{{Short description|Mountain in Chile}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Cerro Escudo | image = Cerro Escudo.jpg | image_caption = North aspect | elevation_m = 2420. | elevation_ref =<ref name=peakvisor>{{cite web|url=https://peakvisor.com/peak/cerro-escudo.html|title=Cerro Escudo|website=peakvisor.com|access-date=January 4, 2026}}</ref> | prominence_m = 408 | prominence_ref =<ref name=peakvisor/> | isolation_km = 0.85 | isolation_ref =<ref name=peakvisor/> | parent_peak = Cerro Fortaleza<ref name=peakvisor/> | etymology = Shield Mountain | country = Chile | region = Última Esperanza Province | region_type = Province | part_type = Protected area | part = Torres del Paine National Park | range = Andes<br />Cordillera Paine | map = Chile#South America#Tierra del Fuego | map_size = 230 | map_caption = Location in Chile | label_position = right | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 8 | mapframe-caption = Interactive map of Cerro Escudo | coordinates = {{coord|50.94595|S|73.024992|W|type:mountain_region:AR/CL_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref =<ref name=peakvisor/> | topo = IGM ''Paine (Hoja Paine)'' | rock = Granite, Schist | age = Miocene | first_ascent = 1968<ref>[https://www.perrosalpinos.cl/imagenes/relatosdelosperros/altodelosarrieros/guias/Guia%20de%20Cerros%20de%20Patagonia.pdf ''Mountaineering in the Andes''], Jill Neate, RGS-IBG Expedition Advisory Centre, 2nd edition, 1994, p. 31, Retrieved January 4, 2026.</ref> | easiest_route = }}
'''Cerro Escudo''' is a mountain in the Magallanes Region of Chile.
==Description== Cerro Escudo is a {{convert|2420.|meter|ft|adj=mid|-elevation|abbr=off}} summit in the Cordillera Paine group of the Andes. The peak is located 100 kilometers (62 miles) north-northwest of Puerto Natales. The peak is situated at the head of Valle del Silencio (Valley of Silence) within Torres del Paine National Park. Precipitation runoff from the peak's slopes drains into tributaries of the Paine River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) above Valley of Silence in 0.5 kilometer (0.37 mile), and 2,200 meters (7,218 feet) above Dickson Lake in nine kilometers (5.6 miles). The first ascent of the summit was made on January 31, 1968, by Italians Mario Curnis and Mario Dotti.<ref name=AAJ>[https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12196821002/South-America-Argentina-Expeditions-in-Patagonia ''South America, Argentina, Expeditions in Patagonia''], 1968, publications.americanalpineclub.org, Retrieved January 3, 2026.</ref><ref>[https://escalando.org/?p=34028 ''Sueños de Otoño: Primer ascenso chileno al cerro Escudo, Torres del Paine''], Escalando.org, Retrieved January 4, 2026.</ref> The peak's descriptive Spanish toponym translates as "Shield." The nearest higher peak is Cerro Fortaleza, 1.2 kilometers (0.75 mile) to the south.<ref name=peakvisor/>
==Climate== Based on the Köppen climate classification, Cerro Escudo is located in a tundra climate zone with long, cold winters, and short, cool summers.<ref name=KGcc2007>{{Cite Köppen-Geiger cc 2007}}</ref> Weather systems are forced upward by the mountains (orographic lift), causing moisture to drop in the form of rain and snow. The months of December through February offer the most favorable weather for visiting or climbing in this area,<ref>[https://adventuretripr.com/blog/best-time-to-visit-torres-del-paine ''Best Time to Visit Torres Del Paine - Ideal Seasons and Months of the Year''], Adventuretripr.com, Retrieved January 4, 2026.</ref> however the region is characterized by low temperatures and strong winds throughout the year.<ref name = BCNclima>{{cite web |url = http://siit2.bcn.cl/nuestropais/region12/clima.htm |title = Clima y vegetación Región de Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena |access-date = 20 October 2015 |publisher = Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional |language = es |archive-date = 29 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170629055653/http://siit2.bcn.cl/nuestropais/region12/clima.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref>
