Guajara Mountain in the Shadow of Teide

If you would put Guajara mountain in some other environment you will have a high mountain for every respect. For example, with its 2715 m, it is higher than famous German mountain Alpspitze. If you would climb it from the sea level, somewhere from the south coast of Tenerife, this would be a long and demanding tour.

[Silvius L. Weiss – Sonata for two lutes in C-Major – II. Allegro]

In fact, Guajara is the third highest Tenerife mountain, but it is very much overshadowed with the nearby mighty Teide which is 1000 meters higher. It is located to the south of Teide, with the following coordinates:

• Latitude: 28.21661
• Longitude: -16.61154

Two normal routes from the north start at the Parador hotel (2150 m) in the great crater (Las Canadas), so the height difference is only 565 meters.

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The hotel Parador is connected with the rest of the island by very good roads from several sides, and there are regular bus routes both from the north and the south of the island. From the north, the bus line 348 connects Puerto de la Cruz with Teide area. It starts at 9:15 am, and you will be at the Parador around 11 am. The bus goes back at 4 pm, and you will have enough time to climb the height difference of 565 meters and to get to the summit of Guajara.

North routes to Guajara

1. One of the two north routes goes over the pass Degollada de Guajara (2372), the blue line in the map above. The first part is rather flat, along a gravel road towards the east under the north wall of Guajara. After 3.7 km there is a sign (see the photo above) showing the direction to the right, towards Vilaflor and to the pass, so take this direction and soon you will get to the pass from where you will see the ocean in the south direction.

From the pass continue westwards towards the summit. This normal route is doable within 2 hours from the Parador hotel.

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2. The second north route (over Degollada de Ucanca) splits from the gravel road very close to the Parador, and this is clearly seen although there are no formal signs for the route. The route is marked by the red line in the map given above, and also in the photo below.

This route is shorter than the previous one, it is more direct and steeper. At some places, it is a bit exposed, but all the time it is still just a simple walk-up. You will need practically the same time to get to the summit, up to two hours. Here below are a few photos from this second route:

These are hiking tours in both cases, with breathtaking views over Teide massif, and you need only normal walking shoes and 2-3 liters of water in the summertime.

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This is an addition, January 29, 2017, an interesting video I just received in the comment below by Philip, please have a look. This is a sunrise on Guajara, you will enjoy it, he did, no doubt about it:

My climbs to Guajara

I climbed Guajara four times. My first climb was in 2012. I started my tour at 11:15 am from the Parador hotel. I decided to go rather fast and within one hour I was already at the pass Degollada de Guajara (2372 m). From there I followed the ridge and arrived at the summit at 12:55.  It was a rather hot day in June 2012, one week after I climbed Teide for the second time.

At 2 pm I descended the same way and arrived at Parador at 15:30. There were only two couples at the summit during my stay there. I carried 2.5 liters of water and used it all.

My second climb was in April 2015. This time I traversed the mountain, ascended by taking the shorter route (the red line on the map), and descended over the pass Degollada de Guajara (2372) (blue line).  Surprisingly, it took me almost the same time to get to the summit as in my first climb over the longer route, 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I realized that one part of the route is in the shadow of the steep cliffs of the mountain. So if you climb before noon on a hot and sunny day, perhaps it is better to take this route as compared to the other one.

As usual, Teide was in sight all the time, but for me, it was also great to watch Pico Viejo which I climbed in February the same year.  You may read about this experience here.

About my third climb, you may read in a separate post.

My fourth climb was with my daughter Ivana and with Iani, on August 1, 2015. We started from the hotel Parador following the route Degollada de Ucanca described above. It was a warm day, some problems with altitude (we were coming from the sea level from Santa Cruz), but we managed it. Here are a few photos from our tour.

To summarize, Guajara is not a difficult mountain if you start from the hotel Parador. Just take care of the Sun, have a hat and carry enough water in the summertime.

If you like this text please share it with others. I shall be happy to have your comments about the text and about your own experience in climbing this mountain.