Teide Volcano, view from the Parador Hotel, base 2100 m, top 3700 m, highest mountain in Spain. January 2005.
"Not possible go to Parador", all taxi drivers said at the airport, "too much snow, road blocked!"
This sounded unreal as snow is rare on Tenerife, even in early January. The Parador, a luxurious hotel, is at 2100 m but with a temperature of 21-25 Celsius at the coast, it should still be 5-10 Celsius at 2100 m.
Finally a young driver with a solid looking Mercedes said "no problem, 60 Euros, one hour". I checked his tires and they looked fine but I did not like the radial tires, would prefer winter tires
The two lane road up was a constantly winding road and in places narrow. Above 1000 m, there were traces of snow on the side of the road and above the last village of Villaflor at 1500 m, there was a solid snow cover but the road was clear.
It rained and the cold temperature repeatedly fogged up the wind shield. The car blower could not clear off the fog and it seems the heater didn’t function so we drove slowly.
It took us indeed one hour to get there but in a cold car. The taxi meter read 33 Euro.
Snow cover at the hotel was some 30 cm, but the reoad was clear.
Snow at 2100 m altitude, Teide Volcano in the clouds (top right). Parador Hotel far left.