Tenerife Day 5: We're gonna need a bigger boat

I woke up a little later on day 5, maybe around 9am. I looked outside the apartment and it was crystal clear blue sky. I looked north and Teide's summit was clearly visible. I knew that a partial thaw had taken place the previous day, and I just hoped it was enough to make a summit attempt.

I ate my final MDS breakfast, checked my rucksack and drove up to the national park. I stopped in the same lay-by as the previous day and spoke to the same park ranger again. I asked her if it was possible to climb Teide. To my delight she said that the path to the Mountain Refuge (3250M) on Teide’s slope had ice and snow, but was passable with care. She looked down at my trainers and said, but to go higher I would need crampons. I knew she was being helpful, but that amused me a little. It was like she was saying my kit was inadequate - hence the Jaws the movie reference in the blog post title. I thanked her and drove around to the start of the path (2350M). Luck was with me as a car pulled out of a space and gave me the final parking spot. I say parking spot; it's just a dirt patch at the side of the road. I strapped on my pack. I was carrying 10kg again, including 3l of water, 1.5l of which was slung across my front pack and fitted with a smart tube.



I set off up the wide path, which park ranger pickup trucks and rescue vehicles frequently use.



The path was mostly covered with snow and ice, but some of it was avoidable. All around me some of the lower snow had melted, but higher I could see that very little appeared to have gone. The first 3 miles are a steady climb up this wide path, gaining almost 400M in altitude. The scenery is quite spectacular all around, with good views over some parts of the island already. About 2 miles into the climb you pass by Teide's eggs, which are actually lava bombs spat out by the volcano during an eruption.

Wouldn't fancy one of these landing on my head would you?




From one of those shots you can see already that I am past cloud level at this altitude of approx 2650M. There were some amazingly deep snow drifts on parts of the path, some well over my head, but fortunately avoidable. I had started walking with just a long sleeve Raidlight Winter top on, but had very soon added my water/windproof jacket on as a fierce and biting wind cut through me. I reached the start of the ascent proper at 2725M. At this point you have a choice. You can either turn left and take an easy stroll to the top of Montagne Blanca, Teide’s next-door neighbour, or take a right and start heading more steeply uphill onto Teide itself. I had passed a couple of people on the approach to this position, and looking up I could see quite a few more at various stages of the ascent. It had taken me an hour so far.

As I began the steeper ascent I got hot. This part of the ascent was out of the wind, so I stripped back down to just my long sleeve top and carried on. It was too warm for a hat, but the risk of sunburn was high so I wore my buff, pirate style. I climbed at a quick but steady pace. There were quite a lot of parties of people making the ascent that day. I must have passed more than 30 people in total. I noticed that they were all carrying walking poles with ice tips, they all had heavy boots on, many wore crampons, and some even had ice axes! I outdid them in the big rucksack stakes though, but was envious of their crampons at times. The whole path was snow covered. There was no avoiding this snow at all. It was at least 2-3 inches deep, and there were some much deeper drifts in places. After about 40 minutes climbing I reached a small plateau where some snow had melted in places. I took this photo where you can see the proportion of the lava bombs to the ice-pole-sporting climbers.



A few minutes later I took this self portrait looking back at the same area.



The bit of greenery on that plateau soon gave way to snow, and some really deep drifts. This drift was shoulder height and you had to squeeze in between it and that rock to get through.



My shoes were gripping quite well, but I did slip and slide a little. Inevitably my feet got a little wet but I was careful to try and stamp-off excess snow from the upper of the shoe. I took this nice photo, looking back down. You can see the Las Canadas mountain range in the background, and middle ground was the area from which the 3 mile approach to the main climb is formed. You can make out the snowy path in places that stretches for 3 miles out of sight and back to the road.



I had been passing a lot of people on the ascent. All of them kindly stepped aside as I went past. Most of these people were younger and better equipped than me, but looked to be struggling with the altitude more than I did. I don't recall having any issue with the altitude last time I attempted Teide in March. From time to time I would pause a take a few seconds, but that was due to the amount of ascent rather than the thinness of the air. Maybe I'm fairly fortunate in some genetic element and not too susceptible to altitude sickness or altitude affects. It would be nice, to counterbalance my utter lack of genetic running-ability genes! Still, Teide is just 3719M. I'm sure if you put me another 1000M up on top of Mont Blanc I'd have decidedly less to say on the matter!

