Morro das Torres

Morro das Torres is a geographical accident of Brazil which is located in Urupema, Santa Catarina with an altitude of 1.733m. It's probably the coldest mountain in Brazil (even more than Morro da Igreja), with exceptional views in a radius of about 60 kms, it's possible to see the peaks of Urubici county (Morro da Boa Vista, Morro da Igreja, among others) with a waterfall that freezes completely and thus remains several days just below it's top in strong cold waves. Easily accessible (public place), with fences and taipa walls (old stone walls made of basalt, dacites, rhyodacites, rhyolites) of great extent, "heavenly visions", thus becoming one of the best places in Brazil to observe the rare event (here in Brazil of course) of snow, which ranks it as one of the most inhospitable climate margin of the American continent (as well as Morro da Igreja), as snowfall and shrub with thick layers of ice (frozen fog, Icicles/ rime in english or sincelo in portuguese), besides Freezing Rain, winds up to 120km/h, horizontal rain, bounds with icicles over a meter.

This is an exceptional and rare here in Brazil, but it happens in Morro das Torres, or Morro das Antenas. Or, better yet, Morro da Serra do Campo Novo, it's original name, which should be restored in the city of Urupema (or Urupemba), whose name comes from a sieve straw, in the language of the first guardians (Kaingang), this sanctuary of Saint Catherine, now known by Brazil, as the municipal seat colder country. A part of the "Sierra" of Morro das Torres borders Urupema with a rarely spoken county in the media, which is Rio Rufino.

It's altitude is 1.733m despite the fact the signs point to "Morro das Torres - 1.750m (wrong altitude). The mountain is singular, exceptional work of nature, because unlike most of the higher elevations of the Southern brazilian Plateau, is a hill with a large wet soil, area permanently soaked in water, and the summit area almost completely flat, with dimensions around 1200 m SW-NE x 400 m SN), and totally dominated by grassland vegetation (savanna grass-woody), with the "Saw" having continued for several miles to SW, decaying topographically and, therefore, covered by the remnants of the Forest of Araucaria (Araucaria Forest).

The unevenness over the years increased erosion there, there is always running water from the huge sponge that is the top of this mountain, greatly facilitated by the thinness of the soil, one reason being the intense fracturing sub-horizontalized this volcanic formation of Serra Geral, the biggest surface volcanism (effusion) of the face of our planet, with ages around 133 million years.

The posicion of Morro das Torres, along with the Serra da Farofa, its neighbor NW, are the first (or last) physical barrier to ocean currents laden with high humidity, which often produce fog on its top ("whirlwind"). It's high with the cold fronts come across over 1.700m of altitude, which is why they are sometimes the first, if not the only elevations with the rare and beautiful effect of frozen fog (rime in English), or even freezing rain or snow precipitation. 

by bus

Florianópolis - Lages - Around 4 hours ride

From Lages you'll need to take another bus to Urupema, it leaves twice a day and the trip takes about 80 minutes.

For some extra info:

Red Tape

Be prepared to feel cold to the bone here.