Areeiro Route (Normal Route)

Approach

ATTENTION: You should climb this mountain with a professional guide or with local aid.

You have to start in Pico do Areeiro (1818 m) Madeira's third highest mountain. Here you will find a parking lot, a bar and souvenir shops. It serves as base for a very nice hiking trail to Pico Ruivo (the highest mountain of Madeira). From now on, forget the car! You will only see it again after 6 hours!
For going to Pico do Areeiro, you can go from Funchal, the main city of the island, and take the road to Monte. Then you will pass in Terreiro da Luta, Poiso and finally Pico do Arreiro. It’s a 35 min car trip.

Route Description

When in Pico do Areeiro you have to follow the trail in direction to Pico Ruivo (1861 m). This trail is perfectly secured since otherwise it would be very exposed. The trail follows the ridge between Pico Areeiro and Pico do Gato. Before reaching Pico do Gato it drops steeply into a shoulder, goes through a small tunnel and then splits into two trails. Here you have to take the right trail (there is a door there!). From here there is a slightly plan trail but only for a couple of minutes. Then there is a difficult and long uphill stairs. In the end of this stairs you have to take a left trail. Unfortunately, there are no signs in this point. That’s a reason why you should climb this mountain with someone who climbed it before. From Pico do Areeiro to the end of this uphill stairs you should take 1 hour or 1 hour and a half.
This left trail circles around Pico das Torres until you reach the base of the Mountain. There is a rock spike in this point. You have to climb it (There is no need to use a rope until here). After this rock spike you should prepare your climbing equipment. In the meanwhile enjoy a magnificent view of the biggest mountains of the island. After this there is a rock crest to cross. Here you have to use the rope and quick draw sets. After crossing the crest there is another one to cross but with a technical step, “the horse step”. Here you have to grab 2 quick draw sets to cross this horse step. After this step there is a III+ rock climb to the summit of Pico das Torres. There is a 2 meters metal spike in the summit. From here you can see the biggets montains of the island like Pico Ruivo, Pico do Arreiro, Torre de Cerro, and Torre do Curraleiro.
For returning you have to descent to the east by two rappels until you find again the same trail.

Essential Gear

Helmet
Harness
60 m rope
10 Quick draw set
4 Karabiners
One Ascender device
One descender device
Tape and Slings
Hammer

Miscellaneous Info

Warning: If you want to climb this montain you should climb it with someone who climbed it before

Images

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