Article Roque del Conde

Roque del Conde is a table mountain with a huge plateau at its summit. However, its walls are very steep, and one of the two paths that lead to its summit should only be used in dry weather, as it becomes extremely slippery when wet. Which we partially tried because the top of the mountain was in a misty cloud. However, the south-west of Tenerife is the driest area of the island, so the probability of heavy rainfall is low here. The usual route runs along the southern face of the mountain and passes between natural ledges.

The mountain is also easily accessible by public transport. We took bus 342 directly from Costa Adeje, but this is more of a tourist connection once a day, because it goes to the higher village of Vilaflor, where the treks to Pico de Teide start. This bus is more expensive (about 6€/person), but you can use the regular lines that go from Los Cristianos and they are already for the usual rate of about 1.5€ and they go about every hour.

Although the south of the island, where the mountain is located, is very dry throughout the year, you can find interesting tropical vegetation here too. We went on the trek in December, when the vegetation here is in full bloom during the winter. Due to the temperature difference between the night and the day, in the morning dew is precipitated, which covers everything.

As you climb the green hiking trail, you can enjoy views of the Costa Adeje below.

The island of Tenerife was formed by volcanic activity about 7 million years ago, and the ubiquitous lava craters remind us of this. The locals have learned to use this feature of the landscape as well and have created banana plantations in the flat center of the craters under the mountain.

The higher mountains in the center of Tenerife are sometimes covered in clouds, although the sun shines on the coast. The cloud accompanied us during the entire climb up the mountain. Sometimes, however, the impenetrable fog dissolved and let us peek into the surroundings, only for another blanket of white droppings to roll in and hide everything again.

Erosion has shaped the three oldest parts of Tenerife for the past 5 million years, creating ridges of pinnacles and towers, mesa-type plateaus and deep-seated canyons. You can see all of this around Roque del Conde, which itself has taken on the role of a plateau. To the north, the ridge of Los Riscos, Roque de los Brezos and Roque Imoque form former volcanic plugs, while at its base to the west you'll find Barranco del Infierno, one of the island's most popular canyons. The roads to Roque del Conde lead to another of these canyons, Barranco del Rey.

After conquering the mountain and descending the stony terrain in a circuit, we moved from the green route to the red route, which led us to the village of Vento. It is a tiny typically Spanish village with a church as a dominant feature in the center of the square.