Our first attempt at Pico Mountain was actually a couple days ago. With almost a full moon, our guide suggested a moonlight hike to watch the sunrise from the summit. Sounded great to us! The little boys slept over at the Alkers and we headed out at 1:30am.
One thing we’ve learned about Pico in the month we’ve been here is the weather is very unpredictable. We use various weather sites to predict rain and wind however what happens on one side of the island is usually very different from the other.
It was clear and beautiful when we left our house, however when we arrived at the base camp, the weather was pretty poor. It was foggy, windy and starting to rain. So at 2:30am we decided to cancel the hike for the night and we headed back home and back to bed!
Wednesday – Pico Attempt #2!
We decided to try a second attempt during the day. Some light mist was expected, but supposedly a clear view from the top (most days Pico Mountain is surrounded by a blanket of clouds). So we picked up our guide (Ricardo) and headed out again.
The base camp for Pico is about 1500 meters above sea level and is basically a small house – complete with snack bar (you know what that means) and registration area. It is strongly recommended you take a guide, and we had our friend Ricardo with us who has done over 300 hikes on this mountain (and climbs over the lava rock as if he’s taking a Sunday stroll).
We started out and Ricardo pushed us up the first part of the mountain pretty quick. There is a small set of stairs leading you out to the trail, and for the first 30 minutes or so you have a decent hiking trail. And then things change.
The nice dirt trail we started on disappeared pretty quickly and we began the climb. We were basically climbing straight up the face of the mountain – many times on all fours. It was pretty intense. Thankfully lava rock has a decent grip so even in our running shoes we seemed to do ok (down was a bit of a challenge). Hiking shoes a must next time!
After 45 minutes I was huffing and puffing and wondering how in the world I was going to make it 3 hours – which was our estimated time to the top!
A quick note – many of the blogs describe Pico as a pleasant hike. Ha! Hike is not the word I would use to describe our adventure. It is a grueling climb, requiring a certain level of fitness and you spend most of your time looking down, watching every footstep to ensure you step in the most stable area.
Climbing in the mist definitely limited our visibility but when you are climbing over rock (and having to watch every single step) you aren’t spending a lot of time looking around! We climbed up through the mist to about 2,000 meters and suddenly the mist cleared, the sun came out and we saw the amazing views above the clouds.
The winds picked up at the top and we continued up to the crater. It was a busy day on the mountain but Ricardo kept us on a ‘trail’ that seemed to avoid most of the other climbers.
We decided to ascend the summit immediately and then climb back down to the crater for lunch. My first thought when we saw the summit from the top of the crater - we’re climbing that?! It looked steeper than anything we had climbed thus far and just getting to the crater was a challenge! You can see in the close up shot below the tiny white specks of a few people sitting on top of the peak.
We continued up and the wind was howling! We were holding on for dear life – praying we wouldn’t get blown off the side of the mountain and into the ocean! Ashley was definitely outside of her comfort zone but she pushed on with the rest of us (probably cursing us under her breath).
Climbing up to the summit required all fours. No pictures of that climb up because I didn’t dare take a hand or foot off the mountain! We successfully reached the summit in 2 hrs 20 min – a great time!
The view from the top was amazing! There was a blanket of clouds behind us on the island side and nothing but blue sky in front of us looking towards Sao Jorge. It was busy at the top – at least 20 people there when we arrived (and there is hardly enough space for even that many).
There’s a big piece of equipment sitting in the crater – you can barely see it in the pic below. This is an air pollution study being conducted by the University of the Azores in partnership with scientists from Michigan Technological University and the University of Colorado. We passed a couple of the researchers on our way down. They were heading up with tents, prepared to camp in the crater for a couple nights (crazy!).
http://instaar.colorado.edu/groups/pico/
After a few moments to enjoy the view and snap a few pics we headed down. We climbed back into the crater and found a nice protected spot to enjoy our lunch (the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’ve ever had!).
After lunch it was a steady climb back down. The mist was still covering the mountain at 2,000 meters so we zipped up and headed back.
Took a quick photo stop at a lava tube near the bottom of the mountain.
And finally... 6 hours later - base camp was a welcome site! We stopped for a quick drink and snack before heading back home.
Would we do this climb again? ABSOLUTELY!!
Rest of the Gang
Meanwhile as the four of us scrambled, sweated and tried not to get blown off the mountain, Tricia took the little ones out for a little fun. First stop was a large park near Lajes.
Last stop was a lake (Capitao) very close to Pico Mountain and where we all met up for the ride back to Sao Roque.
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