European mountains
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain

Pico de las Nieves, Pico del Campanario & Roque Nublo sightseeing, Dec 26 2010


All reports from the Gran Canaria trip:

 

  Gran Canaria main page; facts, maps, routes, etc. (SOON)
 

Pico de las Nieves, Pico del Campanario, Roque Nublo, Dec 26 2010 (THIS REPORT)

  Montaña de Tamadaba, Montaña Altavista, Dec 27 2010
  Pico de Gáldar, Montaña de Almagro, Roque de Las Nieves, Dec 28 2010
  Montaña del Humo, Morro de la Hierbo Huerta, Las Dunas, Dec 29 2010
  Pico Moriscos, Monte Constantino, Pico de Bandama, Dec 30 2010
  Montaña de Arinaga + New Year's Eve, Dec 31 2010
 

Introduction, Dec 25 2010

 

 

Above Gran Canaria

Above Gran Canaria
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Anne and me spent the last week in 2009 on the island of La Gomera, and it was a welcome break from the snow and the poor December weather. This trip inspired us to once again finish a year on a sunny spot, far, far away from home.

The choice fell on Gran Canaria - which was not a difficult choice as there was a direct flight from Ålesund. Determining where our "base-camp" should be was harder. The weather on the south side of the island is statistically better than on the north side. On the other hand, there were few independent mountain tops on the south side. After considering several alternatives, we ended up reserving a room at Hotel Reina Isabel in Las Palmas. We were comfortable with this choice, and our only worries were the city traffic and parking.

On Dec 25th, we boarded the plane on Vigra Lufthavn Ålesund, and after a 2-hour delay, we were airborne. The 5-hour flight was not so pleasant, as it included at least 2 hours of strong turbulence. It was late evening when we landed on Gran Canaria, and one hour later, we had collected our luggage and our rental car. Thanks to Google Earth and Google Street View, we had a good idea about where to drive in order to get to the hotel in Las Palmas. These preparations paid off, and we found our way to the hotel without any difficulties.

We didn't know what the hotel would be like, but on first glance, everything looked highly promising. The hotel seemed to be quite classy. We didn't have to worry about the parking, as the hotel took care of that. Champagne and wine were awaiting in our room (!), and we concluded that a small celebration was in order.

The local temperature around midnight was approx. 20 deg. C. - some 35 degrees warmer than home. I took a picture and posted an entry on Facebook, "complaining" about how "hard" it would be to sleep, with the noise from the palms and the breaking waves...


 

View from our hotel room

View from our hotel room
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Pico de las Nieves (1951m), Dec 26 2010

 

 

Pico de las Nieves

Pico de las Nieves
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Pico de las Nieves is the highest peak on the island of Gran Canaria, and this was the first place we wanted to go, providing OK weather. And as the weather was more than OK, Dec 26 would be Pico de las Nieves day. Numerous roads are leading up to the mountains and the question was which one we should choose. We ended up on GC15 via Tafira and Santa Brigida. This was a long and extremely winding road, and we wondering if this was the best or worst of roads. Anne did an excellent job reading maps, and we were gradually closing in on the mountains. Spirit was up!

 

To the mountains

To the mountains
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Approx. 1,5 hours after leaving Las Palmas, we arrived at the Pico de las Nieves viewpoint. This peak has 3 notable points; a) the high point (approx. 1956m) which can only be reached via rock climbing, b) the official trigonometric point (1951m) and c) the radar installation behind the fence - unavailable to the public.

We knew that the high point involved rock climbing, and had brought our personal gear in case we made contact with a guide that could lead such a climb. In short, we never found one, and after having taken a closer look at the intimidating high point, we settled for a visit to the trigonometric point (next to the parking lot). This was a disappointment we could easily live with. After all, we had been on Pico de las Nieves - a mountain very, very far away from home!

 

Concluding that the high point is out of reach

Concluding that the high point is out of reach
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Pico del Campanario (1917m), Dec 26 2010

A neighbor top to the southwest caught our attention. We could see a distinct path leading in that direction, and as we wanted to actually do some hiking on this island, we grabbed our backpacks and headed out from the Nieves parking. On our Kompass map, this top was called 1917m and it was not until we returned to the hotel that we found the proper name of the peak - Pico del Campanario.

 

Pico del Campanario

Pico del Campanario
(Click for larger image)

 

I really enjoyed the walk. First and foremost, it was a pure delight to get away from the snow, the rain, the wind and work. I had been working so hard for the last months, and couldn't sleep through the night without waking up in the middle of it with a software problem or solution to the problem. Knowing that this holiday was just what the "doctor would have ordered", I was also able to enjoy it to the fullest.

We strolled through a nice pine forest and I saw the largest cones I've ever seen in my life. We passed a "Roque" that clearly required rock climbing and by the looks of it, Pico del Camponario seemed to offer some steep rock as well. The ascent to the summit called for some minor scrambling, and the summit marker was reached 1:37pm - 1h:17m after leaving the trailhead. The GPS reported 1936m on top of the marker - which was quite a discrepancy from the 1917m map height (knowing that the average difference between the Canary maps and my GPS is approx. 10 meters).

