The Pico Piedras Blancas (also known as Misamán), at , is the highest mountain of the
Sierra de la Culata range in the
Mérida State, and the fifth-highest mountain in
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
. Its name, meaning "White Stones", is of uncertain origin, since the massif is predominantly grey in color.
[Although there is some uncertainty regarding the name of the mountain, there is a local legend about the origin of the mountains and surrounding lagoons at Páramo de Piedras Blancas. It tells about the mourning into which the women of the local indigenous tribes fell after the ]conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...
slaughtered their husbands. God, afflicted by "the suffering of His daughters", and wanting to alleviate their great sorrow, turned them into mountains, but still those "mountains" cried, giving origin with their "tears" to the local lagoons. If any tear became entrapped inside any frailejón, or trap of the terrain, it would turn into a "stone as white as milk, of which there are thousands on the summits of the Páramo de Piedras Blancas". Pico Piedras Blancas lacks glaciers; however, seasonal snowfalls may briefly cover its flanks. From its summit and under clear conditions,
Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...
can be seen. One of the accesses to reach the base of the mountain, is through the Mifafí Condor Reserve, which hosts some specimens of this andean bird.
Location
Pico Piedras Blancas is located to the northeast of
Mérida, the state capital. Pico Piedras Blancas is very close to
Pico Mucumamó,
Pico Los Nevados and
Pico El Buitre; all of them surround a high altitude valley in the heart of the
Sierra de la Culata at approximately above sea level, known on
topographic maps as Hoyo Negro ("Black Hole").
Elevation
A former measure of 4,762 metres, given by Jahn in 1910, was corrected to 4,737 metres in 1951. The latter measure was confirmed by a 2002 GPS survey.
Climbing
Though being the highest mountain of the Sierra de la Culata, it is not as frequently climbed as
Pico Pan de Azucar in the same range of La Culata or the highest peaks of the
Sierra Nevada de Mérida range.
* Piedras Blancas can be best climbed during the
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...
, from October to March
* The principal accesses are two: through the Mifafí Condor Reserve, near Casa de Gobierno in the Trasandina road, and through the town of La Toma, nearby Mucuchíes, also in the Trasandina road
* The normal route is through the eastern side of the massif
References
* Silva, Gustavo (2001). "Los Picos más altos del Estado Mérida-Venezuela". Rev. Geog. Venez. 42 (
* Pérez, O; Hoyer, M; Hernández, J; Rodrígez, C; Márques, V; Sué, N; Velandia, J; Deiros, D (2005). "Alturas del Pico Bolívar y otras cimas andinas venezolanas a partir de observaciones GPS". ''Interciencia''. 30 (4)
* "Determinan la altura exacta del Pico Bolívar" (2003). Instituto Geográfico de Venezuela Simón Bolívar. IGVSB-BG No 14
* Laffaille, Jaime. "Las montañas que lloran"
Notes
{{reflist
Mountains of Venezuela
Geography of Mérida (state)