Wavy, curvy and semi woody, the southern face of this range reflects like a mirror on the Surface of Laguna Azul. Excluded from Torres del Paine National Park, it remains at its eastern border still monumental in the aesthetic landscape.
Guanacos can be observed on its faces, while condors fly above its peaks. Its forests varying between dense and scarce act as wind stoppers. A paradisiac inhabitable land if it weren’t for its steep slopes.
Georeading
Forests can be conceived as ancient beings, as ancient as the rocks, millions of years old. A tree doesn’t exist alone but is linked to thousands of others through their roots, making up the intricated organism that is a forest.
Forests never die, only the trees that populate them do. They feed the system, retreating, and advancing following the dance of ice and weather, covering, and protecting the soil. The always present Nothofagus have been in this region for over 68 million years, which is shown by the fossil record of Las Chinas valley. They came from the Antarctic continent, before it was made of ice. It is believed that Nothofagus tress cross through a narrow bridge of land that connected Antarctica with South America when the sea level was lower; we also share these ancient species with Australia.
Over 30 million years ago the Drake channel opened, after which the circum antarctic current developed, freezing the Antarctic continent. Since then, our forests remained separated from their relatives, oceans, and icefields apart.