One hour and 10 minutes (2:10 total) after starting the steeper ascent I made it to the Mountain Refuge at 3250M. There were two people working there and a handful of people resting. Some would end their climb there and return, others were heading up, and a couple heading down.



I took 10 minutes rest at this point. I ate all of my cashew nuts and my Peperami. I had been getting cold on the approach to the mountain refuge, so I put on a fleece over my top, put my jacket back on. I put the buff around my neck as a scarf and put on my hat, my big Gore-Tex gloves on, as well as pulling up my hood over the top. I managed enough Spanglish to ask if the cable car was working. The answer came back "no". I was a little gutted, as I knew that meant access to the final 160M ((the cone) of the summit was closed. Visitor numbers are carefully controlled, but I had a summit pass which I had applied for before leaving. It also meant that I would not get to use the easy way down, I would have to walk the way I came. In all honesty I doubt I would have got the cable car anyway, but it would have been a nice safety net if I became too tired. Once more I conjured up some Spanglish and asked if I would be able to make it any further with my New Balance trainers on, without crampons. Very difficult came back the reply. I did at this point agonise over continuing on or not. The last 100M of the climb had been more difficult. More snow had turned to ice and some sections were quite treacherous.

One guy headed off up and a couple of minutes later I decided I would at least take a look. I would just get as far as I could and then turn around. I set off, pulling my hood up tight around me as the wind-chill cut the temperature well below 0C.

I took the first photo just after the mountain refuge looking back, and the second photo about 10 minutes into the climb later.




I encountered deeper drifts which I had to go through. Luckily for me I was able to step in other peoples footsteps, as I was not the first to climb. It's not easy to see the depth, but you can just see the shadow that the lip of the drift casts on my leg. The depth was up to my thigh! This had ceased to be any kind of a training run/walk, this was like mountaineering!



I didn't take too many photo's looking up but this one illustrates perfectly what steepness and the conditions were like for the whole climb after 2725M (the end of the easy 3 mile part!).



As I gained more height all of the snow became ice. I began to seriously struggle in places with no traction whatsoever. There was no way whatsoever I would have been able to make it without the help of the cramp-on wearing people who had climbed before me. I was able to step in the footsteps and ice-holes that they had made and make continued albeit more slow progress. There were a few sections where you had to scramble on all fours, and some sections that were so icy that I'm not sure how I got up them. It was absolutely freezing cold now. My face was so cold than drips on my nose were freezing. I think the wind chill was up in the -teens. When I went in March the summit temp was -22, so I imagine that it was similar today.

Suddenly, I rounded a corner and it was there; the summit cone! I was at 3535M and to all intense purposes that day, the summit. OK, it was not the very very peak, but I would have easily strolled up the last section if it was open that day. I was very pleased to have done it, as the smile on my face shows.



I didn't hang around long. It had taken me 3 hours to reach the summit and it was 15:05. I doubted it would take me 3 hours to descend, but I had to assume such as so set off back down. The descent to the Mountain Refuge was very tricky. I fell on my arse countless times, but didn't injure myself. Going up was hard, but going down was impossible for me to stay upright for long. I resorted to sliding down sections on my bum where there were dangerous sections and small drops. I slipped, slided and bumped my way back down to the refuge, but gradually began to run and pickup speed afterwards. The ice gave way to snow on lower slopes and made it possible for me to run. There were sections where I was forced to walk, but for the most part I descended fast, sliding but then gripping with each footstep. The descent was actually less hard on my knees as a result and really very enjoyable.

I met an English family half way down. I told them it wasn't far to the refuge. They were staying there for the night and continuing in the morning. You can book in advance to stay the night at the Mountain Refuge if you ever fancy a go. They have a lovely fireplace, but I heard that they don't light it unless the temperature gets to -7, inside the refuge! I met a few other people ascending on both the steep, and the 3 mile path back to the car. I stopped to chat for a few seconds and ran on. I think most of them thought I was a little crazy running down a snowy mountain. I made it back to the car in just 1.5 hours. That was fast I thought. I wondered what I could do in dry conditions? I got back to the car a little after 16:30 and drove back down to the coast, arriving around 17:30. I had a lovely Italian meal in Los Cristianos with my sister and then went back to my apartment. Me and my sister were going to go Christmas shopping the following day. I was at last, going to take a day off training!!

Well, at least that's was the plan...