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Compiled 2005-06 by Jonathan de Ferranti with assistance from John Biggar and Aaron Maizlish.

This is one of eight lists that cover the known ultra-prominences for South America.  This project represents original research into accurate elevations and prominence of the world's major summits, employing both new data sources and published topographic materials.  Parts of South America have notoriously poor information on summit elevations - values found in publication and on the internet for a given summit frequently vary by several hundred meters.  We  strive to more accurately represent elevations through interpretation of a variety of resources, including our own interpolation methods of SRTM data (see also theory section.)

South America has 208 ultra-prominences (13.6% of the world's total).  118 of these summits are in Chile and/or Argentina.  These have been segmented into three lists, as follows:

Argentina and Chile North:  Andes region north of Aconcagua.  This includes the Puna de Atacama, and the provinces of Northern Argentina.  Note that three of the summits on the North list also appear on the Bolivia list.

Argentina and Chile Central:  The northern border of this region is the low saddle, Hito Paso de la Iglesia, near the major road and rail pass connecting Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina.  This is the key saddle for Cerro Tupungato (#1 on that list).  The 22 peaks on the Central list represent the Andes between Tupungato and the region near Puerto Montt.

Argentina and Chile South-Patagonia (on this page):  The northern border of this region is a low broad saddle near the town of Epuyén, Argentina.  This represents a line running approximately from Puerto Montt, Chile east to the Rio Chubut in Argentina.  There are an impressive 52 known ultras in the Southern region, including four island highpoints. 

The mountains of Patagonia are less well-mapped than the rest of Chile and Argentina (and most of the world for that matter.)  A large number of the elevations below are derived at least in part by interpolation of SRTM data, and comparison of that data to the often wildly divergent published values.  As a general rule, the re-mapping of Chile at 1:50,000 and 1:100,000, conducted by the Instituto Geografico Militar from the 1980s onward, greatly improves the accuracy of spot elevations of many summits.  However we still find numerous mountain regions (particularly in the South) where spot elevations show a consistent disagreement with SRTM data, even while the general topography agrees, and also regions where topographic mapping is largely void.  Spot elevations on topographic maps published by Argentina have proven too unreliable for our purposes.  While we believe that the elevations published on these three lists represent a significant improvement over other elevation data, the reader should be advised that the elevations mostly do not reflect official data.

For those of you interested in matters of national pride; there are 78 summits in Chile or on its borders, which ranks fifth among the nations of the world.  There are 58 summits in Argentina or on its borders, which ranks seventh in the world.  (18 summits are believed to lie exactly on the Chile/Argentina border.)  Such is the nature of prominence that deeply carved glacial landscapes are favored when the summits are also high:  Chilean Patagonia, British Columbia and Alaska have a significant number of the world's ultra-prominent summits. 

Corrections: March 19, 2011

FOOTNOTES

[1]  San Valentin:  This is the highest point in Patagonia.  The Chilean IGM 1:50,000 map gives an elevation of 3910m.  SRTM implies that the summit is at least 4000m. GPS readings by summiters seem to confirm the traditional elevation of 4058m.  The low key saddle is nearby.

[2]  Monte San Lorenzo is a separate summit than Cordon Cochrane, about 5 km apart in the same icefield.

[3]  Lautaro:  New elevation provided in The Andes by John Biggar, 3rd edition 2005, based on SRTM data.

[4]  Darwin:  We have made an estimate of 2580m for the highpoint of Tierra del Fuego based on SRTM analysis.  Other cited elevations include 2467m, 2488m, and 2652m.

[5]  Melimoyu is also cited as 2400m, SRTM indicates that it is marginally higher.

[6]  This unnamed ice dome is the high point of the glaciated region according to the Chilean IGM 1:50,000 map, which gives an elevation of 2390m. This decreases the prominence of nearby Macizo Nevado and the more impressive Volcan Corcovado, which barely misses being an ultra in its own right.

[8]  Castillo:  Both the Chilean IGM 1:50,000 map and the SRTM data have a large void around the summit.  2675m is an often quoted value that would seem to be compatible with photographs.

[9]  Maca is a smooth volcanic cone, and SRTM indicates a summit elevation of 2300m ± 20m.  This is supported by Biggar in "The Andes". Cited elevations of 2960-3079m are based on gross exaggeration.

[10]  Sarmiento: This summit is on the western end of Tierra del Fuego.  Elevations cited include 2234m, 2235m, 2300m and 2404m.  The Chilean IGM 1:100,000 map provides an elevation of 2187m which is the most compatible with the SRTM data.

[11]  Paine Grande:  Amazingly, this famous summit is usually quoted as being over 3000m, although all evidence indicates that this is way off base.  (We would love to see the results of a precise survey).  Interestingly, the usual 3050m elevation is almost exactly 10,000 ft.  We suspect that once upon a time the mountain was guessed to be 10,000 feet without the benefit of a survey - and the rumor has proven to be persistent.  The Chilean maps are void for the area of the summit, as is the SRTM data.  The entire Paine Cordillera is poorly surveyed, nonetheless we have plenty of indication that the actual height is approximately 2700m.  Nearby Cerro Paine Chico is about 2600m (SRTM) and photographs indicate that Paine Grande is just slightly higher.  A geometric analysis from photographs by de Ferranti can be found here.  (A current Argentine road map gives an elevation of 2400m, evidently the Argentine tendency to inflate summit elevations does not apply to peaks lying wholly within Chile.)


[15]  Arenales:  SRTM indicates that this summit is higher than the published 3365m value.

[18]  Macizo Nevado:  SRTM indicates 2250m is too high.

[19]  Anexo:  This region along the border has several peaks that may be the highest point.  We have derived an estimate of 2480m for Cerro Anexo from SRTM. A possible contender is a 2473m spot elevation on the IGM 1:50,000 maps at 42º07'15" 72º03'48". On commercial publications, Dos Picos is given as highest.  The Soviet maps give a 2515m elevation for Dos Picos, but this is not supported by SRTM.

[21]  Queulat: SRTM indicates that the often cited 2555m is probably too high given that the summit is broad. 

[24]  Ladrillero:  Our elevation estimate derives from SRTM.  Road maps variously give 1685m and 1665m,

[25]  Roma is the name given the west top of Cerro Bertrand (whose other summit is on the border) according to Buscaini, 1990.

[26]  Cerro Meson: 3/19/2011 - Cerro Meson has been added to this ultras list, and nearby Cerro Mojano has been removed, due to better data as a result of Aster GDEM analysis.

[31]  Cerro Norte: 3/19/2011, the summit elevation has been downgraded from 2950m to 2730m, based on research with Aster GDEM. [39]  Aguja Sur:  The SRTM is marginally incompatible with the 2268m elevation.

[52]  Monte Burney: This is a heavily eroded volcanic cone with several possible contenders for highpoint.  The Chilean IGM 1:100,000 map gives an elevation of 1495m.  Other sources give elevations in the 1720m-1768m range, which is not supported by SRTM.  The above estimate derives from SRTM, but it should be noted that both the topographic map and SRTM have substantial voids.

[E1]  Las Piramides is a long line of summits, the estimate of 2440m is based on SRTM in concurrence with Biggar.  The published elevation of the HP is 2653m (213m higher) which if true would make this an ultra by a comfortable margin.

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