Expedition El Teide

Texto retirado do Sas Story

14 de novembro

We left to El Teide in the morning, driving to something we weren’t really sure what to expect from. I was really excited, I think we all were!

After the bus to the mountain and our nice ambulant lunch, we started to walk.

Five minutes after starting I could already feel the heat, the heaviness of my big backpack. I got worried and wondered how would I handle this for the next six hours. The plan was to get to a hut in 6 hours, sleep there and wake up early in the next day to achieve the pique.

Not long after starting and after the initial shock I got into the rhythm. Well, not the rhythm but my rhythm.

We walked for 40 minutes and the mountains were just amazing, beautiful and powerful in such a peaceful way. The whole group stopped after 40 minutes, rested for a few moments, recovered some energy, looked at the beauty surrounding us. After this, groups started to be better defined, a more advanced, faster group, a middle and bellow group.

We were finding our place in the walking and in between different rhythms I fitted in the backer part of the group. It was a pretty exhausting walk until the refugio, we went up more than a 1000 meters in approximately four hours and a half, five hours. I was able to do small frequent stops which allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the nature surrounding us.

The most impressive thing I felt throughout the long walk was the silence in the mountains. Nearly absolute. No other living beings, just us and the enormous mountains. It was such an incredible feeling. Scary, relaxing and peaceful, all at the same time.

For the last 15 minutes of walking, I had help from one other sasser. He carried my backpack until the refugio, where the temperatures were already low. When I finally got there, everything felt great! I felt exhausted but so incredibly happy and satisfied.

In the refugio, rooms opened only in a few hours and so all of us, 36 people, had to wait in a hall inside. It was cozy and warm.

When we went in, it became a cozy chaos. Everyone was lying on the ground, or sitting, sleeping, eating, talking, letting out emotions from the last intense hours.

We had dinner, prepared by three of our students in kitchen duty. Everyone went to bed early, getting ready for the final waking in the next day.

As planned, everyone was up at 4am, we left to the pique one hour later. I had put on all my warmest clothes, prepared to the cold in the highest point of the mountain.

It was tiring and getting to the pique was a real challenge. A constant fight with myself, wanting but not wanting to stop and rest at the same time.

The pique, the highest point, early in the morning, with the sun rising was absolutely beautiful.

Incredibly cold but a unique view of the sea, the island and the world, in a fantastic way. It was again a moment of great satisfaction.

The whole trip to El Teide was fantastic. The group unified and got together to help who needed the most. We enjoyed and lived amazing moments. And we reached our goal, overcame an amazing challenge and had a great time doing it.

Mimi at sea