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Cerro El Pital, Chalatenango

Mountain·El SalvadorEl Salvador

Cerro El Pital

2,730m

Sierra Madre de Chiapas

Summit weather

ElmerGuevara · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation
2,730m
Prominence
1,530m
Relief
1,418mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope
64°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit
NoneSee month by month ↓
Summit
14.3825°N, 89.1197°W

Mountain in Central America, on the border of El Salvador and Honduras

Cerro El Pital is a mountain in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas (El Salvador). Its summit stands 2,730 m above sea level. It is the highest point of SV. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 1,530 m.

From the lowest point within 5 km (1,312 m), it rises 1,418 m. The steepest side is the east face: 27° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 64° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Nueva Ocotepeque, 9 km away at 808 m: 1,922 m below the summit.

Read more on Wikipedia

Scores

Cerro El Pital 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

5.0/10

Difficulty to the top

Alpine climb

Estimated from the slope: OpenStreetMap has no graded paths near the top.

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

  • 0.0/2.50 waymarked routes and 0 path sections nearby
  • 0.2/1.51 huts and shelters
  • 1.9/21,922 m of ascent from the valley
  • 1.4/1.51,530 m of prominence
  • 1.5/1.512 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
  • 0.0/1via 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 Cerro El Pital

In a normal year there is no snow on this mountain, not even at the summit.

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

Cerro El Pital, 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 23 °C; on January nights it falls to about 6 °C. Afternoons at the top are above freezing in every month of the average year. In April the 0 °C line climbs to about 7,240 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, March is the driest month (20 mm) and September the wettest (224 mm).

2,000 m4,000 m6,000 mSUMMIT · 2,730 mNUEVA OCOTEPEQUE · 808 mJanuary: 5,900 mFebruary: 6,440 mMarch: 6,880 mApril: 7,240 mMay: 6,840 mJune: 6,280 mJuly: 6,240 mAugust: 6,240 mSeptember: 6,100 mOctober: 5,940 mNovember: 5,720 mDecember: 5,780 mJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit
MonthSummit high °CSummit low °CNueva Ocotepeque high °C0 °C line (m)Rain & snow (mm)Wet daysSun h/day
January166265,9002678.0
February196286,4402158.6
March217306,8802048.8
April239327,2403778.2
May2110306,840142186.9
June1810276,280198247.0
July1810276,240165228.1
August1810276,240198238.0
September1710266,100224246.9
October169265,940158206.6
November157255,72062127.4
December156255,7803397.9

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 903 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
2,730 m818 m0 km2 km4 km6 km8 km10 km12 km14 km16 kmWE
South – north
2,730 m1,284 m0 km2 km4 km6 km8 km10 km12 km14 km16 kmSN
Steepness by direction
30°N: 23°NNE: 20°NEE: 27°ESE: 22°SES: 20°SSW: 16°SWW: 4°WNW: 11°NW

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Cerro El Pital

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

Cerro El Pital 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.

  • 1mountain huts and shelters

    Villa verde

  • —cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
  • —ski areas
  • —waymarked hiking routes
  • —via ferratas
  • —climbing crags and routes
  • —named glaciers
  • 10viewpoints

    Mirador, Mirador del Valle and 8 more

  • 3campsites

    Los Alpes del Pital

  • 23hotels, B&Bs and chalets

    Hotel-Cafe Arbol de Paz, Posada de Reyes, Hôtel-Restaurant El Pital Lecho de Flores, Hotel Ocotepeque and 19 more

  • 14restaurants and cafés

Towns at the foot

  • Nueva Ocotepeque9 km · 808 m
  • Antigua Ocotepeque9 km · 750 m
  • Santa Lucía10 km · 738 m
  • Sinuapa10 km · 820 m
  • Dolores17 km · 1,650 m
  • La Labor17 km · 1,004 m
  • San Marcos18 km · 956 m
  • San Francisco del Valle18 km · 926 m

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

Amanecer Cerro El Pital.
ElmerGuevara · 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
1991–2020 average161921232118181817161515
2020+1.1+1.0+1.3+2.2−0.2−0.2+0.1−0.6+0.3+0.3+0.1−0.8
2021−0.8−2.1−2.6−3.6−1.0−0.8−0.4−0.5±0.0+0.9−0.8−0.2
2022−1.1−3.0−3.5−2.2−2.5−1.4−0.4−0.6−0.3±0.0+0.9−0.7
2023−0.8−2.3−0.8±0.0+1.9+3.0+1.1+1.0+1.5+0.6+1.2+0.4
2024+1.7+1.2+1.9−0.2+3.5+1.0+0.1+0.5+1.3+0.6+1.5−0.1
2025+0.8+0.9+1.6−0.1+2.8+0.3+0.6+1.6+1.7+1.0+2.1+2.5

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominenceWikidata (Q74214) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profilesCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX 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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