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Etna (a ski resort out of season)
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Has anyone on here ever skied on Etna volcano? I've just come back from Sicily and went up it. After a long drive up the south-east side we arrived at the ski area. The infrastructure had been partially destroyed by lava in an eruption a few years back (we saw pictures) and rebuilt. There is a large refuge/hotel and snack bars, and big car parks and some summer tat for tourists.

We went up the long main bubble lift following obvious piste-routes into the clouds, with other sightseers (this is looking back down from it):


The pistes had been bulldozed and smoothed but the off-piste lava between them did not look inviting (except some places where it was covered by ash):


There were also a number of drag lifts and sometimes the clouds parted:


At the top another lift went higher but from here special buses (like very large Landrovers) would take us past it on an ash road bulldozed through the snow (that snow wall on the left is over 2 metres high in places):


There had been an eruption only about 3 weeks before (which they had watched from our next B & B 100 kilometers away) so there was lots of black ash lying on the snow and we couldn't go to the main crater which was still too dangerous (and unfortunately invisible in the cloud) but went to these 2 side-vents:


There is actually some good ski mountaineering and cross-country skiing to be had here, as a guide told us.

We walked across the snow to the 2 smaller vents (the rocks were quite warm or even hot in places by the path):




Afterwards we drove north around the East side and saw these inviting snow gullies on the North side (their bottoms hidden in this view) which a month or two earlier must have gone down to the refuge on a side road we didn't take. On the right edge of this picture there is also, I later discovered, a small North Etna ski resort.


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sat 14-05-11 16:48; edited 4 times in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

snowball, never been to Sicily - I had no idea there was infrastructure on Etna. Very interesting.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

This is my projekt for next season,, friend in Italy had say to me that the best time to ski etna is Mars, ( to windy before ) There is two ski area on Etna, and alpinetouring seems to be fine there,,, http://www.etnasci.it/
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I skied on Etna for a morning many years ago when I had a bit of freetime while doing some geology fieldwork there. I skied on the southern flank side, based in the Rifigio Sapienza, but there are also lifts on the northern flank near Linguaglossa. I just did it for the novelty factor rather than anything else, and only skied on a few pistes. Etna is relatively high and can get a lot of snow - I've had snow in August there, which is a bit weird for the middle of the Mediterranean.

Thanks for posting the photos; I've spent many months in that part of the world so it's good to see it again.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Been to Sicily twice, but didn't ski Etna. There's two resorts and should make for spectacular skiing as you can see the sea - but it's often shrouded in cloud.
Was scared off skiing by reports of an eruption taking out the cable car station...
More scary is the prospect of being struck by lightning up there - four deaths in five years!
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daveyladboy wrote:

More scary is the prospect of being struck by lightning up there - four deaths in five years!


Shocked

The station was taken out by a fairly slow moving lava flow so not much danger really - people were even allowed to go up and watch the flows if they did exactly what they were told.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Nice pics snowball

We've been up to the main crater but in August, no snow around at that time!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

Quote:

people were even allowed to go up and watch the flows if they did exactly what they were told.

but lava flows are not always obedient - some definitely have a mind of their own.

V interesting pics. snowHead
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Two cabelecars/gondolas have been destroyed on Etna's south flank, and I think at least one T-bar on the northern side. Lava flows on Etna don't really cause a threat to human life unless you're really stupid and jump on to a flow. It's possible to get very close, the limiting factor being how hot it is. Near the site of the eruption the lava flows in constrained channels, and at the front of the flow it moves very slowly across a broader spread of lava.

The four craters at the summit can be dangerous, and there have been fatalities as the result of a sudden explosion throwing material in to the air resulting in crush injuries. I had a close call there once. Lightening is also a regular threat, and being on the summit inside a cloud which carried a massive static charge was a novel experience (the ground was buzzing, hair stood on end and giant sparks were created when metal objects were a few inches apart).
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Etna erupted 48 hours ago - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13381243
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daveyladboy wrote:
More scary is the prospect of being struck by lightning up there - four deaths in five years!


More scary is rob@rar's first photo. I heard static can make one's hair stand on end but this must've really been something Wink
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.

Sideshow_Bob, Laughing It was quite hot there - my rubber-soled boots started to get sticky.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much

bluddy 'ell, it bleaches your hair too !!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.

The cyclists are making two ascents of Etna in the Giro d'Italia tomorrow . It'll be shown on Eurosport 1 at 14.45.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Wow, talk about skiing a young mountain! Fascinating, particularly so because I never knew there was infrastructure there - thanks for posting snowball and to everyone who has posted extra info.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

rayscoops wrote:
bluddy 'ell, it bleaches your hair too !!
That was the fear.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Can I recommend a fantastic B&B in Nicolosi for anyone travelling to Etna

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g660767-d653468-Reviews-B_B_Sotto_il_Vulcano-Nicolosi_Sicily.html#REVIEWS

Our review is buried somewhere amongst the excellents.

I notice the only Average review was from someone from France.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Great thread with great pics. Thanks posters.
I've been up Etna a while back as high as organised tours are permitted to go. Using these big forward control Landrover style vehicles for the last stretch on unmade road. In summer time.
It's an impressive place and I recall being able to enter and walk along an old lava tunnel (the hot liquid had all flowed away before solidifying leaving a tunnel big enough to stand up in. Weird) If you are in Sicily, it's a must visit. As is Taormina.
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Yes, we stayed in Taormina - a truely wonderful old town high on a very steep ridge by the sea.


This is the Ancient Greek theatre: on the mountaintop is a castle with the main town below it, and behind just to the right on another mountaintop is perched a village. If it hadn't been hidden by the cloud you would also have seen Etna to the left,
If I had given you the view from the middle or right of the seating you would have seen the sea ahead spread out far below.

PS they had just had a festival of Ancient Greek plays - hence some of the less well preserved seating still being covered by temporary modern terraces. The playing area had already gone back to normal.
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