Mountain·Venezuela

Pico Bolívar

4,978m

Cordillera de Mérida

3D view drawn from Copernicus WorldDEM-30 (© DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA) and Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH, CC BY 4.0

Elevation: 4,978m
Prominence: 3,957m
Isolation: 262km
Relief: 2,006mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 61°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
First ascent: 1935
Summit: 8.5400°N, 71.0494°W

Mountain

Pico Bolívar is a mountain in the Cordillera de Mérida (Venezuela). Its summit stands 4,978 m above sea level. It is the highest point of VE. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 3,957 m, and the nearest higher ground is 262 km away. It was first climbed in 1935.

From the lowest point within 5 km (2,972 m), it rises 2,006 m. The steepest side is the north-west face: 40° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 61° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Tabay, 11 km away at 1,696 m: 3,282 m below the summit.

Pico Bolívar 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

6.2/10

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.

0.6/2.50 waymarked routes and 14 path sections nearby
0.2/1.51 huts and shelters
2.0/23,282 m of ascent from the valley
1.5/1.53,957 m of prominence
1.5/1.512 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

0.1/10

0.0/40 km of downhill runs
0.1/1.52 ski lifts
0.0/1.5lift station heights not mapped
0.0/30 months of snow at about 2,196 m

Snow season on the slopes (estimate)

Around 2,196 m, in the middle of the ski area: no snow.

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

2 lifts · 0 km cross-country

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.

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Snow

When there is snow on Pico Bolívar

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
Summit4,978 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 up3,337 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
Tabay1,696 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

Pico Bolívar, 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 February afternoon the summit reaches about 3 °C; on January nights it falls to about -8 °C. Afternoons at the top are above freezing in every month of the average year. In February the 0 °C line climbs to about 5,420 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, January is the driest month (30 mm) and May the wettest (163 mm).

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

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Tabay high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	2	-8	24	5,310	30	7	6.0
February	3	-7	24	5,420	34	8	5.8
March	3	-6	24	5,420	72	12	4.3
April	2	-6	24	5,310	142	19	3.7
May	2	-6	23	5,270	163	23	4.6
June	1	-7	23	5,170	136	23	5.1
July	1	-7	23	5,170	119	23	5.2
August	2	-7	23	5,250	115	23	5.3
September	2	-7	23	5,280	135	21	5.7
October	1	-6	23	5,190	156	22	5.3
November	1	-6	22	5,130	133	19	5.0
December	2	-7	23	5,220	68	12	5.7

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 1,928 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 Pico Bolívar

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

Pico Bolívar 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
Refugio de La Fría
1cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
Teleférico de Mérida
—ski areas
—waymarked hiking routes
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
2named glaciers
Glaciar La Corona, Glaciar Bourgoin Norte
1viewpoints
7campsites
Campamento Los Anteojos, Campamento de La Coromoto and 5 more
11hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Posada La Orquidea, Posada Valcore, Posada Villas del Carmen, Quinta Nosotros and 7 more
8restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

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

T2T3

T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking

Towns at the foot

Tabay11 km · 1,696 m
Mérida14 km · 1,389 m
Ejido21 km · 1,143 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

PicoBolivarMerida — Fernando Cuartero · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bolívar, resplandesciente... — Alexander Marcucci · CC BY-SA 3.0

El Pico Bolívar — Nancy Pestana González · 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	2	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	2	1	1	2
2020	+1.0	+1.2	+1.3	+2.1	+2.7	+2.1	+1.5	+1.5	+1.3	+1.9	−0.2	+0.8
2021	±0.0	±0.0	−1.0	+1.2	+1.7	+2.1	+2.6	+2.0	+2.7	+2.4	+3.0	+2.6
2022	+2.1	+0.5	+1.1	+1.2	+2.1	+1.5	+2.0	+1.4	+1.6	+1.2	+0.7	+1.6
2023	+0.5	+1.5	+0.9	+1.4	+2.5	+2.9	+2.4	+3.2	+3.7	+2.8	+2.0	+1.5
2024	+2.7	+1.9	+2.9	+2.2	+1.5	+0.9	+1.1	+2.0	+1.9	+2.3	+1.5	+2.7
2025	+2.4	+1.5	+1.5	+1.2	+1.3	−0.2	+0.2	+0.2	+0.8	+0.8	+2.0	+1.4

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

4,940 mHumboldt peak

Venezuela6 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q213704) · 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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