The Tenerife Council, through the Ministry of Tourism, announces the signing of a collaboration agreement with the La Orotava City Council to carry out the construction works of a safe paraglider take-off platform in the Izaña area, in the Teide National Park. 458,614 euros will be invested in an action that will provide one of the main flight areas on the island of Tenerife of adequate space for take-off.
The island president, Pedro Martin (PSOE), stresses that «the Cabildo of Tenerife It will invest almost half a million euros in La Orotava to improve an area used by paragliders in Izaña that, due to its continued use, is in poor condition. And he adds that “this agreement that we will sign with the La Orotava City Council It is the response to a need that has been generated on the island, due to the rise of flight sports, and that will order the take-off areas, facilitating the conditions and ensuring that this activity does not generate environmental damage in the place ” .
These works will be included in the Strategic Framework for the Improvement of the Tourism Product, in the chapter dedicated to activities in contact with nature, and will be executed in accordance with the financing program of the Strategic Insular Development Framework (Medi), with money from the Canary Islands Development Fund (Fdcan).
The works will be carried out, specifically, at the Igueque viewpoint, “On a plot located at 2,200 meters above sea level, in a place that is currently very deteriorated by use,” says the insular director of Sports, Laura castro, which adds that this location is “one of the most used on the island”, since apart from being located in a spectacular landscape, next to Mount Teide and on the Valley of La Orotava, is “the highest takeoff in Spain and gives the possibility of landing right next to the sea”, on the esplanade of the pier in the city of Puerto de la Cruz.
The technical intervention foreseen in this project includes the creation of an access point to the platform from the viewpoint; the conditioning and delimitation of the road to the take-off point; the erasure of unauthorized pre-existing roads; the construction of foundations and a floating wooden platform for take-off, as well as the installation of a wind chute and the corresponding information and safety signage.
Laura castro highlights “the importance of adventure sports in the tourism proposal of the island of Tenerife and the convenience of enabling safer and more controlled spaces that allow these activities to be carried out in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way.”
According the Canarian Federation of Air Sports (Fecda), in Tenerife there are currently 14 paragliding take-off areas, distributed between the North (4), the South (8) and the metropolitan area (2). They are located in El Tanque, Icod de los Vinos, Los Realejos, La Orotava, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Arafo, Güímar, Fasnia, Adeje, Guía de Isora and Santiago del Teide. In addition, there are other areas used for flights in La Paz, in the municipality of Puerto de la Cruz, and in Tierra del Trigo, in Los Silos.
The take-off points located at the highest altitude are those of Izaña Norte and Izaña Sur (2,200 meters); Arafo (1,255); Guide Fabric (1,030); Ifonche (1,000); Taucho (760); La Corona (761), and the hillside of Güímar (703). The lowest take-off point is about 70 meters above sea level, above Las Teresitas beach. In Fasnia, the takeoff is barely 371 meters above sea level, and in the case of Taganana, in Anaga, about 400 meters.
