In January 2005 I led yet another expedition to Cerro Plataforma, which is a mountain located in Patagonia. This mountain measures just 2.077 metres and is not particularly difficult to climb. However, its main attraction for those who go there is not its value as a climbing target, but the fossils it contains. It is quite a journey to get there, for it is located relatively far from easy access routes; to reach Cerro Plataforma, you need to trek for about two days.

The fossils found there are marine and terrestrial, from ages spanning the Jurassic up to the Pleistocene and include plants, mollusks and vertebrates. We have even found full-size remains of trees in fossil state, an ancestor of penguins, sharks, brachiopods and many others.

Cerro Plataforma can be translated as Mount Platform, or Mount Flat; the name comes from its particular shape. The mountain is almost flat and looks like an aircraft carrier; there is in fact, plenty of space to land with a small aircraft like a Piper Cub there, so I would like to invite anyone who would like to combine fossils with bush flying to come along.

If you want to learn more about bush flying, look here:
http://www.andinia.com/cgi-local/search ... _and=1,and if you want to learn a little bit about that particular mountain, go to http://www.andinia.com/cgi-local/search ... zoom_and=1.