Canary Islands and Tenerife

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Rock climbing program in Tenerife
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For many tourists, the idea of a holiday in the Canary Islands is inspired by images of distant tropical romance, high style and good, refined taste. But did you know that the name of the Canary Islands does not come from canaries, as some people think?

A bit of history

According to survived historical facts, in the 15th century, Spanish colonizers reached a small archipelago near the northern coast of Africa. At that time, these almost deserted islands were inhabited by numerous packs of huge wild dogs.

The recent past of the Canary Islands

The Spaniards did not find any gold in the Canary Islands, and, getting angry, solved the problem of the wild dogs in the usual manner of conquistadors - by killing off all the original inhabitants of their future colonies.

The memory of these truthful events remained in the name that the discoverers gave to the islands. Canary islands - in the Latin original - Canariae Insulae - is "Islands of Dogs".

This story should be kept in mind when planning a trip to this very unusual, but in its own way attractive, corner of the earth. You should agree, that a holiday on the dog's islands would not sound as romantic as if they were islands of canarie birds...

Canary (Dog) Islands

Idyll of the Canary Islands

My impression of the Canaries is based on more than a dozen trips to the islands with my thematic rock climbing programs. From point of view of a climber, for the sports training, the Canaries are just ideal.

Although, to be honest, I cannot call the Canary Islands an ideally comfortable place for the vacations in the broad sense of the word... For example, the island of Mallorca evokes in me much warmer emotions.

Tenerife Island is the top of a huge volcano, most of which is under water

The specificity of the Canary Islands is their purely volcanic origin. The main island of the Canary archipelago - Tenerife - is the top of a giant stratovolcano, which is everging from the ocean depths almost to the height of Everest - about 5 km of the base of the Teide volcano is under water and 3715 m above sea level.

Truly exotic rock climbing on a volcano

Volcano Teide 3715 m - the highest mountain in Spain

The crater of this giant volcano is the highest point of the island of Tenerife. The Teide volcano is visible from any part of the island in good weather. Teide Volcano is the highest mountain in Spain, taking into account the colonies.

In addition, Tenerife is one of the few locations in my climbing collection where sport rock climbing can be combined with a real mountaineering ascent to a quite noticeable altitude - 3715 m above sea level.

View of the Teide volcano from the Atlantic coast

Almost all my rock climbing programs in Tenerife include an ascent to the top of Teide on a day off from climbing training.

Of course, we climb to the top without using the cable car on the eastern side of Teide. Without using cheating methods, this climb can be considered as an honest and rather laborious ascent with an altitude gain of 1700 meters.

That kind of rest, of course, is very specific, but as a change of load - quite functional.

Ascent to the top of the Teide volcano

Some tourists complain of a strange feeling of discomfort while being in Tenerife, something like a slight feeling of unreasonable anxiety.

For sensitive people, this feeling may be related to the fact that any volcano, even an extinct or dormant one, is an active element of fire - unpredictable, dangerous, heavy and gloomy in close contact.

Similar sensations can be experienced on Teide and as well on Mount Elbrus, Ararat, Kilimanjaro, Kenya, Ojos del Salado or Klyuchevskaya Sopka - all these natural objects have a common, pronounced volcanic character.

Climbing the crater of the Teide volcano. There are numerous active fumaroles in the crater. On the horizon there is the neighboring island of Gran Canaria

Natural features of Tenerife

The relief of Tenerife Island is primarily characterized by its noticeable slope - from the surf line, the rocky slopes reach a height of 3715 meters at a distance of no more than 20 km. In other words, it is noticeable that the entire island of Tenerife, from the sea to the top, is the cone of a huge volcano.

The relief of Tenerife Island is typical of volcanic formations - the entire island has the shape of a cone

The slopes of the island are cut by deep canyons - these are traces of ancient or relatively recent eruptions, as well as active erosion of the soft volcanic rocks.

Masca Gorge in Tenerife Island

The most famous of Tenerife's canyons undoubtedly is Masca Gorge - unique creation of nature, a narrow and gloomy rocky corridor, more than 200 meters deep, steeply descending to the sea with a drop of altitude of about 1.5 km.

Masca Canyon in Tenerife Island

Masca Canyon is one of the most popular tourist routes in Tenerife, which can give a very unusual and fascinating impression of the island.

Normally, the tourist groups spend several hours walking down a path deep in the canyon to the coast, then relax on a beautiful but quite narrpow beach, from where a boat picks them up in the evening.

Boats await tourists at the exit of Masca Canyon

But, for an active format of acquaintance with Tenerife Island, you can try an adventurous version of this excursion - return to the beginning of the route along Masca Canyon on foot, having made the whole way back up the canyon.

This option, in terms of the volume of the load, can please even the most trained climbers or runners.

Climate of the Canary Islands

Another feature of the Canary Islands is the specificity of their climate. The combination of conditions - geographical location, proximity of ocean currents, the northern coast of Africa and the Sahara Desert, make the Canary Islands the only place in the world where the average annual temperature and rainfall practically do not change depending on the season.

