This time I can again share an activation from a volcano and will take you along to El Teide EA8/TF-001 - the highest summit of Spain
With it’s 3715m meters the landmark and symbol of the canary islands and of course a very touristic place to visit. That’s why many years ago a daily limit of visitors in this national parc was introduced.
Quota during the time between 9:00 and 17:00 - the operation times of the cable car La Rambletta - are usually booked out about 3 month before.
But thanks to the intel from Julian @IN3JIB I learnt about the sunset permit and that was easy to aquire. This allows one to be at the summit between 18:00 and 22:00 o’clock. But you will see in the video that nobody is there to check at that time.
So I started my hike at about 14:15 from the Montana Blanca parking space and followed the marked path. It’s also on Sotamaps available.
As per the laws of physics the temperature drop per 100m is about 0,9 degC I was clearly expecting temperatures below 0°C at the summit latest when the sun is set. So the summer-like hiking gear was extened by a thin and an extra pair of warm gloves, a warm fleece jacket, a thin down jacket (just in case) and a hardshell jacket to keep the wind away.
But most important of course a headlamp as the way down would be in full darkness.
A total of 1400 m vertical ascent and back at those elevation is requiring some good training and some acclimatisation upfront is recommended. See my report on Guajara EA8/TF-002 some days before.
Raul EA8AMT was keeping the radio amateurs in EA8 updated on my plans and so a big pile-up on 2m FM was waiting for me.
Well done Joe, nice video too. I’ve been to Tenerife twice now, but never managed El Teide. Could you possibly share a link for this sunset permit, I’m sure many activators would like take advantage of this possibility.
73 de OE6FEG
Matt
Thanks for your interesting “Volcano+SOTA summit” story.
Glad to see them monitoring, similar to the active volcano in Iceland.
You make the ascent look easy, even with all of the large rocks that I saw strewn on the path. Not to mention the cliff’s edge, at your side. I probably might not have made the ascent, even in daylight. Certainly not at 500m/hour.
->Glad to see you made the activation, safely.
Merry Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten)
Happy New Year to alles,
Wonderful Joe!
Well done again!
I think El Teide was one of my most fascinated activation that I had done.
But you’re rocking activating also HF on that cold and windy peaks is a top performance!
Hello Joe @OE5JFE. Thanks for the exciting video of your activation. Very nice also the atmosphere in the evening. The way back was certainly very quiet. The announcement via 2m was also a success as you can see in the log
A cliff of a cone - but that was not a worry. The path is well maintained.
Thanks Sevim. Also to you Merry Christmas.
Thanks again Julian for the research upfront regarding permit and timing. That saved me time and worries and made the vacation even more relaxing.
I agree. Volcanos are always something special. My videos from Japan are also featuring two and that’s always an extra regarding scenery. Just totally different than the alps.
The winter activiting experience definitly helped up there. But the temperature drop overall was something.
It was one of the highlights for sure. Did not expect so much activity. Looking at the logs of local SOTA activators more then 60 2m FM contacts in an hour are not uncommon. So 2m is alive in EA8.
During my visits the EA8 locals were trying to explain a lot of things in spanish that I did not understood but we somehow managed. That also an achivement and shows what we could become as mankind. Okay getting now too philosophical - hi
Hi Joe @OE5JFE. That’s the beauty of SOTA. You are among friends without any ifs and buts - even if you don’t understand everything straight away. Being a person among people - and yes, a bit of philosophy is allowed But good now hny!
loved your activation and video, great info to aid for future expeditions there.
Thanks for the effort and your interest to learn the basic spanish words to complete your VHF qso succesfully; it’s not that difficult, right?
Very well done, it had to be an impressive way down in the night, on that cold temperature!
and will take you along to El Teide EA8/TF-001 - the highest summit of Spain 
But good now 
hny!