Monte Sarmiento is a pyramidal peak with a glaciated saddle-shaped summit located within

Alberto de Agostini National Park Alberto de Agostini National Park () is a protected area that was created on January 22, 1965, on land that was formerly part of the "Hollanda" forest reserve and "Hernando de Magallanes National Park". It covers and includes the Cordillera Darwi ...

, in the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an portion of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

. It rises abruptly from the east shore of the

Magdalena Channel 350px, The channel is visible in the lower left corner. Magdalena Channel () is a Chilean channel joining the Strait of Magellan with the Cockburn Channel and is part of a major navigation route which ultimately connects with the Beagle Chann ...

and marks the western border of the

Cordillera Darwin The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. Description Cordillera Darwin is located in the southwestern portion of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, entirely within the Chilean territory. ...

. The mountain is frequently shrouded in clouds, but when it is visible is "the most sublime spectacle in Tierra del Fuego" according to the words of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

, one of the many people who have been captivated by the beauty of this mountain.

History

The mountain was called "Volcán Nevado" (Snowy Volcano) by

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532–1592) was a Spanish explorer, author, historian, mathematician, and astronomer. His birthplace is not certain and may have been Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his paternal family originated, or Alcalá de Henar ...

, who thought it was a volcano.

Phillip Parker King Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts. Early life and education King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna Jo ...

named it Mount Sarmiento in honor of the mentioned explorer.''Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, Volume I'' – Retrieved on 2007-10-08 Several unsuccessful attempts were made to reach its summit, including those of Martin Conway in 1898 and of

Alberto María de Agostini Father Alberto Maria de Agostini (2 November 1883 – 25 December 1960) born in Pollone, Piedmont was an Italian missionary of the Salesians of Don Bosco order as well as a passionate mountaineer, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, photographer ...

in 1913. The eastern summit of Monte Sarmiento was climbed on 7 March 1956 by an expedition including the Italian mountaineers Clemente Gueret and Carlo Mauri. It was organized b
Padre Alberto Maria De Agostini
The West Summit was climbed on 24 December 1986 by an Italian expedition of Ragni di Lecco including Gigi Alippi, Salvatore Panzeri, Lorenzo Mazzoleni, Pinuccio Castelnuovo, Bruno Pennati, Clemente Maffei, Gian Maria Confalonieri, Franco Baravalle, Salvatore Fantozzi e Luciano Bovina. Thi
expedition
opened a new route on the North Face. The west summit of Monte Sarmiento was climbed in 1995 by a party including the British mountaineers Stephen Venables, John Roskelley and

Tim Macartney-Snape Tim Macartney-Snape (born 5 January 1956) is a mountaineer and author. On 3 October 1984 Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer were the first Australians to reach the summit of Mount Everest. They reached the summit, climbing without supplementary ...

. (Source: Ollie, by Stephen Venables). A German team composed of Robert Jasper, Jörn Heller and Ralf Gantzhorn, climbed the North Face to the western summit on April 4, 2010. This team followed the route opened in 1986.

In literature

The mountain is mentioned in the novels ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...

'' and ''

Robur the Conqueror ''Robur the Conqueror'' (french: link=no, Robur-le-Conquérant) is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, published in 1886. It is also known as ''The Clipper of the Clouds''. It has a sequel, '' Master of the World'', which was published in 19 ...

,'' both by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, and in ''

This Thing of Darkness This Thing of Darkness (published in the United States as ''To the Edge of the World'') was the debut novel of Harry Thompson, published in 2005 only months before his death in November of that year at the age of 45. Set in the period from 1828 t ...

'' by

Harry Thompson Harry William Thompson (6 February 1960 – 7 November 2005) was an English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer. He was the creator of the dark humour television series ''Monkey Dust'', screened between 2003 a ...

In cinema

An attempt to climb the mountain in 2003 is the subject of the Brazilian documentary film Extremo sul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarmiento Mountains of Chile Landforms of Magallanes Region Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego