Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil

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Sugarloaf, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

Sugarloaf (background right) and Botafogo Beach.

View of the Sugarloaf from the sea.

This article is about Rio de Janeiro's peak. For the Brazilian retailing company, known as Grupo Pão de Açúcar, see Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição. For the city in Alagoas state in Brazil, see Pão de Açúcar, Alagoas.

Sugarloaf Mountain (in Portuguese, Pão de Açúcar), is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 metres (1,299 ft) above sea-level, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. However, it is believed by some that the name actually derives from Pau-nh-acuqua (“high hill”) in the Tupi-Guarani language, as used by the indigenous Tamoios.

The mountain is only one of several monolithic morros of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-paneled cable car (in popular Portuguese, bondinho - more properly called teleférico), capable of holding 75 passengers, runs along a 1400-metre route between the peaks of Babilônia and Urca every half hour. The original cable car line was built in 1912. So familiar is this peak, the mere sight of it in a film is sufficient to establish the setting as Rio.

[edit] Rock climbing

Visitors can watch rock climbers on Sugarloaf and the other two mountains in the area: Morro da Babilônia (Babilon 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 pitched long. Some classic routes in Sugarloaf are: