Where is Mount Aconcagua? Hill height, description

The highest batholith on earth (a large intrusive mass of magmatic rock) is in Argentina. It is the highest point in South America and the hemispheres of the southern and western hemispheres.

Where is Mount Aconcagua located? Why is it called that? Everything that concerns this natural miracle will be briefly described in this article.

General information: origin, location

The array arose in the process of collision of two plates tectonic: South American and Nazca.

There is a mountain in the Main Cordillera (in the center of the Andes - the High Andes). The array is bounded in the north and east by the Valle de las Vakas mountain range, and in the west and the south by Valle de los Orcones-Inferior.

A lot of glaciers are on the mountain, the largest of them are located on the eastern and north-eastern (Polish glacier) of its part.

The location of the mountain is the territory of the Aconcagua National Park. 32.65 degrees south latitude and 70.02 west longitude respectively - the coordinates of Mount Aconcagua.

The middle west of Argentina is the location of the mountain, surrounded by several neighboring, no less interesting, mountain peaks. All of them attract the attention of many climbers and tourists (more than 10,000 per year).

Description of the surroundings

Steep mountains with a small amount of greenery surround the gorge leading to the famous national park, and further - to the Chilean border. At the entrance to the park you can still see some vegetation, but there is practically no further it. In this regard, it may seem that the landscapes here are rather boring. However, the fantastic magnificent colors of the surrounding peaks fully compensate for the lack of greenery (trees, flowers and other vegetation).

Mountain slopes have a variety of tones: red, gold and even green. It all looks amazingly beautiful.

The height of Mount Aconcagua is 6962 m. This climber is technically relatively light mountain climbers, especially its northern slopes. In any case, the influence of altitude is almost everywhere tangible, because at the very top atmospheric pressure is about 40% of the sea level pressure.

In 1991, it was fixed the time of the route minimum - 5 hours 45 minutes.

Appearance of the name

There is no exact origin of the name of the mountain. It is believed that it originated from the Araucanian language (translated "on the other side of the Aconcagua River"). Another version is the origin of the name from the Quechua language Ackon Cahuak, which means "stone guard".

What attracts tourists to Mount Aconcagua?

All lovers of romance, nature, mountains and travel will find themselves here classes to their liking. Ordinary tourists can go on an interesting one-day hike (trekking), and professional climbers can try to climb the more difficult Southern slopes of Aconcagua along any of the many routes.

Aconcagua is a part of the program "Seven Peaks" (these are the highest points of all continents).

Climbing the classical route to the top is easy, even for non-professional climbers. It's enough for ascents and other beautiful neighboring peaks, also interesting.

The magnificent surrounding nature will be interesting for rest to people who are not very interested in mountaineering.

Climatic conditions

Mount Aconcagua is the highest peak, therefore the weather is often worse here. Often there is cloudiness. It should be noted that a sharp and frequent change of weather is typical of these places. A clear sunny day at any time can turn into a very windy and unpleasantly cloudy.

The most terrible moment and phenomenon, which enjoys not good glory in these places, is Viento Blanco (white wind). This rather horrible phenomenon is usually preceded by the appearance of clouds (loose, like cotton wool, and constantly changing form) above the highest peaks. So, soon a terrible storm with a strong wind and an unexpected significant drop in temperature can erupt. Right after the storm, as a rule, there is a heavy snowfall. Such cataclysms usually come from the western direction.

Another of the most common weather variations is a clear day with cool clean air, but with a strong wind. This weather is the most stable, so it is the most successful for making ascents to the peaks.

Mount Aconcagua can and please with warm, sunny, good weather conditions, which usually persist for a long time. How lucky.

In conclusion, a few interesting facts

Due to the fact that Mount Aconcagua is relatively easy to climb (northern route), no hooks, ropes and other climbing equipment are required.

The first to win this summit in 1897 was Edward Fitzgerald (Briton).

The youngest climber, who reached the top of Aconcagua in December 2008, is the ten-year-old Monty Matthew, and the oldest (87 years old) is Scott Lewis (2007).

The first to conquer the South wall was the French. It was a hard struggle for life for several days. In this campaign young Lucien Berardini helped his comrades, having lost the phalanges of his fingers.