But the trigonometric point didn't seem to be the highest point. A rock, 32 meters to the southwest, seemed to be at least 1 meter higher. Anne agreed, and we nominated this rock to the Pico del Campanario's high point.

 

On top of Pico del Campanario

On top of Pico del Campanario
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This mountain was rugged and we decided to explore it a bit further. We headed towards a distinct rock feature to the south, hoping that a route up would present itself. On the back side, we found a very exposed route with good enough handholds to allow us to climb it. This ascent felt much better, as there was some (mental) effort behind it.

 

Anne, climbing down from the rock feature

Anne, climbing down from the rock feature
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We returned to the Pico de las Nieves trailhead and we agreed that we should head towards Roque Nublo - this amazing rock feature that we had been looking at, ever since we reached the Pico de las Nieves trailhead.

 

Below Roque Nublo (1813m), Dec 26 2010

 

 

Roque Nublo

Roque Nublo
(Click for larger image)

 

Only rock climbing (and helicopters) will get you to the top of Roque Nublo, and as fascinating that might be, we reckoned that standing below wouldn't be so bad either. We drove to the La Goleta trailhead and we were now again in the tourist zone. After a little while, we found parking and were on our way up a pretty astounding mountain...

 

On the way to Roque Nublo

On the way to Roque Nublo
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A very well-worn trail took us up to the Degollada del Nublo pass, passing the hilarious Roque de El Fraile along the way. This was OMG terrain! We entered the El Tablón plateau and had Roque Nublo straight ahead of us. Godalmighty, what an incredible piece of rock! I hadn't seen anything like it since visiting Devil's Tower in 1997.

 

 

Roque Nublo

Roque Nublo
(Click for larger image)

 

We had a very pleasant stay below this amazing volcanic plug - slash - obelisk, and it was nice to see so many Spanish-looking visitors on the mountain. I don't know if they were from the mainland or from the islands, but they all seemed to really enjoy spending a weekend day on top of the island.

 

People enjoying the day on El Tablón

People enjoying the day on El Tablón
(Click for larger image)

 

While returning to the trailhead, I summarized our first day on the island; we had gorgeous weather, been to the highest mountain (although not the high point) on the island, visited a most excellent peak (Pico del Campanario) and seen Roque Nublo up close. We would now return to Las Palmas along a different road, relax, take a swim in the ocean and find a nice restaurant (where Anne would impress me with her Spanish). I almost had to pinch myself. Man, how I had longed for this, and now it was happening...

 

Las Palmas - heading for the beach

Las Palmas - heading for the beach
(Click for larger image)

 

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6 and a
Canon Digital Ixus 80 IS

 
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To the mountains

1. Welcome gifts at Reina Isabel 2. Good night! 3. Morning view 4. To the mountains 5. To the mountains 6. To the mountains

Pico de las Nieves

7. On the Pico de las Nieves viewpoint 8. The trigonometric point 9. The summit area 10. The viewpoint-parking area 11. The high point 12. Pico del Campanario 13. Below the high point 14. Our exploration ended here 15. Our exploration ended here 16. Roque Nublo 17. Looking back on the high point

To Pico del Campanario

18. On the path to Pico del Campanario 19. A cool scene 20. Gran Canaria flora 21. Big cones! 22. A steep rock 23. Pico de las Nieves high point 24. On the marked path 25. Pico del Campanario 26. Just a tree 27. Pico Moriscos - visited 4 days later 28. Roque Nublo 29. Almost up 30. Easy scrambling 31. Easy scrambling 32. Dramatic terrain 33. On top of Pico del Campanario 34. On top of Pico del Campanario 35. On top of Pico del Campanario

Panoramas from Pico del Campanario

36. Panorama from Pico del Campanario 37. Panorama from Pico del Campanario

Cool terrain south of Pico del Campanario

38. Fog is moving in 39. Fog is moving in 40. Leaving Pico del Campanario 41. Our target 42. Anne, exploring a hole 43. Rugged terrain 44. Airy terrain 45. On our way up to our target 46. Celebrating the top 47. Pico del Campanario 48. El Teide 49. Climbing back down 50. Climbing back down 51. Climbing back down 52. Pico de las Nieves 53. Heading back 54. Roque Nublo 55. Pico del Campanario 56. Pico de las Nieves high point

Roque Nublo

57. Towards Roque Nublo 58. Valley view 59. Towards Roque Nublo 60. Roque de El Fraile 61. The Nublo trailhead 62. Roque Nublo 63. Rugged neighbors 64. Rugged neighbors 65. Montaña del Nublo 66. Rugged neighbors 67. Arch 68. Roque de El Fraile 69. Rugged neighbors 70. Rugged neighbors 71. Towards Nublo 72. Towards Nublo 73. Roque Nublo 74. Below Nublo 75. Roque de la Rana 76. View up Nublo 77. Anne has found a good viewpoint 78. View up Nublo 79. Rugged neighbors 80. El Tablón 81. A nice scene 82. El Tablón panorama 83. Anne and Roque Nublo 84. Info

Back to Las Palmas

85. Northeast panorama 86. Towards the beach!

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