Piton des Neiges

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Piton des Neiges
Piton des Neiges, October 2003
Elevation	3,069 metres (10,069 feet)
Location	Réunion, Indian Ocean
Coordinates	21°05′S, 55°29′E
Type	Shield volcano
Age of rock	Pliocene
Last eruption	20,000 years ago
Translation	Snow Peak (French)

Piton des Neiges (Snow Peak) is a massive 3,069 m (10,069 ft) shield volcano on Réunion, one of the volcanic islands in the Mascarene Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Piton des Neiges was formed by the Réunion hotspot and emerged from the sea about two million years ago. Now deeply eroded, the volcano has been inactive for 20,000 years and is surrounded by three massive crater valleys, the Cirques. Piton des Neiges forms the northwestern two thirds of Réunion, with the very active Piton de la Fournaise comprising the rest.

The volcanic island is considered to be about three million years old (Pliocene); the other two islands in the archipelago, Mauritius and Rodrigues, are 7.8 million (Miocene) and 1½ million (Pleistocene) years old, respectively. The island possesses a high endemism of flowering plants (about 225); this has justified the creation of a biological reserve on the lower slopes of Piton des Neiges.

[edit] Tourism

The island of Reunion with the three central Cirques, with the ridge summit of the Piton des Neiges in the northwest centre (lighter brown area). The white spot on the crater edge to the southeast of the summit is the alpine hut.

There are two medium-difficulty tracks leading up to the peak, one from the Cirque de Salazie and one from the Cirque de Cilaos. They meet at a staffed mountain hut about an hour's walk below the peak. Walkers often arrive there after a long day trek up the mountain, and start out very early the next day to experience the dawn at the summit.