Sugarloaf Mountain is a famous peak situated in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, at the mouth of
Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 metres (1,299 ft) above the harbor, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. The mountain is only one of several monolithic morros (hills) of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro.
A glass-walled cable car (in popular Portuguese, bondinho - more properly called teleférico), capable of holding 65 passengers, runs along a 1400-metre route between the peaks of Pão de Açúcar and Morro da
Urca every 20 minutes. The original cable car line was built in 1912 and rebuilt around 1972/1973 and in 2008. The cable car leaves a ground station located at the base of the Babilônia hill, to the Urca hill and then to the Pão de Açúcar.
Directions
To reach the summit, passengers take two cable cars. The first ascends to the shorter Morro da Urca, 220 meters high. The second car ascends to Pão de Açúcar. The Italian-made bubble-shaped cars offer passengers 360-degree views of the surrounding city. The climb takes three minutes from start to finish. Departures are available every 20 minutes between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm and the fare is R$53 for an adult and R$26 for children under the age of 12 round-trip ticket to Pão de Açúcar.
Rock Climbing
Visitors can watch rock climbers on Sugarloaf and the other two mountains in the area: Morro da Babilônia (Babylon Mountain), and Morro da Urca (Urca's Mountain). Together, they form one of the largest urban climbing areas in the
World, with more than 270 routes, between 1 and 10 pitches long.
Some of the popular routes on Sugarloaf are:
Italianos: 5.10a, 2 pitches. Beautiful and well protected face climbing. It can be connected to other routes, in a total of 6 pitches to the top.
Stop Chimney: 5.6, 7 pitches. A classic runout but easy chimney.
Lagartão: 5.11c, 7 pitches. The first two pitches are traditional climbing, the rest is bolted.
Ibis: 5.10d A1, 10 pitches. Runout and committed. Some parties climb it in one day, sleeping on one of the ledges in the first half of the route.
