Mount Etna day hike
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 6.71 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,186 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 3,186 ft
- Max elevation
- 9,739 ft
- TrailRank
- 54
- Min elevation
- 6,366 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 3 hours 28 minutes
- Time
- 4 hours 52 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1866
- Uploaded
- June 18, 2019
- Recorded
- June 2019
near Villa Milia, Sicilia (Italia)
Viewed 1802 times, downloaded 117 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
We started right away after getting off the bus. You had two options here. One is to follow the road up to the gondola station at 2,500 meters. The other is to flank the volcano going northeast through the scree. We took option two because we thought the view from the road would only be of gondolas and that's boring! The way we took gave us good views of the craters on that side. Very colorful!
The way up is tiring due to the scree but it's nothing bad. It saves you so much time coming down as you can ski/run your way down through the scree. It's an easy hike, I think. A fit hiker would probably do it in 4 hours coming down through the scree. This would be up to the limit where people are allowed to go without a guide which is to 2,900 meters next to a booth where you can hire one. However, you can still visit the nearby craters (up to 2,940 meters) to see their cool colors and one of them still smoking! There's a sign at the booth that says you're not allowed and need a guide for the craters but no one seemed to care that I went. I think it's the tour they sell to people who want to go with transport and guide. You don't need any of this unless you're going close to the summit. So it's just to get money out of people. Even if you only took transport up to the booth, no need for a guide.
Anyway, cool volcano and it was nice seeing all the mini craters on its cone. It's telling how active its been since its existence!
The way up is tiring due to the scree but it's nothing bad. It saves you so much time coming down as you can ski/run your way down through the scree. It's an easy hike, I think. A fit hiker would probably do it in 4 hours coming down through the scree. This would be up to the limit where people are allowed to go without a guide which is to 2,900 meters next to a booth where you can hire one. However, you can still visit the nearby craters (up to 2,940 meters) to see their cool colors and one of them still smoking! There's a sign at the booth that says you're not allowed and need a guide for the craters but no one seemed to care that I went. I think it's the tour they sell to people who want to go with transport and guide. You don't need any of this unless you're going close to the summit. So it's just to get money out of people. Even if you only took transport up to the booth, no need for a guide.
Anyway, cool volcano and it was nice seeing all the mini craters on its cone. It's telling how active its been since its existence!
Waypoints
Photo
6,581 ft
Comments (2)
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Is there any way to skip the local guides and to hike to the peak and the highest crater?
Not that I knew of. There were people checking who goes past a certain point, if I remember correctly.