Page Type:
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Mountain/Rock |
|---|---|
Lat/Lon:
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22.37104°S / 44.66316°W |
County:
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Brazil |
Activities:
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Hiking, Mountaineering, Bouldering, Scrambling |
Season:
|
Winter |
|
Elevation:
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8760 ft / 2670 m |
|
Summit!
Pedra do Sino de Itatiaia (or "Bell Rock"), it's a big mountain right beside Agulhas Negras Peak, inside Itatiaia National Park, Brazil. Most of the brazilian mountaineers don't even know this mountain and the reason is simple, there's another one called Bell Rock (that is well famous, one of the 3 summits of the traverse Petrópolis - Teresópolis) but smaller, with 2.263 m high.
As almost nobody goes there, the trail is hard to find, after the rain season the woods grow up pretty good and hide the path. And again, as nobody goes there, nature takes care of the hiking path hiding it.
The park itself really is something. It has something around 35 summits, most of them, higher then 2.400 m above sea level. Loads of rock climbing routes, a rock climbing school and training walls at the rocks of Morro do Couto, another big brazilian mountain of 2.680 m.
Getting There
Be prepared to be cold.
By bus
From Minais Gerais/ São Paulo/ Rio de Janeiro, you have to take a bus to a little city called Itanhandú. Several bus companies can take you there. Once you get to Itanhandú, take a nother bus from the same bus station to Itamonte, a smaller town, at the bottom of the Sierra.
There is the point: Once you get to Itamonte, it is hard to find transport to the park entrance. But there's some taxi drivers that know the park and can take you up to the park, and that's gonna cost you around R$ 100,00 (about US$ 55.00).
From the main entrance, you have to register at the military office, than you're free to get into the park from 8am to 5pm. It is important to get out at the right time to avoid problems.
Once inside the park, just pick the mountains to climb/ hike.
To Bell rock, you must follow the same route to Agulhas Negras Peak, but after the bridge somthing like 15 min, the trail is gonna spit into 3 ways: Left to altar Peak, right to Agulhas Negras Peak and middle to Asa de Hermes rock. You have to take the left pass, towards Altar Peak. From the summit of Altar peak (2.665m) yu'll be able to see the peak right ahead of you on the left side of Agulhas Negras Peak. Just pick a straight line and go for it.
Don't expect this to be easy, from the entrance of the park to the summit and come back, it can take up to 12 hours, it's up your shape.
Satelite image of the mountain
Camping
camping inside and outside the park is strictly forbidden and strongly fiscalized, don't even try that. There's is a camping site called alsene 2km outside the park down the road, but it is closed now for crimes against the flora, bastards!
I recomend to stay at some cheap hotel at Itamonte (R$ 50,00 - around uS$ 30.00).
Weather forecast
PS: The weather forecast on this link is not for this mountain but it will do just fine since the mountain from the forcast (Black Needles) is just a few kms away from it.
Video - getting to the summit
Video - Summit view
It's good to see the park and several mountains around, most of them I already summited!
Legal Issues
To hike/ climb is a dangerous activity and requires proper equipment and clothing, the owner of this page cannot be blamed by injuries caused to anyone who read this page for its info about the mountain, and eventually got hurt by doing so with reckless behaviour or bad weather conditions.
Paulo Roberto Felipe Schmidt – AKA: PAROFES
External links
A brazilian website to get mountains info, including gps files to download:http://www.rumos.net.br/rumos/My youtube channel: www.youtube.com/parofes - Now with 270+ videos online!
The biggest brazilian website about climbing and mountaineering, for which I'm a columnist:
1 Routes