Climbing Mount Teide

Mount Teide is located in the center of the island of Tenerife in Tenerife National Park. It's the tallest point in Spain, an active volcano, and the main reason that my friend Brad and I recently took a trip to the Canary Islands. I got the idea to climb to the top of Teide after I saw this video for the first time:

When Brad agreed and shared in the excitement of hiking to the top, we booked our tickets and were on our way.

Day 1

To say that we were unprepared for the hike is a decently generous statement. Neither of us came to study abroad expecting to hike the tallest mountain in Spain, so instead of having good hiking shoes and camping bags we brought our tennis shoes and book bags. We bought 7 euro worth of food and water the morning of the trip - some granola bars, bread, chorizo, apples, and corn nuts - surely enough to ration us for a day and a half. I had briefly read a few accounts of people who had hiked the trail before, classifying it as "highly difficult"and warning us against the danger of altitude sickness, as there was little to no emergency aid in the park. Being the ignorant American college students that we are, we figured we could do anything with ease - that the high difficult status was only meant to scare off the 50-somethings with their dogs wanting a nice afternoon stroll through the park - and for a while, that seemed the case.

The beginning of the hike was very easy. We took a bus through some of the windy mountain roads and arrived at the base of the trail around 10:00 in the morning. Although we were high above the clouds and the altitude and sun were having their way with us, the trail was wide, decently flat, and giving us incredible views. We were rationing out the 2 liters of water that we both had brought, enjoying each other's company and taking plenty of stops along the way to rest. It was almost a bittersweet let-down, like we weren't even going to be challenged at all, like all of those warnings about the trail being difficult were just flukes and that we weren't going to even really hike at all. Then came the real hiking part.

Being an active volcano (that hasn't erupted since 1909, don't worry), the remnants of lava were everywhere. We finally approached what looked like the legitimate hiking trail. Brad described it as the part of the hike "where the rubber met the road", and there were rocks galore to maneuver and strategically move about. The steep grade combined with the increasing altitude and loose rocks made for a real challenge, something that we had hoped to both encounter and avoid the whole day.

We finally approached the place where we would stay for the night - a refuge made specifically for people hiking to the top of the mountain. It wasn't anything special: space for 65 people to sleep, restrooms, and a kitchen. For conservation reasons, you normally have to obtain a permit to hike to the top of the mountain, but since we were staying at the refuge we could go up to the top without one. I'm confident that Brad and I were the only people at the refuge that spoke native English, and maybe two of 7 or 8 that spoke any Spanish, so our conversations for the night were limited.

A few views from our refuge before the sunset.

Shadow of the peak on the clouds.

I went to bed around 9:00 that night to the sounds of rhythmic snoring and the deep breaths of people accommodating themselves to the high Canary Island altitude. I knew that the morning would be unlike anything I'd ever done before.

Day 2

The first image that I saw as I awoke at 5 am was a French man crawling out of bed in his tighty whities. Woof. About 5 minutes later, Brad and I were on the trail heading up to the top of the mountain.

The view of the stars was incredible. Because we were so high above the clouds and light pollution was practically nonexistent, you could see each and every star with brilliant clarity. It was hard to look too long at the stars, though, as we had a trail to hike and inadequate tools to do it with. It seemed like everyone and their grandmothers had brought headlamps. Brad brought a freebie flashlight that didn't work, and all I had was my iPhone flashlight app. After hiking for about 20 minutes, we could already feel the altitude getting to us - headaches, dizziness, and shortness of breath woke me up quicker than the Frenchman showing me his croissants. We stopped for a rest, and saw a couple of people with headlamps coming up the trail behind us.

When the couple got closer, we asked if we could we could walk with them. We ended up going the rest of the way with them. Brad would trail from their lights and I continued to use my iPhone flashlight to give him light from the back. The trail seemed to get harder and harder, steeper and steeper. There were a couple of times when we got to places that we thought were the peak only to be sorely disappointed and realize that we had to continue to walk further. The sun was starting to give the sky a hint of color, and we finally saw the silhouette of what was undoubtedly the peak of Teide. The last leg of the trek was probably the most difficult on paper, but because of the realization that we were so close it seemed like a breeze.

As we approached the top, more evidence of the volcanic personality of Teide came out - we had to be careful that the rocks we touched weren't hotspots, and the sulfuric smell in the air made me think someone was hard boiling a few eggs to dye for Easter.

Both profusely sweating and freezing cold, we finally reached the top at 7:00 am, and at 7:15 the sun rose above the clouds to make one of the most beautiful paintings of planet earth that I had ever seen. There were moments when I would just sit there and take it all in, and moments where I would take what felt like a hundred pictures a minute. The view of the sky was so powerful, so glorious, that it made it completely obvious and undeniable that my God is the maker of the universe and completely sovereign over His creation in every way.

Shadow of the peak on the other side of the clouds.

Using a hot spot to warm our hands.

Hiking Brads.

We began our descent around 8:45, and made it to the bottom of the trail around 11:30. We felt accomplished, tired, and ready to eat. Two hitch hikes and a 25 euro bus ride later, and we were home.

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I absolutely loved my time hiking this mountain. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me, something I definitely didn't think I would do this semester, and one of my favorite memories so far.

Brad.