Mountain·Colombia

Pico Cristóbal Colón

5,775m

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Sylvain Perret (published under CC BY-SA-3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 5,775m
Prominence: 5,509m
Isolation: 1,287km
Relief: 2,614mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 60°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
First ascent: 1939
Summit: 10.8389°N, 73.6861°W

Mountain in Colombia

Pico Cristóbal Colón is a mountain in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia). Its summit stands 5,775 m above sea level. It is the highest point of CO. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 5,509 m, and the nearest higher ground is 1,287 km away. It was first climbed in 1939.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,161 m), it rises 2,614 m. The steepest side is the north-east face: 42° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 60° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

Pico Cristóbal Colón 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

5.5/10

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.

0.2/2.50 waymarked routes and 4 path sections nearby
0.0/1.50 huts and shelters
2.0/22,614 m of ascent from the valley
1.5/1.55,509 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 Pico Cristóbal Colón

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
Summit5,775 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 up4,468 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 mountain3,161 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

Pico Cristóbal Colón, 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 March afternoon the summit reaches about 5 °C; on January nights it falls to about -7 °C. Afternoons at the top are above freezing in every month of the average year. In March the 0 °C line climbs to about 6,690 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, January is the driest month (2 mm) and October the wettest (170 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	3	-7	6,370	2	1	7.9
February	4	-7	6,610	2	1	8.0
March	5	-6	6,690	10	2	7.2
April	4	-5	6,630	34	7	6.6
May	3	-4	6,450	109	16	6.2
June	4	-4	6,490	78	14	7.2
July	4	-5	6,550	63	10	7.6
August	4	-5	6,510	84	17	7.5
September	3	-4	6,310	110	22	7.1
October	2	-5	6,070	170	21	6.5
November	1	-5	6,010	97	14	6.5
December	2	-6	6,190	28	5	7.4

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 1,135 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 Pico Cristóbal Colón

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

Pico Cristóbal Colón seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 5 km

Other summitsGlaciers

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

—mountain huts and shelters
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
—waymarked hiking routes
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
14named glaciers
Glaciar La Reina, Glaciar Ojeda, Glaciar Bolívar, Glaciar Colón and 10 more
—viewpoints
—campsites
—hotels, B&Bs and chalets
—restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

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

T3 demanding mountain hiking

Car hire at SMR airport (Santa Marta)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

Chundwa (pico Colon) — Gunjarinmaku · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pico Cristóbal Colón, Colombia - ISS - June 27 2026 (55371871837) — Kevin M. Gill · CC BY 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	3	4	5	4	3	4	4	4	3	2	1	2
2020	+1.0	+1.4	+1.0	+1.7	+2.3	+1.9	+1.2	+0.6	+0.8	+1.5	+0.6	+1.8
2021	+0.1	+0.5	−0.6	−0.1	+1.8	+1.3	+1.7	+0.7	+1.4	+2.5	+3.2	+1.7
2022	+1.5	+0.3	−0.5	−1.4	−0.4	−1.3	−0.6	−1.2	−1.0	−0.1	−0.8	−1.2
2023	−1.3	−1.0	−0.8	−0.6	+1.2	±0.0	+0.2	+1.4	+2.6	+1.2	+0.9	+0.8
2024	+2.2	+0.8	+2.3	+1.3	+1.1	−1.0	−1.1	−0.5	−0.1	+0.7	−0.5	−0.6
2025	−1.0	−1.3	−0.4	−1.0	−0.1	−1.3	−0.2	+0.6	+1.2	+0.1	+0.8	+0.8

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

5,775 mPico Cristóbal Colón

Colombia0 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q578862) · 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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