European mountains
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Gran Canaria main page; facts, maps, routes, etc. (SOON) | ||
Pico de las Nieves, Pico del Campanario, Roque Nublo, Dec 26 2010 |
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Montańa de Tamadaba, Montańa Altavista, Dec 27 2010 | ||
Pico de Gáldar, Montańa de Almagro, Roque de Las Nieves, Dec 28 2010 (THIS REPORT) | ||
Montańa del Humo, Morro de la Hierbo Huerta, Las Dunas, Dec 29 2010 | ||
Pico Moriscos, Monte Constantino, Pico de Bandama, Dec 30 2010 | ||
Montańa de Arinaga + New Year's Eve, Dec 31 2010 |
Day 3 on Gran Canaria started with locating the Hertz office in Las Palmas. This wasn't an easy task, as Google Maps showed the wrong location. But eventually, we found the office and successfully explained that the metallic sound from the brakes wasn't very comforting, especially while driving down 1900 vertical meters on extremely curvy roads...
Having traded the Yaris for an Auris, we sat course for Montańa del Faro - the highest point north of Las Palmas. When we finally found the road leading up the mountain, we discovered that the whole Faro peninsula was a closed military area. A firm, but polite military police officer explained that the alpinistas would have to look for challenges elsewhere...
So we got on the GC2 and headed for the town Gáldar and the peak with the same name . We knew that there was some sort of installation on top of this volcano, but it couldn't be a military one? We couldn't be that unlucky? We drove into the east part of Gáldar (possibly called La Atalaya - at least that's what the signpost read) and I instantly voted Gáldar to be the one of the coolest town I've been in. The building colors were just awesome!
We parked in the middle of the town and followed the streets upwards. Thanks to preparations (Google Earth), we quickly located the mountain service road. There were some fascinating caves or tunnel systems inside the volcano, and it would have been fun to explore them further. But all we wanted was to get to a proper mountain top before the day came to an end.
The walk up the road was as far away from mountaineering as you can get, but there were no complaints. We were Norwegians, escaping from the December winter storms, and here we were, just outside the African continent on a gorgeous day. And 100km to the west was El Teide - a peak that I certainly want to visit before I call it a day...
After 2,3km and approx. 240 vertical meters, we reached the top of Pico de Gáldar, and enjoyed a phenomenal view. A nice mountain top was in the bag, and the day was "saved"...
Anne on Pico de Gáldar
(Click for larger image)
From Pico de Gáldar, we had a good view towards Montańa Almagro - 4,5km to the southwest. We agreed to give this mountain a try, followed the service road back to Gáldar and got back on the GC2.
Montańa Almagro
(Click for larger image)
After driving all the way to Puerto de Sardina, we didn't find the mountain road we saw from Pico de Gáldar. We drove back to San Isidro and tried our luck up a road signposted Calle Javielita Sosa Cachazo. We reached a farm and asked the owner for information about a path up the mountain. Through an eloquent arm movement, he explained that no paths were needed here. Through Anne's limited, but most excellent Spanish, we acquired permission to park on the property, and we were given bananas "to go"...
Well prepared for Montańa Almagro
(Click for larger image)
Sure enough, no paths were needed. There was no forest, and we just had to avoid the cactuses. This was particularly true for Anne - wearing shorts. Halfway up the mountain, we joined the mountain road (4WD) from the north, but chose to stay off-trail along the ridge we were on.
After a 2,2km hike, we reached the summit cross (in shiny mirror), and for a while we thought this was the high point. The views were pretty much the same as from Pico de Gáldar, and we spent some time with creative photography...
On Montańa Almagro
(Click for larger image)
There was another top 200 meters to the south, and we agreed to go there and descend along the mountain service road. Upon reaching the second top, my GPS reported an elevation 4 meters higher than on the previous top. This could possibly the the actual summit. And now we had a good view towards the coastal town Puerto de las Nieves. A distinct rock feature caught my attention, and I suggested to Anne that we could visit this town before returning to Las Palmas. She was fine with the idea.
We descended the mountain road to the point where we joined it, and then retraced our steps back to our trailhead. Once again, we got onto the GC2, heading for Puerto de las Nieves.
Roque de las Nieves
(Click for larger image)
We drove to Puerto de las Nieves and struggled to find parking. We eventually found a place to park, just outside the town and directly below the cool rock feature I saw from Montańa Almagro. The rock looked mighty steep - bordering to inaccessible and I promised myself to at least give it a try before returning to Las Palmas.
Anne didn't express too much interested in this rock, and we went into town for a late lunch. But during the meal, her interest must have grown, because afterwards, she suggested that we should go to the local tourist information office and ask if there was a route up the cliff. According to the woman in the tourist office, this was just a stroll and she explained the route through a map. We didn't understand the thing about the map, as the rock was literally rising above the tourist office. We assumed she had misunderstood our question and decided to try to find our own way.
The first attempt failed, and we had to turn around. But then we found the route, along a hose coming down from the top. After a short (and exposed) scramble, we stood on the top and enjoyed a fine view towards Puerto de las Nieves and the neighbor village Agate.
On Roque de las Nieves
(Click for larger image)
We descended back to the ridge and followed the ridge 650 meters to the south. The nude man down by the shore must have thought he was in complete solitude, and we decided to let him keep thinking this was the case. More interesting was a spectacular rock feature by the name of Dedo de Dios. "God's finger" was even more spectacular before the tropical storm Delta in November 2005, when the finger broke off š.
š Source: Wikipedia
Dedo de Dios
(Click for larger image)
It had been a long (and memorable) day and it was time to head back to our hotel in Las Palmas. A beautiful sunset was in progress, and we were looking forward to a nice dinner. And perhaps a glass of wine. Or two. After all, it's a holi-holiday...
The town Agaete in evening shade
(Click for larger image)
The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6
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slideshow (Images scaled down. |
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To Pico de Gáldar
Pico de Gáldar panorama
Pico de Gáldar panorama
To Montańa Almagro
Montańa Almagro panorama
To the high point + descent
To Roque de las Nieves
Descent + round trip
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