- Final decision and
purchase of the tickets Friday afternoon. We will
leave tomorrow and return Monday.
- Takeoff Saturday
little after midday with 20 min delay, arrival to
Catane little after 15h00, 10 min in advance.
- Hiring of a small car
for the two days (no time to lose in joint
transport).
- Direction Etna with
stop at Nicolosi to buy water and food, to be
able to survive until Monday.
- Arrival at Sapienza,
the last accessible place by car, and departure
of the cable car, towards 17h30.
The sky starts to darken.
We learn that the cable car functions (the ski resort is
open), and that it is open 9 to 16h00. Fast dialogue and
checking of the price of a night with the CAI (clubo
alpino italiano). For 80000 liras for two + breakfast, it
is more expensive than the Youth Hostel of Nicolosi, but
that enables us to consider a walk towards Valle del
Bove, from where we should see the lava.
|
The Etna under snow, approaching Catania
|
| Towards 18h15, it is
becoming very dark and we leave, provided with a small
picnic, in direction the path that one indicated to us.
The way to the edge of the valley is longer than
envisaged, but the night is clear and the path well
marked. Towards 19h30, we arrive at the edge of the
valley and can see, to some 4 km to the top of the
valley, the red flows of which we had been able to see
the gleams in the sky for one hour. Two or three red
lines intersect over a lenght of approximately a
kilometer, the bottom of some flows becoming very dark
until invisible. |
Sight on the flows of the Valle del Bove
|
| Back to the CAI towards
21h00. I phone Boris and explains our planning to him: we
must be of return to Sapienza Monday midday at the
latest, because of the plane. He explains that he intends
to go up only at the beginning of afternoon. So we'll not
meet! |
|
| After one night rather
good, veiled us ready at 9h00 in front of the cases of
the cable car. "Troppo vento!" It is necessary
to wait... After several false start, and a beginning of
feetclimb quickly stopped at the sight of the cabins
which go up with people, we arrive at the terminus of the
montagnola towards 10h30. Here we are with our bags for
the final trek in snow. One arrives exhausted at Torre
del Filisofo, after 1h30 or 2h00 of painful walk in the
frozen wind, and after having been passed by other
tourists in ski-doo. |
Pause during up walk, while ski-doo passes
us
|
| We eat a well deserved
meal and a hot soup, then we considere where to plant our
tent. Few sheltered places are presented to us, so we
will visit the " cellar ", only opening of the
stone condemned building. The tip was good (thank you
Thierry) and the temperature surprisingly mild, of 5 to
10°C, probably. We install there our bags and we direct
finally towards the lava which we know to be at 200m from
there. |
At the base of S-E cone: start of the
flows
|
| The crack of SE cone is
very visible, and at the base of the cone a large dark
mass tinted with sulphur awaits us. A score of
volcanophile tourists turn goshawks of the vents,
red mouths and other beginnings of flows. From vents with
powerful and regular breath, we pass to the holes at the
bottom of which the bubbling lava is seen, then, a little
below, lava leaving the tunnels channeled in small
channels of 30 cm to 2 m broad. The heat barrier will not
stop us to try to pick a piece of fresh lava with my ice
axe. Photographs, though from poor quality because of
very present smoke of sulphur and of steam will describe
better what one saw. |
 |
| We returned at the base
camp to eat and to add layers against the cold
accentuated by the wind, looked at the sun lying down on
the sea of clouds, then went back for the night
observation. Very pretty in the night, these red rivers
look more numerous and more accessible. They are it in
fact less accessible, and we are very affected by the
sulphur vapors. After 30-40 min of observation, we return
to sleep (well, at least to try). |
 |
After having been turned
over 168 times over the night, in sweats, we leave our
bag towards 7h30. The cone is more clear than yesterday,
the crack is very well seen, and there are no more clouds
on Sicily downwards. A good breakfast after having made
our bags, then we go down, accompanied by a very strong
wind. No telpher carriers to go down again. We arrive
towards 11h00 at Sapienza, then take again our car
direction Nicolosi to make some shopping, to eat an at
last, a good gelato, then continue towards the airport
where we arrive towards 14h00, the plane leaving towards
15h00.
Departure of the plane with 5 min of delay, arrival at
Bxl with 25
min of delay... |
|
Back to Boulevard de Dixmude