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When I finally moved from Germany to Sicily in early 1997, it was one of those unusually mild winters alternating with very hot, dry summers on the Mediterranean island. There was some snow on the upper slopes of Etna, but far less than during a "normal" winter (currently there is much, much more snow on the mountain). One day in early February 1997, a friend from the University of Catania invited me to do some mountain biking on the forest service roads on the western flank of the volcano. The weather was spring-like, mild and sunny, with sparkling clear views of the mountain. At the time, my "mental map" of Etna was still rather incomplete, I had seen essentially the southern and southeastern flanks of the mountain, and once, a few days before, taken the "Circumetnea" train from Catania to the town of Randazzo. Vast areas of Etna remained terra incognita to me.

Our MTB trip led us to what I now consider the most beautiful side of Etna. This photo was taken by my friend near the "Monte Palestra" mountain hut on the western flank of Etna near 2000 m altitude. What you see is a happy man, to me this was the start of my life "as a child in the land of eternal Christmas".

Now, 15 years later, I can look back at an incredible wealth of amazing memories of my life on Etna. The volcano continues to give me, my colleagues, friends, and my family an endless spate of incredible experiences. Maybe I do not feel anymore like a "child in the land of eternal Christmas", I may have grown a bit. However, I am certain that I am living on the most beautiful volcano that exists on this planet, and that's not bad at all.

Oh, and by the way - last weekend Etna looked like it was going to make another lava fountain. So far, it has not - and extremely bad weather in the past few days has precluded any visual observation. This evening (1 February 2012), the volcano has finally emerged from the clouds again - all covered in snow, but no sign of activity

On 30 January 2002, I climbed to the summit craters of Etna with two friends, on a rather mild, sunny day with almost no snow. Five months had passed since the spectacular eruption of July-August 2001, which had mostly affected the south flank of the volcano, but some vents had also opened on the upper northeast flank. That eruption had brought a sudden end to the nearly continuous activity that had occurred at all four summit craters of Etna for six years (1995-2001). No glowing lava had been seen anywhere on Etna since 9 August 2001. However, deep within the Bocca Nuova, deep rumblings were heard a few weeks after the end of that eruption, and this was again the case when I visited that crater on 30 January 2002. We were standing on the rim of the huge pit in the western part of the crater, and every few minutes a loud bang rose from the tremendous throat, along with a volume of white vapor and bluish sulfur dioxide. The ground was covered with fine, light brown ash, a sign that some ash had been emitted lately, but this was all pulverized old rock, no sign of new magma rising to the surface.

In this view, you can see the countless layers of lava and loose (pyroclastic) rock material, which led to the filling of the Bocca Nuova between 1995 and 1999. The steaming peak in the left background is the western rim of the Voragine, and the steep crag in the right distance is what remains of a small cone formed within Etna's former Central Crater in 1964. Not much of the features visible here remain today.

Etna remained essentially silent for another two months, then ash emissions started from the Bocca Nuova and the Northeast Crater in late-March and early April 2002. Magma briefly appeared in the Bocca Nuova in mid-June, but more consistent Strombolian activity started within the Northeast Crater in July, and went on through late-September. Etna was coming back to life, and everybody was convinced that it would not take long until there would be another major flank eruption. The eruption of July-August 2001 had destabilized the volcano and ripped its flanks open, and it would not be difficult for new magma to issue through these wounds once more.

And that's exactly what would happen during the night of 26-27 October 2002.

Photo taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

You did believe that this was just one more photo showing some red-hot, incandescent chunk of lava, didn't you? But this time it's not red-hot lava. The red colored piece of rock in the center of this image is just extremely oxidized and covered with some sulfur, too.

