An emergency helicopter was needed to rescue three people with hypothermia yesterday (Monday) at the top of the Teide Cable Car station, which remains closed for safety reasons due to bad weather, out of a total of 25 people who ignored weather warnings and accessed it on foot.
Over the last three days, the Tenerife Cabildo has rescued 130 people in extreme conditions, who have recklessly climbed Teide despite advisory notices.
Climbing Teide on foot will not be allowed from 4:00pm until 9:00am for the next two weeks until the Cabildo issues a resolution establishing the conditions under which people will be allowed to climb the peak of the National Park on foot during the winter season.
This was announced by the Minister for the Environment, Blanca Pérez, who described the situation of rescues over the weekend as “unprecedented”.
She reiterated that there has been a pre-alert situation due to rain and storms decreed by the Canary Islands Government since last Friday. “The Teide Cable Car was closed, there were temperatures below zero and these people decided to go up and, once at the top, they activated the emergency button to be rescued,” she explained.
“The first measure we have adopted is to prohibit access between four in the afternoon and nine in the morning until we regulate the minimum conditions that must be met by anyone who wants to climb Teide on foot. We are talking about high mountains, with temperatures that have reached -8°C and with the presence of ice and frost. You cannot climb Teide in any way. Our objective is to regulate this access for two weeks, so that anyone who wants to climb it has to comply with the conditions and safety requirements that we are going to implement,” she added.
On Saturday, the Cabildo coordinated the evacuation of 77 people, then on Sunday it was 28, and yesterday a further 25. During the weekend, the Teide Cable Car, which was closed due to adverse weather conditions, was temporarily activated to transport people down from the summit.
However, the cable car could not be activated yesterday due to adverse weather conditions, so a GES helicopter had to intervene, which transported three people affected by altitude sickness to the base of La Guancha. In addition, a team from the Tenerife Fire Brigade Consortium and the Red Cross rescue group were activated to complete the evacuation of the rest of the group.
Another measure adopted at the meeting on Monday is that the Teide Cable Car will not sell the descent-only option to avoid access on foot to La Rambleta.
“We are receiving around 1,800 requests for descent only per month, which means that people, the vast majority of whom are tourists, were going up on foot and then coming down on the cable car. We are going to eliminate that option until we establish new regulations to guarantee people's safety,” said Pérez.
Regarding the cost of the rescues, the councillor pointed out that the activation of the helicopter is the responsibility of the Canary Islands Government and that the Tenerife Fire Brigade Consortium estimates the cost of the rescue at around 1,800 euros per person (1,200 euros for the rescue and 600 euros of fines) so the corresponding sanction file will be opened for the people who were rescued yesterday.
The Tenerife Cabildo recommends that the public take extreme precautions during pre-alert, alert and maximum alert situations affecting the island, and requests that they follow the self-protection advice established in these cases to avoid unnecessary risks.
