Pico Cristóbal Colón is possibly the highest mountain in Colombia, with a reported height of 5775 m. Pico Cristóbal Colón and Pico Simón Bolívar are the two highest peaks in Colombia and almost equal in elevation. One of the two mountains is therefore the fifth most prominent in the world (see list of peaks by prominence). The nearest peak that is higher is Cayambe, some 1288 km away. There is a permanent snowcap on this peak and on the nearby mountains. It is part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range, along with Pico Simón Bolívar, and was named after Christopher Columbus. This mountain is the highest point in South America outside the Andes.

Climbing history

Colón was first climbed in 1939 by Walter Wood, Anderson Bakerwell and E. Praolini. Access to these mountains became very difficult after the early 1990s due to hostile locals, drug traffickers and FARC guerillas. An expedition in 2015 led by John Biggar was one of the first to climb in the range for many years, and reached the summit of Pico Colón on 13 December.