Pico de las Nieves

Pico de las Nieves is the highest peak of the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. Its height is 1949m above sea level. The origin is volcanic (stratovolcano). On its slopes, Canary Islands Pine was reintroduced in the 1950s. It is the highest elevation of the province of Las Palmas and the third highest mountain in the Canary Islands. Of the other Canary Islands, only Tenerife and La Palma have higher peaks.NameThe name means 'peak of the snows' in Spanish and refers to the fact that several covered pits (neveras in Spanish) for holding snow were built directly into the mountainsides. (An alternative theory states that the name came about as the mountain had the highest frequency of snowfalls on the island.) The first of the neveras was constructed in 1694 by order of the Catholic Church. The snow was collected by laborers using wooden shovels and wicker baskets, making real mountains of snow. The snow was placed into the pits by the "paleros" in rows, and packed in rectangular boxes of wood or cork separated by layers of straw.There were many blocks of ice, called "sabanada", which in June would be carried in panniers of straw covered with blankets to the ice cream shop in the Cathedral of Las Palmas (the capital of the island) on horseback, which took five or six hours. The snow was used for alleviating disease, to lower the temperature in the epidemics of yellow fever and cholera, as well as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic. It was also used for cooling water or beverages for the upper class. Water from the pools was used for irrigation purposes.