Mountains of Chile

I keep mentioning the mountains out our window and finally decided to do some research.  Immediately to our east is the Sierra de Ramon, a mountain chain formed in the "foothills" of the Andes that reach about 3,300 m (10,827 ft). They actually use the word "Precordillera" to define these hills that come before the Andes. The highest peak of the actual Andes that you can see out of my window when it is clear is Cerro El Plomo (17,783 ft) that has a glaciar on the top and is often snow-covered farther down as well (even when it is 90 degrees down here)

Cerro El Plomo

The Andes range is over 4,500 miles long and spans seven countries in South America.  The tallest mountain in the Andes, and I believe in the Americas, is near Mendoza, Argentina - Aconcagua 6,962 m (22,841 ft) - and is only 15 km from the Chilean border.  While Chile can't claim the tallest one, it has 22 peaks over 20,000 ft.  For comparison, two summers ago (North American summers!), we had a family vacation near Vail, Colorado where the highest peak of Vail Mountain is 11,570 feet (that felt pretty high at the time) and the highest peak in the Rockies is Mount Elbert at 14,440 ft.

Makes you appreciate how historically isolated Chile was

In February we will be traveling south and will probably only be around mountains in the 12,000 ft range including several "active" volcanoes but on the way home we plan to travel along the Argentine side of the Andes and cross over to Chile at Mendoza and will have views of the mountains in the 20-22,000 ft range.  Photo to come in mid-February.

I heard that South Bend had a big snow storm on Thursday night.  Wednesday there was a big one here too but it was up in the mountains that are now covered with fresh snow while we are poolside in 90 degree weather!