The tallest peak in Cordoba's sierras, a popular hike above Capilla del Monte wrapped in decades of mystic lore.
Cerro Uritorco tops out at 1,979 meters, which doesn’t sound like much until you’re two hours into the climb and the trail has stopped pretending to be gentle. It’s the highest peak in the Sierras Chicas, rising directly above Capilla del Monte, and it draws a strange mix of hikers: serious trekkers ticking off the summit, families out for a manageable day walk, and a steady trickle of visitors who are there specifically because of the mountain’s reputation as a magnet for unexplained phenomena.
The Climb
The trailhead sits a short drive from Capilla del Monte’s center, and the path climbs through scrub and open granite in a little under three hours at a moderate pace. Lia and I started early to beat both the heat and the midday crowds, and the first hour was pleasant enough — gradual grade, wide views opening up behind us over the Punilla valley. The final push is where it earns its reputation, a scramble over loose granite where the trail more or less disappears and you’re following cairns and instinct. We arrived at the summit sweating and a little scraped up, and the payoff — a 360-degree view across the entire sierra system, with the Salinas Grandes salt flats visible as a pale smear on the horizon — made the scramble worth every complaint I’d made on the way up.
Myth on the Mountain
Uritorco’s fame rests on a 1986 close-encounter report that put Capilla del Monte on the map, and the mountain has carried the association ever since. Locals speak of energy vortexes, a supposed underground base, and lights seen from town on clear nights. None of that was visible to us, obviously — we saw granite, condors, and a lot of other hikers taking summit selfies — but the atmosphere on the trail carries a faint current of expectation that’s hard to entirely dismiss, even for two skeptics.
Worth the Effort Either Way
You don’t need to believe any of the mystic claims to justify the climb. The Sierras Chicas rarely offer a view this complete, and the descent — knees complaining by the final switchbacks — gave us enough time to debate, inconclusively, whether Maria Gimenez really saw what she said she saw in 1986. We never settled it. Neither, as far as I can tell, has the town below.
When to go: April through June and September through November for cooler climbing conditions. Start at dawn year-round to avoid both the midday heat and the busiest stretch of the trail.