Cerro Mercedario is the highest peak of the
Cordillera de la Ramada
The Cordillera de la Ramada (Spanish for "Range of the Shelter", also called Cordón de la Ramada, in which ''cordón'' means 'ribbon' or 'rope', is a mountain range in the San Juan province of Argentina, forming part of the Andes. Its highest p ...
range and the eighth-highest mountain of the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
. It is located 100 km to the north of
Aconcagua
Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...
, in the
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
province of
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to:
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* San Juan, Argentina
* San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines
San Juan may also refer to:
Places Arge ...
.
Ascent history
It was
first ascended on January 18, 1934, by and , members of a
Polish andinist expedition led by
Konstanty Jodko-Narkiewicz.
[Mercedario on andesargentinos.com.ar](_blank)
(In Spanish) The Polish party erected a
cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
on the summit.
In 1968, after several attempts by some of the strongest Argentine climbers, a Japanese group led by Saburo Yoshida accomplished the first ascension of the south side. In 1971 an Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec and Othmar Kucera, climbed the north side. In 1972, Italians Sergio Job Gino and Antonio Beorchia Nigris climbed the Mercedario through the
normal route
A normal route or normal way (; ) is the most frequently used climbing route for ascending and descending a given mountain peak; it is usually the easiest and often the most straightforward route. Other generic names include the ''Tourism, tourist ...
and discovered some Inca ruins just below the summit. In January 1975 an Italian expedition led by Antonio Mastellaro managed to climb the east side.
In 1983 a small expedition from Gorizia was able to traverse the south-west ridge, which is considered the most difficult trail of the mountain, and one of the last mountaineering issues in the Andes. On January 27 Mauro Collini, Sergio Figel, Mario Tavagnutti and Rudi Vittori reached the top.
[AA.VV. - La Montagna - Grande Enciclopedia Illustrata - Vol. 6 - pagg. 119-120- Istituto Geografico De Agostini - Novara - 1984]
Photo gallery
Image:Valle_Colorado_y_Cerro_Mercedrio,_Calingasta,_San_Juan,_Argentina.jpg, The mountain seen from the Colorado Valley.
Image:Cerro_Mercedario_desde_el_Leoncito,_San_Juan.jpg, This mountain is located in El Leoncito National Park
El Leoncito National Park () is a federal protected area in San Juan Province, Argentina. Established on 18 September 2002, it houses a representative sample of the Central Andean Puna and the Southern Andean steppe biodiversity in good state ...
.
Image:Mercedario.jpg, Vertical aerial photograph of glaciers on the southeast side of Cerro Mercedario.
See also
*
List of Ultras of South America
*
List of peaks by prominence
This is a list of mountain peaks ordered by their topographic prominence.
Terminology
The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. The low ...
References
External links
Mercedario on SummitPost
{{Mountains of Argentina
Mountains of Argentina
Volcanoes of Argentina
Subduction volcanoes
Landforms of San Juan Province, Argentina
Six-thousanders of the Andes