Guajara/Viejo

Peaks: Alto de Guajara (2717m), Unnamed Peak (2464m), Pico Viejo/Mancho Ruana Sur (3008m)
Area: Teide, Tenerife
An unusual and gruelling double climb from the Parador at Roques de Garcia. This was not the plan, but the conditions meant I had to adapt - and it was actually a much harder day, and therefore better training, than if I had started at the hut. Instead, I left Vilaflor at first light and drove up to a deserted Teide in incredible conditions - a hard frost last night, snow higher up, low sun lighting ice crystals on the lava flows. The entire valley was orange, and the sun rose over the shoulder of Guajara, my initial target. I parked at the Parador, deserted at this hour, and trotted over to the path that leads steeply up to the obvious col that gives access to the upper slopes. It traversed through snow (which was icy, vindicating yesterday's decision) below a line of crags, then gained the pass (Degollada de Ucanca) with views down the contrasting, fairly green, Ucanca valley, Guajara is well defended by crags on almost all sides, but a broad couloir through the southern cliffs was clearly the onward route. The path weaved up to it, keeping close to the walls as it moves left into the couloir. The angle then eases as the broad plateau is gained - it is an unusual hill with a huge summit area but crags on all sides, typical of a volcanic peak and very prominent in the landscape, in some ways more impressive than Teide from the valley bottom (and the highest mountain on the island outwith the hulking mound of Teide). The view was genuinely stunning: one of the best views I have ever had anywhere. A circle of white cloud was draped around the mid-slopes of Teide, the clarity of light was perfect, with every detail highlighted. Two Polish walkers lent the view some scale, and we swapped photo duties. To the west, cloud was boiling over the Sombrerito de Chasna and the slopes of Vilaflor. I descended back to the Degollada, then nipped up the obvious unnamed peak (pt 2464m on the map) lying along the ridge to the west of the pass. This gave a nice little scramble to a small summit, obvious from the Parador, with more great views: a tiny cairn on top as well as a vague semblance of a path through the rocky summit suggested the occasional other person comes this way! One option now was to continue to the Sombrerito, which might have been best, but instead I ran down to the Parador for a coffee cortado and pastry. Refuelled, I opted for a mammoth extension, jogging past the tourists on the easterly Roques de Garcia path (these are impressive spires of rock, foregrounding a million Teide photos, and rammed with tourists). I instantly left all tourists behind as soon as I joined the path through the lava flows to Pico Viejo, which is a vague lump on the 'ridge' that runs west from Teide. It was an opportunity to get up high again, although the weather was worsening - with a cold wind - and the route is a dreadful extended slog with little to recommend it. I just ploughed upwards, considering it good training, and entered the clag at 2500m. It weaves through old lava flows but generally heads upwards, although such was the nature of the clag and the vague nature of the 'peak' that it was hard to tell where I was. At the spot marked Mancha Ruana Sur on the map, a 3008m extrusion, I turned round and jogged all the way down just as another heavy snow storm blew up. This turned to sleety rain lower down, and I took the westerly path round Roques de Garcia which descends to the impressive 'Catedral', a huge spire of rock, then climbs back to a tourist peak above the car park. This finished me off, and I headed to the car for a tricky drive through very thick mist which lasted for 35k through Chio to my next guesthouse in Tamaimo, where it finally cleared. I saw virtually nothing for the whole way, which was a shame.