Mountain·Colombia

Ritacuba Blanco

5,410m

Cordillera Oriental

Martin Roca · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 5,410m
Prominence: 3,645m
Isolation: 501km
Relief: 1,698mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 72°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 6.4944°N, 72.2975°W

Mountain in Colombia

Ritacuba Blanco is a mountain in the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia). Its summit stands 5,410 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 3,645 m, and the nearest higher ground is 501 km away.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,712 m), it rises 1,698 m. The steepest side is the east face: 44° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 72° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Güicán, 13 km away at 2,820 m: 2,590 m below the summit.

Ritacuba Blanco 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

7.3/10

Difficulty to the top

Alpine climb

Most path sections around the top are T4 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

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

1.5/2.53 waymarked routes and 34 path sections nearby
0.5/1.52 huts and shelters
2.0/22,590 m of ascent from the valley
1.5/1.53,645 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 Ritacuba Blanco

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
Summit5,410 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 up4,115 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
Güicán2,820 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

Ritacuba Blanco, 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 April afternoon the summit reaches about 1 °C; on July nights it falls to about -10 °C. In 3 months of the year it stays below freezing at the top even in the afternoon. In April the 0 °C line climbs to about 5,530 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, January is the driest month (40 mm) and May the wettest (161 mm).

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

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Güicán high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	0	-10	17	5,420	40	10	6.6
February	1	-10	17	5,500	45	11	6.1
March	1	-9	18	5,510	101	17	4.1
April	1	-8	18	5,530	125	22	3.3
May	0	-9	17	5,480	161	24	3.9
June	0	-10	16	5,340	127	23	4.2
July	-1	-10	16	5,300	114	23	4.3
August	0	-10	17	5,390	107	22	4.2
September	0	-10	17	5,470	102	21	4.4
October	0	-9	17	5,420	145	22	4.5
November	0	-9	17	5,410	120	21	4.8
December	0	-10	17	5,410	63	12	6.1

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 2,898 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 Ritacuba Blanco

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

Ritacuba Blanco 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.

2mountain huts and shelters
Cabañas Kanwara, Cabañas el Nevado (4 m)
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
3waymarked hiking routes
Vuelta al Cocuy, Ruta normal Ritacuba Blanco, Ruta normal al Pico Guicán
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
9named glaciers
Glaciar (año 2009), Glaciar de los Ritacuba (año 2022), Glaciar San Pablín Sur (año 2022), Glaciar San Pablín Norte (año 2022) and 5 more
3viewpoints
4856 m
13campsites
Cueva Larga, Camping, Camp. base Aguja, Playitas (oficial) and 9 more
7hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Cabaña el pulpito, Cabaña Peña Blanca, Cabañas Kanwara and 4 more
2restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

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

T2T3T4T5T6

T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking
T4 alpine hiking
T5 demanding alpine hiking
T6 difficult alpine hiking

Towns at the foot

Güicán13 km · 2,820 m
Panqueba19 km · 2,196 m
El Cocuy19 km · 2,646 m
El Espino22 km · 2,127 m
Guacamayas23 km · 2,151 m
Chiscas24 km · 2,404 m

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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

Borde de nieve Ritacuba blanco — Mfrancoavellaneda · CC BY-SA 4.0

Glaciar Ritacuba Blanco — Petruss · CC BY-SA 3.0

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	1	1	1	0	0	-1	0	0	0	0	0
2020	+0.1	±0.0	+0.4	+0.4	+0.9	+0.6	+0.7	+0.9	+0.6	+0.9	+0.4	+0.7
2021	+0.8	+0.4	−0.1	+1.0	+1.3	+2.1	+2.6	+3.2	+3.3	+2.9	+2.7	+1.5
2022	+1.9	+0.2	−0.3	−0.1	±0.0	+0.1	+0.3	−0.5	−0.6	−0.2	−0.5	−0.5
2023	−0.9	−0.6	−0.7	−0.9	+0.6	+0.5	+0.7	+0.7	+1.0	+1.0	+0.6	+1.2
2024	+1.5	+1.3	+1.8	+1.0	+0.9	+0.7	+0.9	+0.8	+0.7	+0.9	+0.2	+0.6
2025	+0.2	±0.0	+0.1	−0.2	−0.3	−0.3	−0.3	−0.6	−0.3	−0.3	−0.5	±0.0

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q2648857) · 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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