South America

For the most part, the Andes are synonomous with mountains in South America. Stretching from northeastern Venzuela to the Strait of Magellan, the 4,000 mile arc of the Andes is the longest mountain range in the world, and, in sheer size, height, and scope, is the only equal in the world to the greater Himalaya complex of Asia.

Argentina's Aconcagua (22,835'/6960m) gets a lot of ink as the highest peak in the western hemisphere, but Andean peaks rise to over 20,000'/6100m in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador as well, and Colombia (18865'/5750m) and Venzuela (16427'/5007m) are not far behind. Make no mistake, these are big, glaciated hard, and serious mountains for almost their entire length.

Two broad highland areas in eastern South America are insignificant mountaineering-wise when compared to the Andes, but they do cover large areas of the continent. The Guiana Highlands of Brazil, Venzuela, and Guyana are famous as the site of Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall. They are also a mysterious, inaccesible, jungle-shrouded wilderness of cliff-sided plateaus that have inspired imaginary words from the time of Raleigh's El Dorado, through Conan Doyle's Lost World, to the present. Pico da Neblina (9888'/3014m) is the highest in the Guiana Highlands, but Roraima (9219'/2810m), looking like a ship's prow splitting the jungle, is perhaps the most famous peak. The Brazilian Highlands, centered on the state of Minas Gerias, rise to 9144'/2787m at Bandeira, but they are more noted for their mineral wealth than for any real mountainous terrain.

Individual Peak Information

More coming soon!

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