When basaltic lava (such as the lava of Etna or of the Hawaiian volcanoes, which are rich in iron and magnesium) cools into solid rock, it is usually dark gray to black. However, if volcanic rock is exposed for some time to heat and humidity, much of the iron in the rock oxidizes and gives it an intensely rust-red color. Such conditions exist in particular on the rims of newly formed scoria cones, where for many months, sometimes years after the end of an eruption, hot vapor issues from vents and cracks called fumaroles. The rocks exposed to these hot vapors rapidly change in color from black to red or brown, and are furthermore often coated with sulfur, precipiated from sulfur dioxide that also issues from such fumaroles for some time.

The place seen here was on the rim of a huge new crater that formed during the violent 2002-2003 eruption of Etna high on the south flank of the mountain (now named Monte Barbagallo). For many months after the end of that eruption, hot gas - vapor and sulfur dioxide as well as hydrogen sulfide, to name the most important - issued through cracks on the crater rim, tinging the surrounding rocks in a symphony of colors. Red, orange magenta, yellow, pink, brown, green, white, and sorrounded by the more common dark gray hues of this newly formed volcanic world. I took this photograph in mid-June 2003, during one of my first visits to the area after the eruption - other issues had prevented me from being on Etna much through the first half of 2003. I had been to that area hundreds of times before and seen a lot of change happen in its surroundings, but the changes brought about by the 2002-2003 eruption were the most impressive.

Photo taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

I had been dreaming of this for many years, and eventually started to work toward it - my move from my country of birth, Germany, to Sicily, the land that hosts the volcano of my dreams, Mount Etna. Since my first visit to Etna in 1989, I had felt a strong attraction to be here, also because the central Mediterranean island of Sicily has an enjoyable climate (except for a few rough days mostly in the winter, like today, 30 January 2012), beautiful landscapes, excellent food, and ... well, a rather peculiar people, the Sicilians. Many Sicilians together are difficult to support, but individually, they are fine, helpful, generous people. I longed to live here, mostly in order to be able to follow every little shiver and every tiny burp on Etna, after missing numerous spectacular eruptions while being in Germany and unable to travel to Etna soon.

On 6 January 1997, I once more descended to Sicily, this time to stay and wait for the selection procedure for PhD positions at the University of Catania. Although I had to return to Germany twice in the following few months, and all my personal belongings arrived in my new home in Catania only in August 1997, I consider January 1997 the time of my definite move to Sicily and to my favorite volcano, Etna.

I travelled by train from Messina, on the northeast tip of Sicily, to Catania; about halfway between the two towns I had to change trains, and there was an interval of about 5 hours between the trains, so I had the chance to visit the tourist location of Taormina for the first time in my life. I climbed from the town up to the steep peak looming above the town, which is crowned by the ruins of a Medieval fortress. All tourists who visit Taormina today learn that the fortress is closed to access since "many years" - so I was rather lucky to find it still open on that day. The entry fee was ridiculously low - 1000 Lire, which today would be 0.50 Euro. Although weather conditions were not all too splendid, and Etna was covered in dense clouds, I enjoyed splendid panoarmic views - this one here looks northeast along the Ionian coast of Sicily, toward Calabria, the southern tip of the Italian peninsula.

My life was about to change profoundly. There were lots of difficulties ahead, what with getting used to living in a very different country and battling through to make a living, there was also a little love story that later went crash big time. It was the beginning of my own personal Etna party, which would bring me hundreds of exciting, exhilarating and deeply rewarding encounters with this wonderful volcano.

Life has changed a lot since, most of it positively, and I am now not only having my favorite volcano in the backyard, but also the two most lovely and loving ladies that I can imagine with me. I wonder when they will have the chance to see the fortress of Taormina, which is closed since many, many years.

Photo taken with a Canon AE1 and scanned from original Ektachrome color slide

Since the late forenoon of 27 January 2012, the New Southeast Crater at the summit of Mount Etna has been producing sporadic emissions of dark gray ash. One of these, on the late afternoon of the same day, is seen here from my home in Trecastagni, on the southeast flank of the volcano.
This activity, the first since the spectacular paroxysmal eruptive episode early on 5 January 2012, might be a sign that a new episode - the 20th since January 2011 - will occur soon, possibly during the next 24 hours