Day 4

Having had enough rest, the next morning I decided to drive to Etna again and walk higher up. It was starting to rain and that was worrisome.

The plan was to walk the track along the cable car to wherever I could.

Near the mountain the rain turned into penetrating wind with wet snow. I had to insulate myself with both a fleece and a jacket.

It was so chilly that I already decided to cancel the plan and go home. But then I thought that since I had arrived I should at least take a ride on the cable car and see what was up there. Ticket to a cabin is 50 euros (including the return descent), cabins for 6 people go in a continuous stream like a Ferris wheel, I went in an empty one.

Surprisingly, despite being completely snowed in, it seemed warmer at the top, even though the temperature had dropped to -7 C. The wind was still blowing up, my windbreaker protected me well from it. I should have taken gloves, without them my hands froze quickly and I had to keep them in my pockets almost all the time. As I realized this snowy weather was not quite typical and reflected the rain at lower altitudes.

The cable car goes to the base at 2500m with a small cafe where you can warm yourself with coffee and eat a hot dog. The announcement said that you can't climb above 2500m on your own, but with groups and guides you can go up to 2800m maximum.

The highest point of the mountain is about 3300m, even before the hike I read in the reviews to the track that at about 2800m the trail is interrupted by "fresh" (a few years since the last eruption) lava flows.

I had no plans to maliciously break the rules, so I went for a walk around the area near the base. There was a crater 📍Cisternazza nearby, despite the snow visibility was good. As I walked to this crater, I noticed wooden stakes with rope running through them, apparently marking a trail.

When I reached the crater, suddenly a very thick fog descended and visibility dropped to almost zero. At this point I realized why the rope was there. 😅
The way back I had to walk literally on it to avoid getting lost in the white blindness.

But soon the fog blew away as quickly as it had appeared. I saw people in the distance and went to see if there was anything interesting. There were a couple other craters and a four-wheel drive bus road that I didn't notice at first. One of the hikers I met was wearing shorts, chilly.

There was a 📍Cratere del Laghetto in the mountain, mottled with paths. Interesting contrast of steam from the warm surface against the snowy slopes. I found someone's lost glove there and it made me feel a little warmer to photograph. 🙈

I followed a couple people ahead along the road, thinking they knew where they were going and soon caught up with them. Turned out they were going wherever they were going as well as I was.

The offline track showed that we were following the same trail I had planned to take, so we decided to go ahead. No one was encountered to bar us from the climb. Eventually we reached a bench and decided to look up the altitude on the GPS, it was about 2900m. There they decided to go back, and I, open to adventure, went further. I didn't have to walk long, after 100 meters I came to the very frozen lava flows blocking the trail and went back too.

I was starting to freeze, but soon reached the base of the cable car.

I particularly enjoyed this hike because of the sense of adventure and discovery.

Southern Sicily

Panoramas