Perfect timing
or
Lava fountain at south-east crater
(06 avril 2000)
Starring: Astrid, Bernard, Bruno, Christian, Jean-Louis, Luc, Valérie, Viviane and, as guest star, Il Mongibello!
| This time, we were eight, which is a change from our usual small groups. But for the rest, we don't change a winning process: | |
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 We land in Catania, little after noon, on wednesdayi 5th of april 2000 air temperature above 20°C. By luck, we could rent a car big enough for us and all the luggage. Here we are, heading for Nicolosi. |
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We are in the village at 15h00, and we wait for the youth hostel and the 'supermercado' to open at 1600... Ad what could we do but eat some pasta and pizza while waiting? |
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every small street vith a view on the summit, we watch
the snow-capped Etna: Will it wait? Had it blown up
already? The snow on the cone suggests not... |
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After a night better than the ones we'll have, we take our breakfast at the excellent "Fratelli Vitale", run fast thru the supermarket Conad then... off we go! |
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At Sapienza, everything seems all right, summit is clearing, cable car is working, and not too many tourists. We try to negotiate a one way ticket for the final part (bus 4X4), but no way; tourists are supposed to stay up there only 10 minutes. Finally we give up and pay the full price. |
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After all this, we finally reach the bus terminal round 11h00, as the first brown ash/smoke rises. What a timing! |
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We quickly climb the last few meters to the Torre del Filosofo. This is the front end of the last lava flows, which burned down the wooden hut of the mountain guides, and since then, the buses stop a little lower. They're right, they don't want to take any risks: less than two month ago, bombs where projected up to this building. |
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We just sneak behind the building, and there we are: Perfect view, between lava blocs, ice cristals and blue sky, ready to watch and observe all the eruption. This one follows in every point the now classical sketch which is now repeating for more than two months, with an interval of a few hours to a few days. |
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Strombolian explosions are projecting bombs and ashes more and more frequently, to become quasi-continuous in less than fifteen minutes. The strong west wind blows the fire column to our right, and the big gray plume sprays its cinders towards Valle del Bove. The continuous sound of a powerful jet reactor goes with the lava fountain which heights up to hundred meters for more than fifteen minutes. |
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Pulsating stronger and stronger, the height of the lava fountain increases, sometimes lost in the plume. But we can see bombs very high, probably twice the height of the cone, which is then 300-400 metres. The cone is now smoldering, due to lava bombs falling. The ice and the snow still covering the cone dissappear on the west flank also. |
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Fourty-five minutes after the start of the activity, pulsating jets become irregular, sometimes oriented towards west, projecting bombs on the Bocca Nuova flanks. The whole cone is now covered with brown ashes and smoke. The wind slows down, and the smoke becomes stronger. |
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The lava fountain becomes smaller and irregular, the smoke is now more brown than grey. We proceed a bit further in the still warm lava to observe the end of the eruption and the last explosions. |
| It is over. We are thursday the 6th of april 2000, 13h05. Total duration of the event: one hour. We were quite lucky... | |
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Satisfied, Etna offers us some smoke rings... |
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Back to Boulevard de Dixmude