The ”Imeri” mountain range (Serra do Imeri), a portion of the Guiana Highlands on the Brazil-Venezuela border, has the highest mountain in Brazil, Pico da Neblina (Fog Peak), also “Neblina Peak” which rises 2,994 meters above sea level. A 1962 border survey trip discovered that its peak is just 687 meters horizontally from the Venezuelan border at Pico 31 de Março, which is barely within Brazilian jurisdiction. The latter summit, Brazil’s second-highest mountain, is only 21 meters lower.
Neblina, which translates to “fog” in Portuguese, is how the peak’s name, which translates to “Peak of the Mists” reflects the fact that it is frequently obscured by thick clouds. Members of an expedition from the Brazilian Army made the first ascent in 1965.
Pico da Neblina is formally situated in the region of Amazonas’ municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro. Since the mountain is unreachable from the municipality’s urban seat, 180 km (112 mi) distant, and since federal jurisdiction over the national park, the Yanomami reservation, and the border control region exceeds municipal power in all operational aspects, this has no practical importance.
The closest city is So Gabriel da Cachoeira, which is where nearly every climbing expedition leaves and is located approximately 140 kilometers (87 miles) away.
Access is limited and requires special authorization from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources due to the area’s placement in a national park in a border region that is also a part of Yanomami territory (IBAMA). All climbers must use a certified local guide, who can be hired at the IBAMA office in So Gabriel da Cachoeira.
Expect a four-day trip each way, three of which will be spent in the rainforest’s dense vegetation, which can be just as difficult and tiresome as the climb itself. In this place, rescue is all but impossible.
A Brazilian photographer named Robson Czaban ascended Pico da Neblina in 1998, and he writes in his journey profile (in Portuguese) that there are always a few gold miners on a small mountain range called Garimpo do Tucano, which is located just below the peak and serves as the base camp for the final and most difficult ascent.
Even though the panners’ presence there is prohibited, Brazilian authorities normally tolerate them. Czaban theorizes that this may be because in such a remote location, they are thought to be able to watch the border and nature better than IBAMA’s rangers and the army would be able to. They are quite helpful and nice, according to “Czaban”.
