Southern Route from Villaflor

Overview

Most people climb Guajara starting from the Cañadas del Teide either from the parking lot at the Roques de Garcia or from that at the Parador Hotel. The obvious advantage is that you start at around 2000m elevation and have a mere 700 left to reach the summit. There are two routes through saddles on either side of the mountain, which can be combined in a hald day loop hike. A far more ambitious undertaking is the hike from Villaflor in the south which is located at around 1400m. Even if you start at the trailhead for Paisaje Lunar at around 1600m you have still 1300m to scale at a length of a little less than 18km. Thus the route is very rarely hiked and only on its lowest and highest sections will you meet fellow hikers. In charecter the southern route is an easy hike along well marked trails. You can sidestep to the hoodoos of Paisaje Lunar and Paisaje Lunar Negro but until you reach Degollada de Guajara there is no difficulty involved. The last section can be hiked by a steep but easy route to the south of the crest of the mountain (easy) or along the east ridge itself which is even steeper and somewhat exposed in places. Once you reach the huge summit plateau the main issue is the often strong and cold wind so that you have to hide behind cairns and walls set up by previous summiteers. While Guajara is a wonderful lookout for Teide and the Cañadas, the huge sloping plateau prevents you from getting the perfect 360° view. You'll have to walk to either side to get better glimpses of the area around you.

Getting There

The trailhead is either at Villaflor itself or at the Paisaje Lunar trailhead to its north-east.

• From the airport take motorway TF-1 east to San Isidro
• At the first exit take TF-64 to Granadilla
• Switch to TF-21 which takes you to Villaflor
• For the Paisaje Lunar trailhead drive through Villaflor in direction Teide
• In the fourth switchback above the village turn onto a dusty dirt road which will take you to the trailhead. Lookout for signposts for the trail to Guajara and park nearby.The Paijaje Lunar trailhead is about 1km beyond.

  Route Description

  • General:
    • Start altitude: 1400m / 1600m
    • Summit altitude: 2715m
    • Prevailing exposure: N
    • Type: Hike
    • Protection: None
  • Effort: 2 - 1300m / 1600m elevation gain
  • Power: 2 - Steep final ascent to the summit plateau
  • Psyche: 1 - Easy
  • Difficulty: 1 - Easy
  • Orientation: 1 - Easy if done as decribed
  From the trailhead follow the well marked trail up through the Canary Pine Forest. The general direction is north at first and you follow a broad back. After a while the trail turns east to negotiate two barrancos before winding northwards again. In one of the curves a signpost points towards Paisaje Lunar, which you can easily reach via a narrow hiking path. A few hundred metres take you to a lookout across the tuff hoodoos. From there a steep and winding path leads in 5min to the base of the formations.
  Return back to the signpost mentioned above and head onwards on the Guajara Route.It soon heads above the timberline onto the east slopes of Montaña de las Arenas where you can find the pillars of Paisaje Lunar Negro in a barranco. The path heads now across a cinder slope, straight as a ruler, in the general direction of Degollada de la Guajara. After the cinder patch ends it starts to wind along the Guajara east slopes crossing a few shallow barrancos on the way. Before you reach Degollada de Guajara, about 500m to the south, the easier of the two ascent routes turns left (west) up the east slopes of Guajara. It is a steep hike across gravel terrain, easy but still strenuous. An alternative would be to hike all the way to Degollada de Guajara and from there hike the ridgeline of the Guajara east ridge. This alternative is a bit steeper and more exposed.

  Essential Gear

  Hiking gear is sufficient. Warm clothes to counter cold, strong winds and enough water. Also, remember that you start your day near sea level and go up all the way to 2715m, which might involve serious headaches (for me it usually does).
  
  

  Images

  View Southern Route from Villaflor Image Gallery - 11 Images