Winter climb El Teide, Tenerife

Last December 2022, I climbed the top of Teide together with some of my friends. The volcano is located in "Teide National Park" which is the largest park in the Canary Islands. It is actually a must-see location on the agenda of anyone visiting Tenerife. The park contains a unique volcanic landscape with craters and petrified lava flows and above it towers the impressive peak of the 3718m high Teide.

We started our ascent at the car park of Sendero de Montaña Blanca at 08h37. There aren't many parking spots here, so you need to get there early to get a spot. We started the walk in good spirits, it was fairly cool, 6 degrees celsius and there was a strong wind, so we dressed very well. The first part of the route is slightly uphill and easily accessible. We saw beautiful vast plains that resembles a somewhat alien-esque landscape. There is also an Altocumulus lenticularis or lenticular cloud in the sky. A lenticular cloud remains more or less permanently over the same place, while the air continues to flow. It is a very special phenomenon.

Around 10h00 and after hiking for about 4.5km we arrived at the foot of the steep climb at 2740m towards the Refugio de Altavista. We ate another local banana and some protein bars and drank lots of water. From this point on, our heart rate went up because of the higher altitude and steeper inclination. We tried to slow down our walking pace as much as possible, in order to climb at a steadily pace.

© Jelle Goosens

As we got higher and higher we saw the first piles of snow here and there, it got a lot colder again and we put on an extra clothing layer and our gloves. Finally, we arrived at the Refugio de Altavista at 3272m altitude around 11h30. We rested for a while and then continued our way towards the mountain station and summit. We put on an extra layer of clothing against the cold and the wind. There is a lot more snow and wind at this altitude and there is almost no vegetation left.

After a rough few kilometers, we arrived (a bit numb) at the top station of La Rambletta at 3550m altitude at 13h15, which was unfortunately closed due to the bad weather. 3 of us continued to the top at 3718m. The other 2 headed back down. I took a protein bar and a Snickers out of my bag, only to find out that they are frozen solid. The path to the top is very snowy and we even had to take out our crampons.

At 14:25 we summited the Teide. The conditions were pretty extreme so we did not stay there very long. We decided to descend in time, as we still had quite a distance to walk back. On the way back we still enjoyed the the epic views. The sunset produced beautiful skies and I took some pictures, unfortunately we couldn't stay for too long as it also gets cold and dark quickly.