| Tronador | |
|---|---|
 View of Tronador mountain fromMascardi Lake, Argentina | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,491 m (11,453 ft)[1] |
| Prominence | 2,642 m (8,668 ft)[2] |
| Listing | Region high point Province high point Ultra |
| Coordinates | 41°09′39″S71°53′15″W / 41.16083°S 71.88750°W /-41.16083; -71.88750[2] |
| Naming | |
| English translation | thunderer |
| Geography | |
  Tronador Location in Argentina, on the border with Chile | |
| Location | Río Negro,Argentina Los Lagos,Chile |
| Parent range | Andes |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano |
| Volcanicarc/belt | South Volcanic Zone |
| Last eruption | Unknown |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 1934 byHermann Claussen |
Tronador (Spanish:Cerro Tronador) is anextinctstratovolcano in the southernAndes, located along the border betweenArgentina andChile, near the Argentine city ofBariloche. The mountain was namedTronador (Spanish for "Thunderer") by locals in reference to the sound of fallingseracs. With an altitude of 3,470 metres (11,380 ft), Tronador stands more than 1,000 m above nearby mountains in the Andean massif, making it a popular mountaineering destination. Located inside two national parks,Nahuel Huapi in Argentina andVicente Pérez Rosales in Chile, Tronador hosts a total of eightglaciers, which are currently retreating due to warming of the uppertroposphere.[3]
Cerro Tronador is in theWet Andes, a zone of high precipitation of both snow and rain. The humid temperate climate of the southern Andes has allowed several glaciers to develop due to highaccumulation rates. Most of the precipitation is produced by westernfrontal systems from thePacific. Located in the middle of the Andean massif at a latitude of 41° S, Tronador is part of an alpine landscape offjords,glacial lakes, andU-shaped valleys. The forming of the landscape took place during theQuaternary glaciations, periods during which the whole area was covered by thePatagonian Ice Sheet. The volcano grew during theglacials andinterglacials of thePleistocene but became practically extinct in the late Middle Pleistocene, approximately 300ka ago, due to a shift in the active front of theSouthern Volcanic Zone to which it belongs.[4] Since then, glaciations and other erosive processes shaped the mountain freely without new output oflava ortephra. As in the case of nearbyLanín volcano, Tronador is composed mostly ofbasalts, and has seen a decline in activity as theOsorno andCalbuco volcanoes grow further west.
Tronador is notable for the many glaciers covering parts of its flanks. Up to eight glaciers have been inventoried:Alerce,Ventisquero Negro,Casa Pangue,Castaño Overa,Río Blanco,Frías,Peulla, andManso. Over the last decades the glaciers on Tronador, like the majority of southern Andean glaciers, have been retreating. The Casa Pangue glacier on the northwestern side of Tronador experienced a thinning between 1961 and 1998, with an increased rate of retreat between 1981 and 1998 at 52 m a−1. The retreat and thinning is attributed to a decrease in precipitation and a warming of the uppertroposphere over the last several decades.[3]
Alerce Glacier, on the Argentinian side, can be visited from RefugioOtto Meiling, a mountain hut that is sandwiched between it and Castaño Overa Glacier. Castaño Overa, also on the Argentinian side, is smaller and relatively accessible by hike from Pampa Linda. Guided trekking tours allow visitors to cross Castaño Overa or walk to Tronador's peak.
Ventisquero Negro ("black snowdrift" in Spanish) is a rather unusual glacier at the base of Tronador inNahuel Huapi National Park. Its unusual dark brown colour comes from dirt and sediment picked up in the glacier's accumulation zone, which is fed by the Río Manso Glacier several hundred metres higher up the mountain. Brown icebergs calve from the glacier and then float in a small lake until eventually melting.
According to the Aoneker map, these are the named peaks on Tronador: Anon or Internacional (3484m), Argentino (3187), Chileno (3262), and Torre Ilse (2585). Named ridges include Filo Sur (3054), Filo Blanco (3146), Filo La Vieja (2715), and Filo Lamotte (2340).
Tronador was first climbed byHermann Claussen solo on 29 January 1934, after several attempts. Amountain hut, RefugioOtto Meiling, is the destination of popular day hikes on the mountain, and is named after a German mountaineer who made dozens of ascents and spent years guiding people around it. The hut is located about 1200m vertically above Pampa Linda, at the mountain's base.
Most summers the Internacional or Anon peaks (the highest of Tronador's three peaks) is climbable. However, an unusually hot summer increasedrockfall to dangerous levels during January and February 2008. The Argentine side risks becoming no longer accessible due to increasingly warm weather in the region destabilising the glaciers.
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