Stiff Spine Trail to the top of the Teide. Las Cañadas National Park in midsummer. It is the middle of August and the usual kicks in this unique environment prove a Dantesque panorama: waste in large quantities, papers, towels, masks, and so on. They highlight “the sad photograph that we found all the way to La Rambleta.” An “unpleasant spectacle: seeing the Refuge (of Altavista) closed, with its banks destroyed and the environment turned into a landfill.” This is assured by Pedro Millán, director of the Sustainable Santa Cruz Foundation and head of Rural Development of the Spanish Federation of Mountain Sports and Climbing (Fedme). But, above all, an expert mountaineer, connoisseur of the landscapes that he travels and so in love as a defender of his Island.
Millán values: “For me, who have been traveling this path for more than three decades, it is deeply saddened to see that each year that passes it is worse, and the amount of waste that you find when walking is greater.”
Inconsiderate visitors
The expert emphasizes that “This is not a problem that management can happily blame.” On the contrary, Millán values ”the fault lies with the inconsiderate visitors and without a minimum of education who come to this valuable mountain without the least preparation or culture.”
The mountaineer clarifies: “When we went up this summer my companions and I met many people who should not have been there, due to lack of preparation, equipment or education.” He insists: “In the absence of guards, I think that it is we, the citizens with more knowledge, who should warn or reprimand wrong attitudes to those who do not know or do not seem to want to know because there is everything.”
Pedro Millán reflects on his Facebook: “Up to a certain point, because it is not about fighting with anyone, but you cannot remain silent when you see that other people act badly.”
A reflection to conclude: «This type of action should make everyone think about the path towards a more mature and aware society. I am left wondering why when I walk through the Swiss or French Alps I do not see these impacts on the environment and here it seems that it is normal. Anyway, something will have to be done.
Millán wants to save from this negative picture “the environment of La Rambleta, which almost literally becomes an islet.” It is thanks to the good work in terms of cleaning the Teide Cable Car workers who previously did their work in the now closed Altavista Refuge. The Tenerife Island Mountaineering Federation has not taken 24 hours to respond to Pedro Millán’s call. Its president, Humberto Domínguez Martel, has sent a letter in this regard to Manuel Durbán Villalonga, Director of the Teide National Park. In the letter, the Tenerife mountaineers state: “We know that as a director you are aware of our concern about the amount of waste that some users dump on their routes along the Teide National Park.” Values the writing that «the lack of Environmental Education and respect for the Natural Environment on the part of some walkers makes it necessary to carry out not only a basic training but, also, awareness campaigns face to pass without leaving a mark on the use of the nature”. After this explanatory statement, the Federation requests «« your authorization to carry out next Saturday 21 (today) a cleaning activity of the Mirador de la Fortaleza and Montaña Blanca- La Rambleta trails and its surroundings, with special intensity in the surroundings of the Altavista Refuge ».
The cleaning day begins with a meeting at the beginning of the Montaña Blanca trail, at 7:00 in the morning to leave a car, in the parking lot with subsequent displacement to the base of the cable car to go up on the first trip. From there, start of a descent along the aforementioned trails to collect garbage and remains, depositing them in the corresponding containers at the end of the route. There will be a maximum of 20 members of the federation, whose group leader will be Sebastián Gil Ramos, the Federation’s Environmental Member.
Cause ‘impact’
The mountaineers intend to carry out an action “that causes an impact on Tenerife and Canarian society.” They announce that they will take over all the preparations and organization. They guarantee compliance with all current sanitary regulations.
The National Park Office has already answered affirmatively to the activity and “to walk through the Restricted Use Zone around La Rambleta and trails No. 11 and No. 7 of the National Park Trail Network.” Today is the clean-up mess on Mount Teide.
