I love mountains and perhaps the most amazingly shaped mountain I’ve ever seen is the Paine Massif in Chilean Patagonia. Very distant from major cities, the Paine Massif is about 2000 km (over 1200 mi) south of Santiago. The park in which it’s situated, Torres Del Paine National Park, is one of the treasures of the natural world. There are two very worthwhile mountain formations to see in the park, one being this peak (my favorite) and the other being the three towers the park is named after (Torres Del Paine). These two formations are in quite close proximity and from the right angle you can see both in one field of view.
I’d been aware of this region for decades and it had been high on my bucket list for some time, so I’m delighted that I got to see it on a clear day so that I could study it well and imprint it in my brain; also to photograph and share with all of you. The Paine Massif is, so far as I know, unique in the world. Triple banded — dark layers of sedimentary rock at the top and bottom, with a layer of pale granite sandwiched in between — it has an extremely unusual shape, having been eroded into several “horns”. The appearance of the mountain really changes as you move around it, as you can see in the accompany photos. There’s apparently the figure of a gauncho on the face on the mountain which I’ve not been able to appreciate though my wife has. See if you can find it.
A beautiful lake (Lake Pehoe), colored by glacial silt, makes a perfect foreground. A wonderful destination for hiking and backpacking.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow)
