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In Sept I hope to be the first person to climb the three Italian peaks of Versuvius, Stromboli and Mount Etna in 3 consecutive days. It is then an open independent challenge for anyone else who is fit enough and possible mad enough to scale two of the most active volcanoes around and the other that is quiet at present but when it does wake up it tends to go with a bang!!

I am also "selling a days front or back of tshirt advertising for £1000 a day if you are interested in seeing your company's logo at the top of a volcano! It's slightly more interesting than the side of a bus!

 The Three Peaks Italia

The aims of “The three peaks Italia” are:

• To raise money for heart related charities.

• To raise awareness of heart disease prevention and promote a healthy lifestyle.

• To provide a goal for people working towards a healthier lifestyle.

• To promote international cooperation towards combating preventable cardio vascular disease.

• To promote equality of access to medical services.

The challenge:

The challenge is to climb the three “peaks” of Vesuvius, Stromboli and Mount Etna in three consecutive days. (Including the time it takes to travel between them) It is up to you to choose the route and difficulty level and no you can't use the jeep transport! It should present a level of challenge appropriate to your physical needs, somewhere between running up 1000mts and walking up 500mts that represents a personal achievement or fitness target.

Its not just a long walk in the sunshine, (or rather 3 long walks!) the aim is also to raise at least £3000 for a heart related charity of your choice.

3 Days, 3 peaks, £3000

This is an independent challenge and can be completed solo or in small groups. It is not the idea to travel in large tour guide led/ coach groups or disrupt the local population by turning up at all hours of the day and night.

It is not an organised event therefore the responsibility for your safety and wellbeing is down to your preparation and planning. Italy is not the UK and you should do your research before just turning up. It is not a walk in the park either so make sure you have the appropriate gear and have done some training before hand. Having someone on your team that can read a map and or speak a bit of the lingo is also an advantage but not essential. Grappling with a foreign culture and doing it in an unfamiliar language is all part of the fun and why it is called “a challenge”.

 

The Volcanoes................. 

 

Mount Etna – (Italian) Mongibello 3340mt

This is the second highest volcano in Europe, superseded only by Mount Tiede in Tenerife. It is an active volcano and a guide is highly recommended, not just for safety but for information about your surroundings. There are poisonous gas emitions at the summit and the air feels difficult to breathe, people with breathing difficulties need to consider this.

There is a cable car (funivia) located on the southern side that takes you from 1900mt up to approximately 2700mt. Rifugo Sapienza is located at the bottom of the funivia and next to the mountain guide’s hut. Guides cost in the region of 61€ which includes park entrance.

Stromboli – Isola di Stromboli 926mt

The island volcano of Stromboli is part of a chain of 8 Aeolian islands in the Tyrrhenian sea. It’s located to the north of Sicily and south west of mainland Italy.

This is a very active volcano and a guide is not just recommended but considered essential. Your guide will most likely have radio contact with someone at base who can tell the conditions at the summit and give critical info such as earthquakes and eruptions. Stromboli is in an almost constant state of eruption and has been closed to tourists for several months, the last major eruption was 2^nd August 2008.

Vesuvius - Monte Vesuvio 1281mt

This is the only volcano on main land Europe to have erupted in the last 100yrs. (The others are islands) The last major eruption was in 1944, eruptions have tended to be explosive. It is located approximately 9km/6miles east of Naples (Napoli) The area around the volcano was turned in to a national park in June 1995.

Vesuvius is perhaps most famous for its eruption of AD79 which buried the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano in Italian in case you want to visit)

This is by no means an “easy” walk but could be considered the easiest. It is arguably the most popular and you are very unlikely to get lost once you reach the main tourist track that leads out of the coach park. You may decide on a longer approach to increase the difficulty and level of personal challenge, but if you have completed the other two first you may just want to appreciate the view!

A guide is not required for the last 200mt (altitude not distance) that leads up from the road access point, this part is on foot only.

You could consider taking in the Valle dell’inferno along Monte Somma to extend the hiking time, for this part a guide would be recommended.

Which one first?

The order depends entirely on you. You may want to start easy and build up or start hard and get easier. The suggested order would be Vesuvius, Stromboli, Etna or in reverse if you want to start hard and get easier. However you may want to consider that climbing Stromboli late afternoon and descending in the dark can provide some spectacular views. In which case you need to do this one last, so Vesuvius, Etna Stromboli.