Etna dominates

She is ever present, always on the horizon. Even when shrouded in cloud Etna dominates.

And we want to climb her. But from a distance we couldn’t even see the top, and the snow was coming a serious way down the mountain. But then again, this was a tourist mountain. Most people spend €70 and get a cable car, then a 4×4 to near the top, only using the things on the ends of their torso for the last 400m. Those precious, little used appendages on most people; the legs.

Before  we found the aire for last night, we had dropped into etnapolis, a large shopping centre where there was a DIY store. Dora’s worktop and the table where looking a little tired and we wanted to cover them. We found a rubber flooring which would be easy to clean, easy to apply and would wear well. A long term DIY project on the road. I was looking forward to that.

We start to climb the mountain. Well not us, Dora. She is getting used to climbing mountains. She is not so enthusiastic as we are, she is a reluctant climber, but considering her weight issues, she is pretty good. Slow but sure. Before long, the windy road, switchbacks galore, we come across its first snow.

The landscape is more moonscape, or what I imagine moonscape to look like. The road seems to traverse one of the many lava flows that cascade down Etna’s shallow sides. Lava flows that look like the blackest glaciers edging their way down the mountain.

This is then dusted with the purest white snow, an amazing contrast.

Eventually we pull into the hell that was the road head.  What this must be like in season, in summer when the snow has melted! It is fairly busy now.

We find a place for Dora amongst the many coach loads of touring tourists who will spend half an hour taking the photos before once again seeking shelter in the confines of their coach. Not us we want to find some solitude, but for interest we pass through a couple of the tat shops. 70% Etna fire water, deep red seemed popular, so are ‘The Godfather’ tea towels, t shirts, socks and postcards. We glance at the so called trekking maps which focused on the dates of the lava flows and were useless for getting up the mountain. They won’t be getting any of our euros.

But she is still being shy. Somewhere up there, amongst the clouds is Etna’s summit. We go off to find the information point.

Now this is a real problem in Italy. Proper tourist information points are few and far between. What you are meant to do is get your information from tour guides and tat shops, but these guys just want to sell you tours and tat, not give you information. Information is difficult to get and then you need to filter it, read between the lines.

We visit a guide. ‘Did we want to do a tour?, there may be one tomorrow. No, we wanted to walk up the mountain.

‘You can only walk part way up, then you need a guide’

‘OK, can we join a guide nearer the top?’

‘Maybe’

‘Can we walk up to the top of the cable car?’

‘Probably’

He is a bit vague.

We put on our mountain stuff and head out onto the snow, crampons stuffed into our rucksacks. The route follows the cable car and appeared to be a ski slope in better weather. A couple of lonely skiers did cautiously slide past us, but that was it.

The cable car keeps running, ferrying up the coachloads €30 a time. Not bad for a ten minute journey.

We gain height quickly, it is a steep slope, but easy to ascend.

Above us, the weather isn’t clearing. Etna is sulking today, refusing to show herself.

We continued to trudge up the slope, making good time.

Etna is a shallow mountain compared to the classic conical shape of Vesuvius. She continuously has activity, which is rarely really violent, but spews out vast quantities of lava that litter her sided. She is vast, covering the north part of Scilly. Small cones are scattered around her skirt, you can see one lower down, to the left of Susana. This was the highest most of the coach dwellers got, peering into the long extinct micro crater.

She can also be quite violent. It has been recorded she has fiercely exploded in the past centuries, destroying nearby towns and killing people. She is not that violent these days. She may be getting calmer as she gest older, just like people. SM

The higher we get the worst the weather gets. We are sandwiched between the cable car to our right and a ski lift to our left. There is no chance of us getting lost. The cable car goes to where we want to go.

But still, we can’t expect much of a view today unless the situation changes dramatically.

Eventually we get to the top of the cable car. We later work out that this is at roughly 2500m. But we cannot go any further. But we are getting different reasons why not. It is too foggy. There is someone injured on the mountain, the mountain is closed. It is all very odd, and the information we are  getting is all very unofficial. It isn’t until we get off the mountain that we are able to determine the real situation. And to be honest above this level is really foggy and isn’t worth going any higher and it looks like the crazy 4×4 aren’t venturing up either.

Etna has three levels of activity;

White, Yellow and Red. When we were there it was red due to an eruption back in January, which although had subsided the volcanologists were still cautious about and hadn’t put the activity back to white yet.

When the mountain is white you can trek to 2900m and go with a guide to the crater at 3300m.

When the mountain is yellow you can trek to 2500m and go with a guide to the crater at 2900m.

When the mountain is red you cannot go above the start point of the cable car, the mountain is effectively closed.

Etna is a volcano and all this is therefore for your safety and very sensible. The problem is where to get reliable information. If you were at a Swiss or French chalet there would be a sign board giving you short term and long term weather forecasts, avalanche risk and their sources etc. In Italy you have to rely on the guides, who have a vested interest in them taking you up the mountain. But they are also set up to take you a particular way, large groups of overweight Americans, that get off of coaches and still fail to make the last 400m to the crater ‘Due to altitude’. They are not catered for two experienced wanderers.

It had been a frustrating day, but we had done some walking, we had got some fresh air.

We headed back down Etna, following the coachloads. There were very few now. They don’t stay around long when it is foggy.

Now that is a serious amount of Duct tape holding that German coach together.

On the way back, we decide to circumnavigate Etna. We want to see her from every side.

What we find disgusts us. The Italians can be a filthy lot.

But this is truly revolting.

Every layby is strewn with litter, which is such a shame. This should be a beautiful and pristine landscape.

Maybe she needs to have a bit of a tantrum and cover the degusting lot of them, and the litter in 20m of lava.

Go on, they deserve it for tarnishing your base.

The clouds have cleared. Maybe she has heard my words and it ready for action.

We have completed our circuit of Etna and are back on the east coast. Tomorrow we want to visit Taormina. We have an aire in mind. One in the book but we cannot find it. We head back up the coast, where it is quieter and park up a side street next to a bus station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GDR