Tenerife update

The storm has meant that the camping part of my trip is over. The first day was my springboard to the centre of the island where the highest altitude routes are found. Now in order to reach them, I have to drive. I don´t see any point pitching my tent next to my car, so I am settling for day trips.

Very briefly, today I went to see if I could attempt the Volcano Summit. As I aproached it becameobvious that this was going to be unlikely. The rain storm I was in at 2000M was an ice and snow storm higher. The Volcano and peaks are all covered in snow. I picked up a disposable camera and took shots, I´ll post when I get home. The park rangers told me not to climb Teide becuase the north face wa covered in snow and ice. As if to make a point, the rescue helipcopter was heading up there. Summit access has impossible anyway, as the cable car was closed, so none of the workers would be up there. The snow and ice looks like it´s there for the season now, so I am gutted to have missed the opportunity by a couple of days, but am thankful I wasn´t on the ascent when the ice storm came.

I did two peaks today instead, one at 2700M in the Las Canadas moutain range. There was lots of snow underfoot but manageable. I walked up and ran down, with full pack. Then I drove back down to the coast and did a 1000M peak (400M gain). I was short of daylight, so I did the last peak without my pack, running there and back to ensure I made it back to the car before sunset. All gone well today, really good training. I feel tired and have demolished a huge meal at a restaurant this evening. Tomorrow I am planning another full day with plenty of ascent. Here are a couple of photos from the digital camera that got destroyed. The memory card was ok, but I only took a few photos before the rain started. Enjoy them. and compare them to the shots I will post back homeform today. Here you see no snow, the ones I took today, just one day later and it´s a whole different picture. Taken from the top of the mountain range (2500M) opposite the Volcano, the day before the storm.

A very good path hereon the way up to that mountain range. Very few are this easy to follow. The last photo my camera took. Taken from the point on the live-tracking map where it will be forever frozen. This is a little deceptive. It looks cloudy but this was not the actual storm front that hit me about 2 hours later.

Finally, a video I took on my reccie day, from the same spot as the first photo.