Kiting at Etna Volcano Sicily Italy

Just in time I arrived on Saturday for the www.chastadays.com while Chasta, Pascal and Kari had their session on the north side I got to the hotel on the south which was completely in the fog and it was already too late for the drive to the other side. But Sunday looked promising and it was!!! Again Chasta, Pascal, Kari and me took the first gondola up the ski resort at 9am. The kites were out half an hour later but it was super tricky to get out the bowl we were in and further upwind through the volcano rocks sharp as razors. The wind was blowing kind of north – west and came downhill from the top giving us a toxic breeze in the nose as we climbed. Thanks to the balaclavas we could use as a filter. This mountain was boiling that day as the smoke rises heavily… exciting and scary at the same time. But as most of the time the excitement overweight and we went on. Actually it was only Chasta and me left as Pascal and Kari were struggling to get out the bowl at the start with the gusty conditions.
The route wasn’t easy at all although the wind got more constant the further up we got and we took the perfect choice with our Mantas M3 12m that day. We had to make our way uphill and upwind through the rocks and craters. The little snow didn’t leave us much space sometimes but after about 2h we reached the north face of the main crater top. About 100m down the top we packed our kites in a safe place before we hiked up the rest of the volcano. Standing there at 3289m and looking into the smoking big hole is like the gate to hell on one side and watching down to the medeterain sea on the other like heaven. It was a real impressive feeling standing there so close to this active crater and we enjoyed it big time taking all the time we needed as there was no rush to leave as it was just 12am. With the kites in our rucksacks we rode back close to where we started meeting all the other guys that were riding down at 2600m near the ski resort. The wind dropped quite soon after Chasta and I left they told us giving them not enough power to climb further. We have been so lucky we went for it straight away as the wind died out completely that afternoon.

Check out our GPS track here: