Tenerife's Mount Teide

Cross on the top of Teide. The metal cross which sits in the howling wind on the top of Mount Teide Mount Teide dominates Tenerife, rising out of the sea to 12,198 feet (3,718 metres) it is inescapable. From its base on the seabed it is 24,600 feet (7,500 metres) to the small crater at the top, making it the third tallest volcano in the world. A caldera rings the mountain half way up, within which is a car-park, here visitors can leave their cars and walk up, or take the funicular Go to another site. which runs to within 1,000 feet of the top. A couple of decades ago, when these photographs were taken, there was no restriction on climbing the mountain. This page accompanies you from the car-park to the small crater at the summit - by foot. Mountain viewed from the caldera. The mountain from inside the caldera Pines on lower slopes. Pine trees on the lower slopes of the mountain Hillside of black ash. The stretches of black volcanic ash that cover the whole island and emanate from the mountain Pines and clouds. Once above the caldera... Clouds and Gomera ...the view is out across the clouds, here towards the island of Gomera jagged rocks of the caldera. The rocks of the caldera Hillside vent and lava flow. The streaks down the hillside left by the last eruption about 100 years ago Roacky hillside. The apparent barren hillside... Flower amongst stones. ...is not so, as flowers somehow find a foothold Lava scultpture. Extraodinary lava sculptures on way up Path up the hill. Looking back at the path up the mountainside Lava scultpture, mount Teide and refuge. Lava sculpture and beyond on the shoulder of the mountain the refuge at the top of the funicular view from the refuge. A British enthusiast for the island - Graham-Toler - had a refuge built up here in the 1890s. To this the funicular railway was directed when it was built in 1972.... Funicular refuge. ...I arrived at the refuge expecting to get a ride back down the mountain to meet only one word through the locked door - mañana - probably the only Spanish word I knew. Looking down on the caldera. So I slowly scrambled up the last 700 feet which, in the thinning air, seemed further than I had come, not helped by being somewhat uneasy about getting down and off the rough ground before dark Gap through rocks to clouds below. Caldera with the clouds beyond Vent and calldera. Looking down across the vent to the caldera and clouds, the area has been a World Heritage Site Go to another site. since 2007... Sulphorus growths. ...this means it is no longer possible to wander freely up into the vent. Previously, access to this area with its strange sulphurous growths, was easy from the cable car, and as there was no information of any sort, naively sitting down in the sulphur and losing the seat of one's trousers was similarly easy! Edge of vent and beyond. Looking at the edge of the vent and beyond. Inside... Vent edge. ...provides some protection from the screaming wind Triangular shadow of mountain cast on clouds. The setting sun casting the triangular shadow of the mountain across the clouds.
Less than an hour to dark and 6,000 feet of mountain to run down, not enough time for photography!
The next page continues with volcanic outcrops in the Atlantic, but now back to the north, to the cold of Iceland and the black ash similar to that of Mount Teide. Here it forms part of the landscape of Iceland's southern shores. Stacks off the coast at Vik. line
Saturday 2nd December 2017 Murphy on duty

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