Feb 25th: Etna

Etna is the most active volcano in Europe. It is in a constant state of change so is difficult to predict. In 1971 the early warning station set up to give advanced notice was caught out and destroyed by an eruption. Most recently there have been ash showers as shown from the drift at the side of the road. These are common enough for there to be permanent notices warning cyclists and motorcyclists of the risk of skidding.

I hasten to add that Jane is wearing a money pouch (21st century equivalent of the sporran), not a red leather bikini over her trousers: it’s not that sort of holiday.

We are driving up Etna’s northern slope where the road reaches 6,000 feet plus before descending, 20 miles farther on. The mountain peak is much higher at 10,900 feet and the upper slopes are attainable by cable car from the southern side. Since 1979 tourists can’t ascend the final 1,000 feet to the top because it’s too dangerous: 9 tourists were killed that year on the main crater lip. We’re not doing the cable car run as it’s too cold in winter and the lofty parts are mostly covered by clouds. They were today, so we made the right choice.

The road width and surfaces are good in spite of the seismic challenges, and we climb steadily until the route cuts through a huge lava field. This was the last major eruption, in 2002. The lava runs for many miles and the volume of out-pouring is vast. Here are a few photos that don’t really do it justice.

The dots on the skyline are actually people, so gives some idea of scale. We carry on driving up to the top and what happens to be the snow line. It seems, by the inactive ski lift and the bare snow poles on either side of the road, that maybe they haven’t had much snow this year. Anyway, there’s enough for a snap of me on an old grubby patch of it. I’m trying not to look like an old grubby poser.

There’s a lot more snow higher up, visible intermittently between the swirling clouds. It looks quite dramatic over the top of the lava flow, a bit like pictures of the Earth seen from space.

The whole of the lower slopes below the snow line are densely wooded, apart from what the lava has claimed. Below about 3,000 feet there are also many villages, some of which have suffered severe damage from eruptions. I wonder why people would want to live in such a dangerous area. Maybe to get the benefit of free underfloor heating!

Etna has more to offer: walking trails, visits to craters, gorges, and wildlife, but winter is not the best time for ordinary tourists like ourselves to be exploring high mountains. It was, nevertheless, an absorbing peek into a very different environment. A far cry from the Guy Fawkes firework called Mount Etna shaped like a cone that roared up a column of sparks for a minute or so to parody an eruption.