==Geology== {{See also|Andean Orogeny}} The peak is composed of granite underlain by gray gabbro-diorite laccolith and the sedimentary rocks it intrudes, deeply eroded by glaciers. The hot granite that intruded parallel to the sedimentary rock converted the mudstone and sandstone into schist, a dark metamorphic rock. The steep, light colored faces are eroded from the tougher, vertically jointed granitic rocks, while the foothills and dark cap rocks are the sedimentary country rock, in this case flysch deposited in the Cretaceous and later folded.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tectonic controls and Cenozoic magmatism at the Torres del Paine, southern Andes (Chile,51°10'S)|first1=Uwe|last1=Altenberger|first2=Roland|last2=Oberhänsli|first3=Benita|last3=Putlitz|first4=Klaus|last4=Wemmer|date=1 July 2003|journal=Revista Geológica de Chile|volume=30|issue=1|pages=65–81|doi=10.4067/S0716-02082003000100005|doi-access=free}}</ref>
The radiometric age for the quartz diorite is 12{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}2 million years by the rubidium-strontium method and 13{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}1 million years by the potassium-argon method.<ref>Martin Halpern "Regional Geochronology of Chile South of 50 degrees Latitude", Bulletin Geological Society of America, v. 84, p. 2410, 1973.</ref> More precise ages of 12.59{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}0.02 and 12.50{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}0.02 million years for the earliest and latest identified phases of the intrusion, respectively, were achieved using Uranium–lead dating methods on single zircon crystals.<ref>Juergen Michel, Lukas Baumgartner, Benita Putlitz, Urs Schaltegger and Maria Ovtcharova, Incremental growth of the Patagonian Torres del Paine Laccolith over 90 k.y., Geology, 36(6):459–462, 2008.</ref> Basal gabbro and diorite were dated by a similar technique to 12.472{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}0.009 to 12.431{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}0.006 million years.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Leuthold, Julien |author2=Müntener, Othmar |author3=Baumgartner, Lukas |author4=Putlitz, Benita |author5=Ovtcharova, Maria |author6=Schaltegger, Urs |title=Time resolved construction of a bimodal laccolith (Torres del Paine, Patagonia)|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2012.01.032|journal= Earth and Planetary Science Letters|volume= 325–326|pages=85–92|year= 2012|bibcode=2012E&PSL.325...85L }}</ref> Thus, magma was intruded and crystallized over 162{{nbsp}}±{{nbsp}}11 thousand years.
==Gallery== <div style="max-width: 480px;"> <gallery mode=slideshow> File:Cerro Escudo and Cerro Cabeza de Indio.jpg|North aspects of Cerro Escudo (left) and Cerro Cabeza de Indio to right File:Cerro Fortaleza and Cerro Escudo.jpg|Cerro Fortaleza (left) and Cerro Escudo (right) viewed from the northeast in Valle del Silencio (Valley of Silence) File:Cerro Fortaleza and Cerro Escudo - east face - Torres del Paine massif - 01.jpg|Cerro Fortaleza (left) and Cerro Escudo (right) from the Valle del Silencio File:Co. Escudo, Macizo Paine (8990714887).jpg|North aspect File:Cerro Escudo and Cerro Cabeza de Indio from north.jpg|North aspects of Cerro Escudo to left and Cerro Cabeza de Indio to right as seen from Lake Dickson area </gallery> </div>
==See also== * Patagonia
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * Cerro Escudo (photo): [https://www.flickr.com/photos/21641329@N05/6924127471/in/dateposted/ Flickr]
{{Geographic Location 2 | Center = Cerro Escudo | North = Paine River | Northeast = Valley of Silence | East = Paine Towers | Southeast = Monte Almirante Nieto | South = Cerro Fortaleza | Southwest = French Valley | WSW = Cerro Catedral | West = Cerro Cabeza de Indio | Northwest = Dickson Lake }} {{Portal bar|Mountains|Geography|Geology|Andes}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Escudo, Cerro}} Category:Mountains of Chile Category:Torres del Paine National Park Category:Última Esperanza Province Category:Mountains of Magallanes Region Category:Two-thousanders of the Andes