 With the expertise on Teide going on here, I was wondering if someone could help me. I am toying with the idea of climbing Teide in October of 2009. My basic plan was to walk up from a car park near the bottom of the cable car at about 2300m if I recall correctly. I would then either walk down or take the cable car down (if that is possible). What do you think? Would that be possible for a reasonable hillwalker? I believe that the refuge is somewhere on this route. How high is it? An alternative might be for me to make it a two day trip there and back from the car. From what others have said, I wouldn't need winter gear (axe/crampons etc) but maybe either crampons or something like those light spider crampons may be sensible in case I could across a little frozen path?
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 Nope! You can't climb the mountain from the cablecar. Access to Teide is quite restricted. Most people go up and down using the cablecar, but you can't walk up or down by that route. Most walkers start from a roadside car park where there's a huge stone 'map' showing the way to Montana Blanca. Starting from there, you follow a dusty vehicle track onto Montana Blanca, then follow a narrower, winding, stony path that gets increasingly rocky as you ascend Teide. Note - you won't be allowed on the summit during the daytime unless you get a permit in advance of your walk - and that means losing the best part of a day in Santa Cruz. If you stay overnight at the refuge, then you can climb the mountain first thing in the morning, without the usual permit, just the refuge 'ticket', but you must be off the path between the top cablecar station and the summit before 9am. You can vary your approach slightly by following a lovely desert-like path from El Portillo to Montana Blanca. This will cost you about an hour more than the usual route. When you're finished on the summit, your options are limited to the cablecar down, or retracing your steps. You can, apparently, get permission to use an approach from Pico Viejo, but I haven't looked into the 'deal' for that one. It's listed on the national park map as 'restricted use'. The refuge, if I remember right without looking it up, is at 3260m. The top cablecar station is around 3550m, and the summit of El Teide is 3718m. I doubt you'll need crampons in October. I've been on Teide at that time and it's like being in a furnace! Winter doesn't really kick in until the middle of December. You can get up and down the mountain fine in a day from the road, if you arrive by car. If using buses, you're limited to completing the whole thing in about 5 hours, which is pushing things, given the steepness, heat and altitude. Staying overnight at the refuge makes it a doddle.
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| Edited: 23/12/08 16:15 |
Thanks Paddy for the advice. I don't think I've been clear enough. The car park I am talking about is something like 1km past the cable car area (away from the parador direction). Does that make a difference? I suspect we are talking about the same car park (although I have never seen it!).
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Yes Paul - you're thinking about the right car park. From the way you worded things, it sounded as though you were thinking of climbing from the car park at the lower cablecar station. There IS a path going up the mountain from pylon to pylon that way, but it's only used on a very occasional basis by the folks who check the cablecar infrastructure. It's not available for public use. The other thing you'll notice, once you're on the mountain, are the number of signs threatening dire retribution, in the form of a fine, if you step off the path! The national park rangers, by the way, guard the final approach to the summit, and they drive up and down the dusty track between the road and Montana Blanca, so there's no way you could try any 'freelancing' on your approach.
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| Edited: 23/12/08 16:27 |
Incidentally, a pal of mine was round earlier today, looking at my Teide pictures taken only a few days ago. Although he's heard me talk about the mountain, he never realised today just how high it was, and how completely unlike any other part of Tenerife it is. I like to think of Tenerife as an island that exceeds 2000m, but has Teide slammed on top of it as an 'extra' - like having something the size of Ben Nevis dropped on top of something that's already above the clouds!
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That was very similar to the way we felt about it - you practically forgot about the rest of the island once you are above the "Coronal Forest, so the Parador pretty much feels like sea level. The days we were there we saw quite a few rangers on foot and 4x4s. On the Kompass map, the route where the cable car runs is marked "Emergency Descent" and looks pretty dangerous. I didn't mention it earlier on in the thread, but you can see the weather here at the observatory which is at 2200m and on a different summit, but it gives you a rough idea of how cold it is on Teide if you take into account the lapse rate. There is also the webcam page so you can take a look
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Ah - it's dark! No doubt that'll be because it's night!
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hi there,me and my fiance are going to tenerife in july, and we are so useless with directions and road maps does anybody know what GPS i can rent and where that will work in canary islands kindest regards cheree
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GPS for walking - I think all of the modern ones will work.
GPS for driving - I've always found that GPS maps are worse than paper maps. And the paper road maps in Tenerife are terrible.
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how boy we are going to get hopelessly lost, hi yes its for driving ,do you have any paper map suggestions!!we are staying in los christianos. kindest regards cheree
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 Walking: get the Sunflower guide, it's very good. Driving: the Michelin map of the Canaries was pretty accurate when I used it (a while ago now) and easy to use.
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 One of the freebie guide maps will be enough - you know, the ones with a map on one side and waterparks, attractions etc on the other. We used these to get up Teidi and thinking about it, the rest of the island.
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thanks alot for the info, i think that we wont take the chance to hire a car,to much stress, but will just do some research to get attractions,are there any must sees!! that are hidden away like beautifull sites that you guys know off? thanks
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We climbed Teide some years ago in January and it could not have been more different. Just sun, we were in shorts and T shirt until the refuge and then needed another layer. We did not get to the summit, because no permit, we got down the same day to our hired car. No snow to see at all. You can wild camp (cycling) in La Gomera no trouble except the central peak park. When we went to Fuertaventura cycling we wild camped too. There we managed to buy screw on gas canisters.
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We stayed for free in Playa de las Americas and the local attraction was a night spot called "Lady GoodDiva's", probably not what you had in mind!  If you do decide to go up Teidi, I'd consider hiring a car just for the day. There are buses and organised coach tours, but it limits the places you can get out and admire the views or go for a stroll. As a poster above mentions, once you get through the forest and clouds you arrive in a mountain plain that is another world away from the heat below. Although I know Paddy Dillion uses public transport and that would not stop him from exploring where he wanted to. Other places that we saw were the HUGE 800 meter high cliffs on the west of the island, you can only see them from an organised boat trip from Los Gigantes. We also had a wander round the strange pyramids on the other side of the island and the tropical forest / gardens near Los Christianos. Hope that helps.
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hi there thanx for the infowe like night life as we are only 26 years old;;;lol where would i find the cheapest airport transfer from TFS to los christianos thanks a mill cheree
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