Climbing An Active Volcano just got back from one

[brainless 0]

I've just spent a week on Sicily (that large island southwest of Italy, if anyone's interested ) and on Wednesday, my group and me climbed the Etna, which was particularly active during the last couple of weeks.

 

Already on our way to the base station, it was a spectacular view for us - all the way around the volcano is covered in (hardened) lava. In some places it's as green as any other part of Sicily (which means rather yellow-brown than green) and it doesn't look interesting at all, in other places you can get a picture of how much force there is inside of this volcano - houses have been buried beneath lava and all one can see is the roof, maybe the upper floor...

 

A thousand meters further up the mountain, it's all covered in black dust and small stones, in few places, some kind of plant already began to grow but it's in no way green but plain yellow. Areas which have been covered in "fresh" lava during the large eruption(s) of 2001 did not cool down completely yet and the stone's warm enough to make water boil (well, that's something like 2000 meters above zero so you don't have to get the water to 100?C to make it boil...) and a dozen steps further up the mountain, the soil about twenty centimeters below the surface is frozen...

 

...and then you look up and notice that there are huge clouds emerging from the crater every other second, every single one creating a mushroom cloud like a miniaturized nuclear bomb:

 

A few hundred meters further along the mountainside (and about an hour and a half later), you reach a small crater (called "hornet") - it makes really strange noises, somewhat like hot air being pushed through small openings at a really fast speed, if you stand at the wrong place (I guess it's a wrong place because of what's following ) the air smells like rotten eggs - and you get the miniaturized but still deadly version of what it must be like at the main crater: yellow glowing pieces of lava are thrown through the air every other second and if you feel like committing suicide, you try to make really good pictures of this thing. I found myself standing in the middle of some freshly thrown pieces of lava when taking this picture (remember: We're talking about molten stones and not about sparks of burning wood):

 

When you put a handkerchief on the rather cold lava a few meters away from the stream of lava flowing down the volcano from this "hornet", it takes only a few seconds for it to burn down. well, the lava's pitch black but obviously hot enough to incinerate paper (sorry, no pic of this)...

 

...and in the meantime, the main crater is not throwing clouds of smoke anymore (well, with more light it would probably still look much like smoke) but hot lava:

 

On our way back to the parking lot, our guide noticed that a lava stream which was considered "dead" seemed to be back to an active state - after a short debate, we decided to have a look at it instead of going directly back down. It was really worth coming home two hours later than scheduled, I'll just post this picture and tell you that it looked much like this for about one hundred meters in each direction:

 

At this place, you could rather safely get as near to the lava as you liked (well, it's really, really hot...).

On our way back down it was rather dark so I didn't take any pictures - but as much of the way felt like a sandy beach, we were able to run down the mountain for some 1500 meters within fifteen minutes (it took hours to get up ).

If you ever get the chance to visit an active volcano - do it! it's amazing =)

[serverph 0]

interesting pics. i never had the chance to experience the same, but i plan to in the future. was it just a leisure trip or an educational trip for you, brainless, when you tromped your way to an active volcano?maybe you can discuss here what precautions your group took on this climb... like, would you need a face mask or something, given that nauseous and/or noxious gas can be encountered?; or, what footgear is it you used (would plain sneakers/rubber shoes be enough? didn't it melt under your feet?)?

[s2city 0]

That's really cool. I had no idea you could actually climb a volcano... let alone, an active one! Excellent pictures, maybe the next time I'm in Italy, I'll go for a climb too.

[husker 0]

Wow those are amazing pictures! I think I woulds be too scared to climb an active volcano, you never know when they might erupt. Looks like a lot of fun though. You should have touched the lava . That's definitely a good story to tell others. That just looks so cool, I wish I was there (but I would be far away from the lava).

[FLaKes 0]

That must have been an awesome trip. those pictures are really cool. I have never seen real lava before, but I have seen a volcano thats sort of nearby put off a lot of smoke. Ive also been near it around january when its covered in snow, Im hoping to go back next january.

[arif 0]

I have climbed on the most active vulcano in the world

it is Merapi mountain..

It's located in Boyolali, central Java, Indonesia

 

[brainless 0]

interesting pics. i never had the chance to experience the same, but i plan to in the future. was it just a leisure trip or an educational trip for you, brainless, when you tromped your way to an active volcano?
maybe you can discuss here what precautions your group took on this climb... like, would you need a face mask or something, given that nauseous and/or noxious gas can be encountered?; or, what footgear is it you used (would plain sneakers/rubber shoes be enough? didn't it melt under your feet?)?

It's been mostly a leisure trip for me but I still learned a lot during my week on Sicily

As to the equipment: We did not use anything special - except if you consider the usual stuff for walking off-road special: stable boots (IF you do a bad step, your ankles are a little stabilized so that IF you fall, your ankles are not twisted), a backpack plus some food and drinks, warm clothing (well, it's been quite warm up there but on mountains you often get strong winds, just like in the flat land)...
...rubber shoes were ok since we did not intend to step on the hot lava and your common boots don't melt at the temperatures the ground reaches were there is no lava - just about everywhere we went, we could touch it without burning our hands, that's usually a good sign if you're worried about heat

flakes: if you get the chance to climb it ... then do it, it's an awesome experience

[mojoman 0]

Awesome pictures of the volcano. Hope the rest of your trip in Sicily was also enjoyable

[sportytalk 0]

Cool, they are nice images of the lava and the volcano.I live in England, where we have no volcanoes or anything like that. One of the things I've always wanted to see is a volcano, especially a look at what's inside an active one. I've seen many volcanoes on cartoons and files, but you can never be sure whether these television programs are showing realistic images or making up images which look nothing like what volcanoes really look like.I didn't know that it was possible to climb up to the top of one and have a peep in unless you got seriously injured, burnt or killed by the hot lava that was coming out from the insides of the volcano. Even though I fancy climbing up the volcano, I don't think I'd ever be able to force myself to do it, even If I go to Italy, with the thought that if a bit of lava would hit me, I might die.Thanks for posting the pictures brainless. Even though I live miles away from the volcano, this topic made it possible to see images of what the volcano would look like if I was able to have a look. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to the active volcano.

Edited December 11, 2006 by sportytalk (see edit history)

[Saint_Michael 3]

Did you roast some marshmallows while you were up there?Bet you in shorts and a t-shirt most of the time. :lol:Of course that is one thing I like many others wouldn't do and that is walk on an active volcano, who knows when that bad boy could blow up. When I was in Washington State the military base I was on was about 26 miles from a non active volcano. Of course we got word that some crazy stuff was going on. Mostly micro-earthquakes from what I remember. so did you bring back any rocks from the volcano at all?

[sumit 0]

well i have never see any valcano mountain. i from Nepal, which is rich in mountains but here is no any valcano mountain.you might heard about Mount Everest but might not where is it? it is in Nepal. scientist claim that here is an valcanno mountain and it could be very danger and it takes many years of time to blast. well, pictures are so nice of the above.

[longtimeago 0]

hey is it really possible . ? i havent seen a volcano in naked eyes. but i have seen it clearly in that movie . i have heared that people cannot even stay near a active volcanoBut this story seems intresing , but i have one request to ask to the brace mountainnerrs , please can u try sharing some of your pics taken in that great tripjust because we all can see that and have a clear picture of your amazing trip. Anyway Congrats to those Brave mountaineers