/9.5, Tamron 28-75mm
On the rim of the mountain on the left side of the second picture you can just see a couple of buildings from the Tenerife Observatory.
The scenery reminded me a bit of the Grand Canyon in the US.
That first “bit” went fairly easy. Until we came to the part where the actual real climb began. The next image is already from a bit further up. This was the part where the hike was really steep, despite the zig-zagging of of the trail.
D200, ISO100, 1/180 sec @ f/9.5, Tamron 28-75mm
And after a long, long 4 hours we arrived at the refuge, 3,270 meters. Very tired, but very satisfied.
D200, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/9.5, Tamron 28-75mm
Tenerife
Going to see volcano El Teide was our ultimate goal on Tenerife.
El Teide is an active volcano, and it’s the highest mountain in Spain, with its 3,718 meters. It’s the third largest volcano in the world (measured from its base). Its last eruption was in 1909.
D200, ISO100, 1/750 sec @ f/4, Tamron 28-75mm
D200, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 28-75mm
Initially we had thought of taking the cable up (see second image), which goes all the way up to about 200 meters under the summit. The last bit should be done on foot.
I got it in my head to want to shoot the sunrise from the summit, though, and the cable didn’t start to go until 9am. That meant we had to go either really early in the morning (sunrise was at about 7.30am, and the walk was said to take anywhere from 3,5-5,5 hours, depending on the hiker’s health and condition and packing), or go the day before and stay overnight.
There’s a refuge, El Refugio de Altavista, on 3,270 meters where hikers can stay overnight, provided they have reserved a spot. From there the last 500 meters up to the summit can be walked early the next morning in the dark.
So that’s what we set out to do.
We managed to reserve two places for an overnight stay in the refuge from an office in Santa Cruz the Tenerife, where no one spoke a word of English. I ended up drawing a mountain with a little hut on the side and a rising sun in the background to explain what we wanted.
And a few days later we drove to the beginning of the trail and set out on our quest.
Trail sign for hiking trail number 7, up to El Teide. Estimated time to the summit: 5,5 hours. Difficulty level: hard.