Pico do Avião - Plane Crash Peak

 
Morro do Avião (or Plane Peak, or Plane Crash Peak)is a great rocky mountain directly southeast of Pedra da Mina Peak in Serra Fina, Brazil. Forgotten by the brazilian mountaineering community, hardly you hear someone say that reached its summit, but people do go there and the reason is obvious, there is a crash site close to the summit. In the late 90's a plane crashed and since it is a difficult spot to reach, the plane still there. The brazilian authority responsible for the mountains registry, IBGE, does not list that mountain as a brazilian summit. I disagree with that since there is a valley 200m deep between Pedra da Mina and that mountain, plus, the mountain itself has at least 3 secondary lower summits. With google earth i found an altitude of 2.650m but, since i always find a difference of around 30 to 40 meters higher at the mountain, i think that could be a 2.700m peak, soon i'll reach it and measure with a few friends and at least 3 gps atop the mountain. The altitude at the mountain page is a guess, to be corrected as soon as I step on its summit.

Altitude correction Oct 1st, 2012: I summited Plane Crash Peak, the correct altitude is 2.704m.

That mountain is one of several summits of Serra Fina range, but at this place, most of the mountains not even have a name for it, including this one, me and Tacio came up with the name. I saw and photographed myself at least ten different summits worthy of an name. In fact, i am setting up some data to sugest to IBGE this mountain as a new brazilian summit, which can be 9th highest brazilian peak if my guess is right. But the only ones with a name and the proper registry are:

Pedra da Mina - 2.798 m. (4th highest peak of Brazil)
Pico dos 3 Estados - 2.665 m.
Pico Cabeça de Touro - 2.649 m.
Morro do Tartarugão - 2.631 m.
Morro do Melano - 2.566 m. (it has a name but not recognized by IBGE!)
Pico Alto do Capim Amarelo - 2.500 m.


 
 

Getting There

There is 3 possible ways to get to that mountain, and for each one of them, first of all, you have to manage your way to a little city of Minas Gerais called Passa Quatro. From there, get yourself a private transport to one of the spots in red, depending of your choice:

First: SPOT: TOCA DO LOBO FARM: Starting the Serra Fina traverse from the west side. First summit: Alto do Campim Amarelo (1 night), after that Morro do Melano and Pedra da Mina summit (1 night). Start from there.

Second: SPOT: SITIO DO PIERRE: Starting from the Serra Fina traverse from the northeast side route. First summit: Pico dos 3 estados (1 night), second summit: Cupim do boi, third summit: Pedra da Mina (1 night) and go from there in the next morning. Maybe you can sleep at Ruah valley to save some time, at thebase o the mountain.

Third: SPOT: SERRA FINA FARM: Starting from Serra Fina Farm, hike up to Pedra da Mina by the north side, 1 night. Go from there.

 

Red Tape

Take your garbage with you!!!
Be careful, Serra Fina has a well known problem with water, find a gps archive to get the water spots, you don't wanna run out! During day time it is hot, but at the night, winter time, it can drop to -13°C. Cold!
If you go down a little bit on the opposite side of the summit you'll find the plane.

Camping

Camping is permited anywhere you want inside the Sierra. Please look for ready camping sites along the traditional trailhead.
Toca do Lobo Farm, Maracanã camp site, Alto do Capim Amarelo summit, valley after Morro do Melano (beside the red waterfall), Pedra da Mina summit, Pedra da Mina base, Ruah valley, small summit after Ruah valley, base of Cabeça de Touro Peak, 3 Estados Peak summit, and Sítio do Pierre. Plenty of places!

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 (Mina Rock) is close enough. The same mountain range.

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:

Images

View Pico do Avião - Plane Crash Peak Image Gallery - 5 Images