Mount Pico
Azores, Portugal
Mount Pico, Azores, Portugal
Altitude gain: 1,200 m
Elevation: 2,350 m
6 hours, 8 km
It requires a little extra effort to climb Portugal’s highest mountain. Mount Pico is located in the Azores, an archipelago of 9 inhabited islands, about 1,000 miles off the Portuguese mainland, right in the middle of the Atlantic, at the far-western edge of Europe. The Azores are a wonderfully rewarding destination for the independent traveller. I have written about the Grande Rota de Santa Maria, a circular long distance trail along the perimeter of the southernmost Azorean Island. I also spent time exploring the Azores Triangle consisting of the islands of Faial, Pico and São Jorge which are in close proximity of one another making and are easily connected to one another by short ferry hops. But Mount Pico deserves a special mention.
Trip Essentials
Visitors to the archipelago usually arrive at the Azores only international airport at Ponta Delgado on São Miguel. From here, SATA Airlines provides regular connections to all of the other islands, including Pico, which is just a short 45 minute flight away. We based ourselves on the west coast of the island, in the sleepy village of Madalena, mainly for its easy ferry connections to the other islands in the triangle, but also because it sits pretty much right at the foot of Mount Pico. There are numerous Air Bnb’s on offer, yet we opted for EPICenter, a spacious house on the southern fringe of the village. Most people tend to rent a car with the Azores’ chief provider Ilha Verde. For cost reasons, we chose to book a scooter with Pico Island Adventures, located opposite the ferry terminal in Madalena, and the 50cc vehicle just about made it to the start of the hike at 1,100 m, even with two passengers on board.
Mount Pico as seen from the island of Faial
Before setting off, you have to register your climb with the Azorean authorities. On the day, follow Road R 3-2 which leads east out of Madalena for about 20 minutes until a well-signposted turnoff heads towards Casa de Montaha, the ranger station where you have to check in. Only 300 permits are issued per day, organised into 6-hour time slots. We managed to book an opening from 12.00 – 18.00, since the morning rota was already full. Yet, when we arrived at the ranger station at 10.45, the attending official happily let us through the turnstile (!), but not before giving us a well-rehearsed warning about the toughness of the climb, whilst also inspecting our footwear and equipping us with a device that tracked our movements, so that an eventual rescue could be quickly organised. Very impressive.
Above the clouds on the slope of Mount Pico
At every stage of the day, no more than 160 hikers are allowed onto the mountain and in the months of July and August there is a strict one-off-one-on policy in place, with a stand-by queue forming as early as 6.00 am. You can even spend the night up on the mountain top, enjoying fabulous sunrises and sunsets (and indeed we saw a small tour group of highly anxious looking tourists puffing their way up the mountain at 5.00 pm). You might want to try the aforementioned Pico Island Adventures if such a group activity takes your fancy.
Climbing Pico, was certainly one of the more arduous excursions that Carlos and I have managed. 3 ½ hours up a volcano, but not along a beaten path, but instead by scrambling over lava rocks, every now and then even on all fours. It was very challenging to develop some sort of rhythm as our strides were constantly interrupted by uneven lunges, stretches or jumps. For the first hour we hiked through a thick bank of mist, eventually emerging to glorious sunshine with the surrounding islands hidden by a blanket of cloud. Quite magical.​
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The top of Mount Pico
The latest volcanic eruption on Mount Pico was in 1720, and you can clearly see the destructive forces of nature towards the end of the climb, as you will walk along the rim of a sizable crater whose top had been blown off. A little pointy finger however survived, which is now Portugal’s highest elevation, and you have to spend a further 45 minutes or so, scaling its often steep heights. 360 degree views towards São Jorge and Faial and across the entire island will be your spectacular reward (unless of course the islands below will be covered in a blanket of cloud, as was the case on the occasion of our hike).
The hike back down was equally tricky. Uphill, lungs and calves took a hit, now it was our thighs that had to bear the brunt of the strain. We had to make sure to descend on solid lava rockwork in order to avoid slipping down the cliff face. Easier said than done given the abundance of gravel and sand. The weather also started to act up with fog and clouds drifting in the from Atlantic. Mercifully, the national park authorities had erected numbered trail posts, but on occasion we were forced to scan the horizon, waiting for the fog to pass through before spotting the next one in the distance.
Mount Pico towering above the village of Madalena
Upon our return, we managed to engage the rangers in some friendly conversation. During high season, they have to execute one or two rescue operations per week with hikers being carried back down on a stretcher. No wonder the rangers give you a stern lecture before you hit the trail. We were mightily impressed by the story of the oldest climber ever to scale Pico’s heights; a 92 year old Japanese woman who had lived all her life on the slopes of Mount Fuji, giving her what must be a horse-like lung capacity. Her daughter and granddaughter however, barely made it back down, with the park rangers' words of warning presumably ringing in their ears.