Etna's Southeast Crater erupts, 18 April 2025

For the ninth time since 15 March 2025, the Southeast Crater - youngest of the four summit craters of Etna - erupted on the evening of 18 April 2025.

We had to wait for several hours in gale-force, freezing winds (luckily found some shelter behind a wall of older lava flows), and the start of the activity was painfully slow. The previous episode, on 15 April, had gone off rather rapidly; this time the beast took its time, teasing and taunting us, but finally the physical forces within the volcano overcame inertia, and we were treated to a breathtakingly beautiful show.

We had to retreat as night fell and temperatures went below zero, but stopped several times on the way down and finally took a last look at the volcano from home, when the activity was clearly decreasing, and this latest episode of activity was drawing to a close.