Fitz Roy
Template:Mtnbox start Template:Mtnbox coor dm Template:Mtnbox climb Template:Mtnbox finish
Cerro Chaltén, also known as Cerro Fitzroy, is a mountain located in the Los Glaciares National Park of Patagonia, near the El Chaltén village, in the border betweeb Argentina and Chile.
The name Chaltén comes from a Mapuche word meaning "smoking mountain," due to a cloud that usually forms in the top of the mountain, and it was considered sacred by them. The mountain is the symbol of the Santa Cruz Province, who has it represented in its coat of arms.
It was Perito Francisco Moreno who named Fitzroy in 1877, after the explorer Robert Fitzroy. It was first climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionnel Terray and Guido Magnone.
The mountain has a reputation of being "ultimate", despite it's relatively insignificant height (although being the highest peak in the Los Glaciares park, it is less than half the Himalayan giants), because the sheer granite faces present large sheets of very technical climbing. It also attracts many photographers thanks to its otherworldly shape.
The mountain, while being more accessible than, say, Denali in Alaska, remains difficult and remains the preserve of very experienced climbers, although tourism is opening the area. Today, when a hundred people can summit Mount Everest in a single day, Cerro Chaltén may only be successfully ascended once in a year.
External links
 | This article about a location in Argentina is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Chile location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |