Well this post is out of order in terms of what we did on the holiday, but it was pretty much the highlight so I figured it was ok to talk about it first! I hope you've checked out the photos on Flickr - I've had some of mine back but they aren't as good as Kev's. I haven't uploaded them yet but will do so...
We had done a bit of research before going to Stromboli, so knew it was possible to climb the volcano. According to the guide book there was two options - a climb that left around late afternoon, or a climb that left around midnight, when you went up the mountain, sat there for about 3 hours watching the lava and waiting for the sun to come up before descending again. Before we got there we thought we would do that option but (thank god!) when we got there they said they no longer offered that tour as it was too dangerous to spend all night on the volcano. I don't know if I would have been able to stay up there that long anyhow, so I don't know what I would have done if we had done it! Stromboli last erupted in Dec 2002/2003 - luckily at Xmas time so there was hardly anyone on the island and so no one was killed. Caused a tsunami though that made it to Italy... Climbs to the summit have only been running again since March 2005 - so not very long...
We climbed with Magmatrek - check out their website here. Although it didn't really occur to me until afterwards, they had a very relaxed attitude to the whole deal. In terms of equipment we had to bring a torch (my head torch from Trailwalker came in very useful again!), a jacket, water, and a bandana or something to breathe through if it was dusty on the summit. No one checked our kit though... When we went to confirm our booking and pay the money we were also told that our guide didn't speak any English. They weren't telling us that from any safety angle - just to let us know! Luckily in our group (you climb in groups of about 10-15) we had a French guy who spoke some Italian and some English so he translated for all the English speakers in the group!! So when it came time to set off he just rounded us up and off we headed. No talk about the dangers of the volcano or what to do if anything went wrong - looking back afterwards it is hard to imagine any similar sort of expedition being run like that now in NZ!!
And so we headed off. It took about 2.5 hours to climb it - around 900metres high. There were a couple of school groups ahead of us (also being guided by Magmatrek) and another Magmatrek group behind us. I'd been a bit worried about the climb, but the guide took it really slowly and it was a very zig-zaggy path so wasn't too difficult. Incredibly hot tho - to say I was a sweatball would be pretty accurate! We set off about 4.30 and got to the summit at 7. Just before we got to the edge of the crater that we took the photos from there was an enormous boom (a bit like a sonic boom that radiated through your whole body), the ground shook, and in the distance you could see a red glow. And that was it for me - all of a sudden I realised where I was, and the penny dropped that the volcano might erupt with me on it! That wasn't helped by the fact that once we were all sat down on the crater edge one of the English speaking guides (Mario on the website) said we would be there for an hour. Then a couple of minutes later he was back saying "Actually its pretty active tonight (we'd just had another display of lava erupting) so we might not stay for the full hour...". I'm sure they say that to all of the groups but I was scared!!
Where you end up sitting is on a ridge that looks down to the vents which are where all the action is now happening. It is quite possible that if it spat out enough lava/rocks it could blow back on to the tourists, but you just have to trust that they are monitoring it enough so they know it isn't likely to happen. In the hour we were up there (which felt like a lifetime to me), we probably saw about 5 of the bigger eruptions, where the lava was shooting up into the air, accompanied by that booming sound that made me convinced I was about to die... And in between those there would be lots of other smaller eruptions - so I think it is safe to say that we really got our money's worth!!
It really was an incredible experience - even staying on the volcano was quite amazing as every now and then during the day you would hear a boom from the summit - its a pretty fiery one. I don't think I've really captured what it was like but it is hard to put it into words. I thought I was pretty au fait with the volcanic side of Mother Nature - growing up in Taupo with boiling mud pools and geysers and things you get some feel for it. But they have absolutely nothing on what I saw - we really do live on a ball of molten lava - and it was absolutely incredible, awesome and terrifying (to me) to see it at such close quarters.
Coming down was quite fun - I think we basically skiied down the side of the mountain, wading through the volcanic ash/sand that coats it. Fell over a couple of times but it was just like falling on a sand dune - also weird though cos you just couldn't see where you were - you just followed the torch in front! And I just felt better the closer I got to the bottom...
But I'd really recommend the trip! Even though it freaked me out, I would have been gutted to miss it due to bad weather or anything. And now that I'm back in nice non-volcanic England its getting easier to recommend it to other people!!
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