Mountain·Bolivia

Huayna Potosí

6,088m

Cordillera Real

3D view drawn from Copernicus WorldDEM-30 (© DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA) and Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH, CC BY 4.0

Elevation: 6,088m
Relief: 2,005mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 65°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
First ascent: 1919
Summit: 16.2639°S, 68.1514°W

Mountain in Bolivia

Huayna Potosí is a mountain in the Cordillera Real (Bolivia). Its summit stands 6,088 m above sea level. It was first climbed in 1919.

From the lowest point within 5 km (4,083 m), it rises 2,005 m. The steepest side is the west face: 38° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 65° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Huayna Potosí for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

7.8/10

Difficulty to the top

Alpine climb

Most path sections around the top are T5 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

1.2/2.51 waymarked routes and 33 path sections nearby
1.5/1.513 huts and shelters
2.0/22,005 m of ascent from the valley
1.3/1.51,203 m of prominence
1.5/1.512 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

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Snow

When there is snow on Huayna Potosí

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit6,088 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up5,086 msnow from January to February (some years all year)	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time	Snow some of the time
Foot of the mountain4,083 mno snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Huayna Potosí, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average November afternoon the summit reaches about 1 °C; on July nights it falls to about -17 °C. In 9 months of the year it stays below freezing at the top even in the afternoon. In November the 0 °C line climbs to about 6,300 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, June is the driest month (9 mm) and January the wettest (136 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	0	-11	6,060	136	22	7.0
February	0	-11	6,010	114	18	7.2
March	0	-11	6,040	79	17	7.9
April	0	-12	6,030	35	8	9.1
May	0	-15	6,010	13	3	10.4
June	-1	-16	5,890	9	2	10.6
July	-2	-17	5,840	16	2	10.5
August	-1	-16	5,980	22	3	10.5
September	0	-14	6,070	24	6	9.5
October	1	-12	6,200	48	9	9.4
November	1	-12	6,300	44	10	9.4
December	0	-11	6,150	107	18	7.8

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 3,873 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Huayna Potosí

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

Huayna Potosí seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

13mountain huts and shelters
Refugio Campo Alto Roca (5,130 m), Refugio Nuevo Llaulini, Refugio Huayna Potosi (4,750 m), Cabaña "Laguna Vizcachani" and 9 more
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
1waymarked hiking routes
Normal Huayna Potosi
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
5named glaciers
Nevado Huayna Potosi, Glaciar Charquini, Glaciar del Cerro Aguja Negra, Gracias del Cerro Zongo Jischana and 1 more
1viewpoints
Vista al Glaciar
2campsites
Campamento Maria Lloko, Campamento Base
1hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hospedaje Cordillera Tuni
—restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

33 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T1T2T3T4T5

T1 hiking
T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking
T4 alpine hiking
T5 demanding alpine hiking

Car hire at LPB airport (La Paz / El Alto)Discover Cars · Affiliate link

OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

Huayna Potosi2 — "Franz Michel" · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cementerio de Milluni y Huyna Potosí(14) — Caleidoscopic · CC BY-SA 4.0

Gipfel Huayna Potosi — Manuelsilvanpeter · CC BY-SA 4.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	0	0	0	0	0	-1	-2	-1	0	1	1	0
2020	+0.7	+0.3	−0.2	+0.8	+0.5	+0.6	+1.2	+1.1	−0.3	−0.1	+1.4	+0.1
2021	−0.4	−0.5	−1.0	+0.1	−0.1	+0.1	+0.3	+0.5	+0.4	+1.3	−0.7	−0.9
2022	±0.0	−1.0	−0.7	+0.8	±0.0	−0.6	+1.3	+0.4	+1.6	+2.3	+1.5	+0.3
2023	+0.4	+1.1	±0.0	+1.4	−0.3	+1.2	+2.6	+1.5	+1.1	+2.1	+0.7	+0.2
2024	+1.3	+0.9	+0.6	+1.1	+1.3	+1.5	+0.7	+1.0	+0.9	+1.1	−0.1	+0.7
2025	−0.2	+0.4	−0.5	±0.0	−0.3	−0.4	−0.2	−0.7	−1.0	−0.7	−0.8	±0.0

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q852849) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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