Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Ascent

Santa Marta · Colombia

Expedition Grade14 daysSouth America~£2,500 est.

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Overview

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the world's most dramatic coastal range: from Caribbean beaches its forested ridges rise to the twin summits of Pico Cristobal Colon and Pico Simon Bolivar, around 5,700 metres, in barely 45 kilometres - the greatest sea-to-summit relief on Earth. It is also sacred ground. The Arhuaco, Kogi, Wiwa and Kankuamo peoples regard the massif as the heart of the world, and access to the high peaks is theirs to grant; since the mid-2010s summit permission has in practice been closed, and any legitimate expedition depends entirely on consent arranged months ahead through community authorities. Parties that climbed in earlier years passed from jungle through cloud forest into frailejon paramo and glacier remnants with the sea glittering below - one of mountaineering's most singular panoramas. Treat this as an aspiration that opens rarely, if at all, and never attempt an unofficial ascent - it does real harm and gets future doors closed. The accessible alternative is superb: the four-to-five-day Ciudad Perdida trek crosses the massif's northern foothills to a 1,200-year-old Tairona city, best in the drier December to February window. A full expedition, were permission granted, would run about £2,500; the Lost City trek costs nearer £400 from Santa Marta.