The air and water temperature on the beaches of Tenerife practically does not change depending on the season

I can say that the Canary archipelago has a mild, warm, fairly dry summer all year round with an air temperature in the coastal zone of +18 - +24 ° C. The stable expression - "You will not freeze, neither nor sweat" - fully applies to the Canary Islands

How can the Canary Islands disappoint you?

Those who dream of a sweaty holiday in a hot tropical paradise may be disappointed visiting the Canary Islands as there is no pronounced tropical exoticism on the Canary Islands. Due to the dry and relatively cool climate, the nature of the islands is more inclined to the arid desert form.

There is no tropical splendor in the nature of the Canary Islands

The landscapes of the Canary Islands do not fit into the standard picture of a tourist paradise - these are just rocky slopes overgrown with cacti and sparse vegetation, cliffs with cedars and pines curved by the winds and long narrow beaches of dark volcanic sand interspersed with bright red remnants of tuff.

Cultural and historical sights of Tenerife

In addition to disappointment for those who expect tropical exoticism from the Canary Islands, the Canaries can also disappoint lovers of historical excursions, ancient landmarks and other cultural and educational additions to a holiday.

The currently inhabited part of Tenerife looks approximately the same along the entire coast

The Canary islands, and in particular, the island of Tenerife, do not have many places, a visit to which can expand your cultural horizons.

Before coming of the Spaniards, the archipelago was inhabited by a small tribe of wild Berbers, from whom remained no significant traces of any developed material culture. The dried mummy of an ancient inhabitant of Tenerife is perhaps the most valuable archaeological find on the island...

The Canary Islands were colonized by the Spanish during the period of their active expansion beyond Europe in the 15th century and were relatively populated by colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Colonization of the Canary Islands in the 16th century

During this period, the small towns that still exist today were built on the islands - in the classic colonial style - with narrow streets, low cozy buildings and openwork balconies hanging over the sidewalk.

Similar architecture can be found throughout the New World; there are no particular style features on Tenerife or other Canary Islands.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The capital and largest city of the Canary archipelago, Santa Cruz de Tenerife today has approximately 200,000 inhabitants.

Apart from a few local guerillas with the British troops at the turn of the 19th century, this corner of the earth cannot boast of any connection with the global events of ancient or even medieval history.

Therefore, lovers of antiquity and the ancient civilizations heritage should keep in mind that they will not find any traces of such attractions in Canaries.

However, some atmospheric historical places can still be found in Tenerife...

Tenerife Rock Climbing

A few words should be said about the peculiarities of rock climbing on the island of Tenerife, since the conditions for practicing this sport in the Canaries are unique in most of their characteristics.

Author of the text on the black basalt rocks of Tenerife

Due to the volcanic origin of the Canary Islands, the choice of rocks suitable for climbing is limited to various types and forms of basalt and volcanic tuff.

With all the diversity and unusualness of the volcanic relief, it is strange but there is no columnar basalt in the Canaries.

Rock Climbing in Tenerife in the Arico sector

Rock climbing in Tenerife is very different from the usual European forms of this sport due to the bright volcanic specificity of the routes.

In total, there are about 2,000 sport climbing routes of various categories on the island of Tenerife, from V to 8c+ (as of 2020). Many of these routes are unique in their technical characteristics.

The length of the sport climbing routes in Tenerife does not exceed 35 m, there are no multi-pitch routes on the island, as well as there are no options for climbing them.

Rock climbing in Tenerife in the Las Vegas sector

All rock climbing sectors (there are more than 20 of them in Tenerife) have convenient access by car. The road infrastructure of Tenerife allows you to easily move between the most remote locations.

The specific of the rock climbing routes of Tenerife is very pronounced, rock climbing on such terrain is not like climbing either on limestone or granite.

In most sectors, the routes are equipped along the lines of convenient, obvious holds, chacks or bubbles in the lava structure. Also there is a large number of slope routes that require perfect balance and practices rock climbing technique on smooth slabs.

Tenerife rock climbing

Tenerife island has many vertical and overhanging rock climbing routes, where gymnastic skills of climbing on the indoor wall are extremely useful.

Some rock climbing sectors are just unique - for example, El Rio - a deep canyon of dense dark basalt. Numerous climbing routes with infrequent but very convenient holds have been bolted on the vertical and mainly overhanging walls of the canyon.

Rock climbing in Tenerife in the El Rio sector

Speaking about the most attractive rock climbing locations of the island of Tenerife, it is worth mentioning the rock climbing sector Cañada de Capricho - that is an iconic rock climbing area inside the huge Teide crater, at an altitude of over 2000 m.

The significant altitude adds an unusual anaerobic effect to the rock climbing trainings - climbing at such an altitude involves experiencing the noticeable lack of oxygen.

Rock climbing in Tenerife in the Cañada de Capricho sector

Incredible rock shapes against the backdrop of a snow-capped volcano are the hallmark of the rock climbing in Tenerife.

The author of the text, photographs and trip itineraries to the Canary Islands - Alex Trubachev
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