Mountain·Colombia

Nevado del Tolima

5,200m

Cordillera Central

Gsilvaarias · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 5,200m
Relief: 2,194mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 63°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 4.6636°N, 75.3328°W

Volcano located in the Central Andes of Colombia

Nevado del Tolima is a mountain in the Cordillera Central (Colombia). Its summit stands 5,200 m above sea level.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,006 m), it rises 2,194 m. The steepest side is the north-west face: 39° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 63° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Nevado del Tolima 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

8.5/10

Difficulty to the top

Mountain walk

Most path sections around the top are T3 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

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

1.8/2.57 waymarked routes and 40 path sections nearby
1.5/1.57 huts and shelters
2.0/22,194 m of ascent from the valley
1.3/1.51,316 m of prominence
1.5/1.512 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

0.1/10

0.0/40 km of downhill runs
0.1/1.52 ski lifts
0.0/1.5lift station heights not mapped
0.0/30 months of snow at about 3,120 m

Snow season on the slopes (estimate)

Around 3,120 m, in the middle of the ski area: no snow.

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

2 lifts · 0 km cross-country

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 Nevado del Tolima

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
Summit5,200 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 up4,103 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
Foot of the mountain3,006 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

Nevado del Tolima, 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 February afternoon the summit reaches about 0 °C; on July nights it falls to about -9 °C. In 5 months of the year it stays below freezing at the top even in the afternoon. In February the 0 °C line climbs to about 5,280 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, January is the driest month (87 mm) and October the wettest (194 mm).

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

Month	Summit low °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-8	5,240	87	20	5.5
February	-8	5,280	104	20	5.0
March	-7	5,250	145	25	4.1
April	-8	5,240	193	26	4.2
May	-8	5,220	168	26	4.9
June	-9	5,170	113	23	5.3
July	-9	5,190	90	21	5.6
August	-9	5,250	92	21	5.3
September	-9	5,280	110	22	5.4
October	-8	5,170	194	26	4.7
November	-8	5,130	191	26	4.6
December	-8	5,160	146	23	5.1

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 2,267 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. Heights drawn 2× taller than lengths, so the shape can be seen.

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 Nevado del Tolima

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

Nevado del Tolima 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.

7mountain huts and shelters
El Rancho, Estambul (3 m), Finca La Playa (Aquilino), Albergue Julio Pulido and 3 more
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
7waymarked hiking routes
Cara Sur (Vía norma, F), Cara Norte por el Gusano (PD), Travesía del Parque de los Nevados, Camino Cocora - Laguna El Encanto and 3 more
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
5named glaciers
Glaciar Pijao (año 2016), Glaciar Krauss (2016), Glaciar Totaré (2016), Glaciar sin nombre (2016) and 1 more
1viewpoints
Mirador Termales de Cañón
20campsites
Campamento 4.000m, Campamento Corazones, Campamento Piedra del Sol, La Cueva and 16 more
—hotels, B&Bs and chalets
3restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

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

T1T2T3T4

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

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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

Glaciar Nevado del Tolima — Ulughmuztagh · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nevado del Tolima (27612062997) — Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia · CC BY-SA 2.0

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	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020	+0.6	+1.1	+0.9	+0.9	+0.7	+0.4	+0.2	±0.0	+0.3	+0.8	+0.4	+0.2
2021	+0.8	+0.2	−0.5	+0.1	+0.5	−0.1	−0.1	−0.2	+0.2	+0.7	+0.4	+0.6
2022	±0.0	−0.4	−0.2	−0.1	±0.0	−0.6	±0.0	−0.1	−0.2	−0.1	−0.1	−0.4
2023	−1.2	−0.4	−0.8	−0.1	+0.6	+0.3	+0.6	+0.8	+1.2	+0.9	+1.1	+1.0
2024	+2.0	+1.3	+1.7	+1.2	+0.7	+0.5	+0.3	+0.7	+1.1	+1.0	+0.3	+0.5
2025	+0.4	−1.0	−0.4	±0.0	−0.3	+0.1	+0.1	±0.0	±0.0	+0.1	+0.3	+0.3

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

5,389 mNevado del Ruiz

Colombia26 km away

5,364 mNevado del Huila

Colombia207 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q144327) · 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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