Page Type Page Type: Mountain/Rock
Location Lat/Lon: 22.37014°S / 44.6999°W
Activities Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Bouldering, Scrambling
Seasons Season: Fall, Winter
Additional Information Elevation: 8560 ft / 2609 m
Sign the Climber's Log
Me at Massena summit
Summit shot.

Tacio and Paula hiking the last meters to Massena summit
Tacio and Paula close to the summit.
Massena Peak is a big rocky mountain beside Alsene Camping site (Currently closed), inside Itatiaia National Park, Brazil. Most of the brazilian mountaineers who use to camp at Alsene sometime at their lives will reach that summit. Easy (about 1.5 hours from the campsite)and with a great view to Agulhas Negras Peak.

The campsite isaround 2.350 m high and its summit its 2.609 m high, which makes it the 16th highest summit at Brazil.

Mostly overlooked by our mountaineering comunity, people hike Massena Noroest instead of Massena Peak, which is slightly lower than Massena itself by about 70 feet, plus, not listed as a mountain here in Brazil because of its prominence.

Either way, Massena is listed and high for brazilian mountain altitude levels considering the highest peak of my country is only 2994m high, not even 10.000 feet. Massena bravely reaches over 8500 feet, fair enough. :)



Getting There

 
Hiking up
Hiking up.

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 entranace. 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).

Now the better part, since that mountain is inside the limits of the park but its trail is outside, you don't have to register at the military office.

To this mountain, you must follow the road just outside the limits of the camping for about 200m, on the left side of the road there's a small campsite. Enter the camping and look for the trail which will be very easy to find at the left flank of the mountain. Just follow the cairns and the markings all the way to the top. Amazing sunset view from the false summit.
 
Massena Peak
 


Pass the Massena Noroeste summit, fast descent behind it, right turn to Massena Peak.

Camping

Fire cloud by Massena Peak
Fire cloud close to Alsene campsite
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).

The second option is to stay at the Rebouças hut, and that would make it easier for you to hike this peak.

To access the page for the hut and its info: Summitpost - Rebouças Hut

PS: You don't have to camp for this summit, it is easy, fast.

The Park

The area of the Itatiaia National Park is divided into two different environments. One is the Atlantic forest with numerous centenarian trees that keep hold of the lower part, and the other which characterizes for its mountainous topography with crags and peaks on its highest part.

The mountainous place is ideal for long and amusing hikes in the midst of landscapes of singular beauty. Altitudes vary between 700 and 2792 metres.

It is considered the first national park in Brazil for the preliminary data concerning its creation goes back to the beginnings of the XX century. The Pico das Aguilhas Mountain, the fifth tallest of the country, is located in this natural reserve between the limits of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.

After a failed project the then Biological Station of Rio de Janeiro's Botanic Garden became a National Park in July of 1937, during the mandate of president Getulio Vargas, with an area of 12 thousand hectares. Its extension was enlarged to cover 30 thousand hectares in 1982.

Sat view images



 

 

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.

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

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: