Volcano·Colombia

Nevado del Ruiz

5,389m

Cordillera Central

The GEGM · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 5,389m
Prominence: 2,035m
Relief: 1,509mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 45°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
First ascent: 1936
Summit: 4.8939°N, 75.3236°W

Volcanic mountain in Colombia

Nevado del Ruiz is a volcano in the Cordillera Central (Colombia). Its summit stands 5,389 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 2,035 m. It was first climbed in 1936.

From the lowest point within 5 km (3,880 m), it rises 1,509 m. The steepest side is the north-east face: 27° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 45° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Murillo, 17 km away at 2,986 m: 2,403 m below the summit.

Nevado del Ruiz 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

7.4/10

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.

1.0/2.52 waymarked routes and 8 path sections nearby
1.2/1.55 huts and shelters
2.0/22,403 m of ascent from the valley
1.4/1.52,035 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 Nevado del Ruiz

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
Summit5,389 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 up4,188 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
Murillo2,986 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

Nevado del Ruiz, 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 August afternoon the summit reaches about 0 °C; on August nights it falls to about -10 °C. Even in the warmest month the summit stays below freezing all day: ice and snow all year round. Even at its highest, in August, the 0 °C line reaches only about 5,310 m: 79 m below the summit. Across the region, January is the driest month (113 mm) and October the wettest (221 mm).

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

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Murillo high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-1	-9	15	5,230	113	22	5.8
February	-1	-9	15	5,280	118	21	5.4
March	-1	-8	15	5,260	161	26	4.6
April	-1	-8	15	5,260	217	27	4.6
May	-1	-9	15	5,250	202	28	5.3
June	-1	-10	15	5,250	146	24	6.1
July	-1	-10	15	5,260	130	24	6.6
August	0	-10	15	5,310	142	24	6.4
September	0	-10	15	5,310	150	25	6.1
October	-1	-9	14	5,170	221	27	5.2
November	-2	-9	14	5,110	215	27	5.1
December	-2	-9	14	5,150	173	25	5.6

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 2,138 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. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

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 Nevado del Ruiz

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

Nevado del Ruiz 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.

5mountain huts and shelters
El Refugio, Centro de Visitantes El Cisne - PNN, Refugio Arenales, Brisas - Parque de Los Nevados and 1 more
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
2waymarked hiking routes
Ascenso al Mirador del Nevado del Ruiz
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
2named glaciers
Glaciar Norte, Glaciar del Ruiz
6viewpoints
Mirador del Ruiz, Mirador 4157m and 4 more
7campsites
La Leonera, Campamento Angelo, Camping Nevado del Ruiz, Villamaria, El Cisne and 3 more
5hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel Termales del Ruiz, Hotel el Cisne, Nevado del Ruiz, Villamaria, Hosteria Cumanday, Glamping Leon Dormido and 1 more
3restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

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

T2T3T4

T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking
T4 alpine hiking

Towns at the foot

Murillo17 km · 2,986 m

Car hire at BOG airport (Bogota)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

Andesite of Nevado del Ruiz Volcano in Colombia — Carlos A. Vargas, Paul Mann and Carlos Borrero · CC BY 4.0

Entrada Parque Nacional los Nevados — Xemenendura · CC BY-SA 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	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1	0	0	-1	-2	-2
2020	+0.6	+1.2	+1.0	+0.9	+0.9	+0.2	±0.0	−0.1	+0.2	+1.0	+0.4	+0.3
2021	+0.9	+0.4	−0.4	+0.3	+0.7	−0.2	+0.7	+0.5	+1.0	+1.1	+0.7	+0.6
2022	±0.0	−0.5	−0.3	±0.0	+0.2	−0.8	−0.1	−0.1	−0.4	−0.2	−0.2	−0.3
2023	−1.0	−0.3	−0.6	+0.1	+0.9	+0.7	+0.5	+0.7	+1.3	+0.8	+1.2	+0.9
2024	+2.1	+1.6	+2.3	+1.1	+0.8	+0.3	+0.6	+0.6	+0.9	+0.9	+0.1	+0.2
2025	+0.4	−0.9	−0.4	+0.1	+0.1	±0.0	+0.4	−0.1	+0.1	±0.0	+0.1	−0.1

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

5,200 mNevado del Tolima

Colombia26 km away

5,364 mNevado del Huila

Colombia232 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q233351) · 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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