Rising to 3,350 meters Etna is Europe’s highest most active volcano and over the past few years the world’s most active. Constantly smoldering it dominates the landscape in the northeast cornea of Sicily. To get to the top requires a terrific ride up winding roads with many switchbacks (SS92 filed to ‘future motorcycle routes’) to the base station where a gondola ride takes you near the top (in the winter you can ski down from this point.). All terrain buses with very large tires make the ascent to the upper regions of the mountain. An eruption in October 2013 wiped out the upper track used by jeeps to reach the very summit.
Our Audi A3 rental car did not like the steep climb to the base camp and overheated about a quarter of the way up. Steam poured out of the engine compartment and coolant ran down the road. Yikes, not good. The day ruined, no Etna tour for us. But wait…Jim had some cold beer in the cooler! Filled up the engine with a good German brew and the engine ran with normal temperatures for the ride back down the mountain to a gas station where we could fill up with water. It worked! Back on the road to the top of Etna after only an hour delay. Frowns turned to smiles!
The scene gradually changes as we ascend Etna, carefully monitoring our engine temperature. The beer infused coolant holds! Old lava fields with purple and yellow flowers, more recent lava flows with minimal growth and lush areas of vegetation where no recent spills have occurred. At the top the gigantic lava fields speak to numerous eruptions. The sulfur odour is strong as we cough and wheeze in the thin air on our final hike up to the main caldera. The vista is dramatic, like nothing any of us has seen before. No vegetation, grey-black lava rocks, black lava sand and very hot surfaces. We have arrived on a good day as the cloud cover is very minimal. We hike around the rim of the big caldera but the winds on the far side are concerning threatening to toss us into the abyss below. Some turn back. Kneeing on the ground only works for a short period of time as the surface is too hot. Jim bravely leads the way and we finally make our way round the rim to the sheltered lower sections.
A memorable day.
Visit the photo gallery for Etna for some truly awesome photos.