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Overview

Highlights:

  • Explore one of the most beautiful snow caped ranges in Colombia
  • Stunning panoramic views of the Lagunillas Valley, Pulpito del Diablo, Sugar Loaf Peak, Black and White Bells Peaks, Laguna Grande de la Sierra, Cóncavo Peak, Ritacuba Blanco and Negro Peaks

Trip details:

  • Duration of the trip: 5 days and 4 nights (We depart from Bogotá on the first day at 8:00pm)
  • Trekking time: 2 to 10 hours daily.
  • Distance: 2-23 kms each day.
  • Ecosystem: rain forest, paramount and glaciar.
  • Climate: cold.
  • Elevation: 2.750 – 4.900 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l).

For decades the Sierra Nevada of Cocuy, Guican y Chita has been visited by mountaineers and climbers, both foreign and national.  For those who enjoy climbing rocks, ice, and snow, or those who enjoy hiking or camping, the Sierra Nevada of Cocuy is a true paradise.  Its majestic mountains, highlands, and forests represent different altitudes which offer the delights of the most daring adventures.

This mountain ridge is made up of a series of snow-capped peaks that are unique in the eastern mountain chain. The group represents the largest snow mass which still exists in Colombia. In the zone of perpetual snows in the park, elevations are from 4,700 to 5,330 m.a.s.l.

The Sierra Nevada is ordinarily reached from Guican and El Cocuy. These are connected by a navigable road, 43 kilometers in length, which passes through Alto de la Cuva, from which three main access roads are available:  Valle de Lagunillas (to the south), Hacienda La Esperanza and Cabañas Kanwara (to the north).

Ubication

Dates

sierra-nevada-del-cocuy-guican

You can do this expedition at any time of the year with your family or friends, forming a private group. In this case the price would depend on the number of people in your group. Contact us at our email: info@ecoglobalexpeditions.com for advice.

We will organize it for you whenever you want!

Or you can schedule yourself in any of our programming that we share below, open groups:

  • January 10-14, 2024
  • February 11 to 15, 2024
  • March 23 to 27, 2024
  • April 30 to May 5, 2024
  • June 6-10, 2024
  • August 7-11, 2024
  • October 10-14, 2024
  • November 7 to 11, 2024

Price

Prices for the Complete expedition to the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy:

The complete expedition to the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, includes 5 days and 4 nights snow edge (we reached the snow edge in the area of Laguna Grande de la Sierra, El Púlpito del Diablo and Ritacubas)

This works like this: since it is an expedition open to the public, you sign up and other people also sign up separately, the total number of people registered is added and the price is determined. To know who we are counting on, you must make a payment of COP500,000.oo.

We accompany the group from Bogotá if the number of participants is 6 or greater, otherwise we organize everything so that our guide is waiting for the participants in the municipality of Güicán and everything works like a clock!

Prices valid until January 15, 2025:

  • 1 participant – $3,920,000 in individual accommodation
  • 2 participants – $2,760,000 per person in double accommodation
  • 3 or more participants – $2,400,000 per person in multiple accommodation
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Note:

  • Foreigners not resident in Colombia have an additional charge of $50,000 per person

How to book

For bookings please email us to info@ecoglobalexpeditions.com or call us to Mobile: (+57) 310 823 3974 – (+57) 321 721 5554

You can also book this trip year around. Please contact us to send you a quotation.

What’s included

  • Transfer Bogota – Guican – Bogota / public coach
  • Transfer Guican – Kanwara – Guican / prívate 4×4
  • 1 Hotel nights at Guican
  • 3 Lodging nights in mountain cabins
  • Full board
  • Local guide and logistics
  • Medical insurance

What’s not included

  • Last day meals
  • National Park Permit
  • Personal equipment
  • Tips
  • Additional drinks
  • Local, national or international calls
  • Activities not included in the itinerary

Itinerary

Itinerary expeditions 5 days and 4 nights edge of glacier:

Note: the following itinerary is of an informative nature and may vary without prior notice in accordance with weather conditions or unforeseen circumstances.

Day 0

At 7:30 p.m. we will meet at the Transportation Terminal of Bogotá – Módulo Rojo, to be leaving at 8:00 p.m. to the town of Guican in the North of the department of Boyacá.

This jurney lasts 11 hours. Along the way the bus makes some short stops where you will have the opportunity to drink some hot drink or eat something light.

Day 1

Early in the morning we will arrive at the municipality of Guicán and we will go to one of the restaurants in town to have breakfast.

Then we will be picked up by the vehicles that will take us to the mountain. This journey takes about an hour and a half through the rural area of ​​the municipality and we will have the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful landscape in which the small plots of the farmers stand out with their crops and livestock grazing areas.

At noon we will arrive at the cabin after enter more into a remote territory of imposing landscapes and great mountains. Little by little we will discover the snowy peaks of this area of ​​the park.

In the cabin we will have lunch.

After lunch we will make an acclimatization walk in order to adapt our body to the altitude and at the same time we will enjoy the landscape that surrounds the cabin.

Dinner and accommodation.

Day 2

Very early, after breakfast, we start our ascent to the snow edge of the Ritacuba Blanco with its 5,330 m.s. The highest peak of the Sierra.

The walk will take us about four hours until 4,900 m.s. We will stay there for as long as the weather permits, enjoying the landscape of the highest peak in the Sierra. In this place we will have time to have lunch.

Then we will descend to the cabins to have dinner and rest.

Day 3

After breakfast we will take a vehicle that will take us to the Hacienda la Esperanza where we will start a long walk of about 10 hours round trip to the Laguna Grande de la Sierra, passing through the cave of Cuchumba, the Valley of the Frailejones and the cave of the men.

The lagoon is located in an amazing scenario, with more than 5 peaks of more than 5,000 meters forming a circus (Concavito, Cóncavo, Portones, Toti, Pan de Azúcar).

In the afternoon, after our return to the Hacienda, we will take again the 4 × 4 vehicles that will take us to the Kanwara Cabins in the northern sector of the Sierra.

Dinner and accommodation.

Day 4

After breakfast the vehicles will take us with all the luggage to the sector of the Lagunillas Valley from where we will depart to the Pulpito del Diablo and the Sugar Loaf.

The landscape is breathtaking, the Lagunillas River Valley extends to the northwest in all its immensity and to the east a spectacular canyon tells us the path that goes into the jungles of Arauca.

Our goal for this day is to reach the edge of snow at 4,900 meters altitude at the foot of the imposing and mysterious Pulpit of the Devil, a gigantic perfect cube of rock that stands out in the landscape of the Sierra.

This hike to the edge of the snow takes about 4 hours always uphill. On our right we are accompanied by the Peaks of Campanillas Negro and Blanco. The trail climbs up to the Rabbit Pass at 4,500 meters, from where we will have the first view of the majestic Pulpit of the Devil and the summit of the Pan de Azúcar Peak.

From there, the slope of the road becomes less strong and we begin to walk on the moraine, extensive slabs of rock where before there was ice and snow. Finally we reached the edge of snow at 4,900 meters of altitude. There we will be enjoying the landscape for as long as the weather permits, we will have lunch and then we will start our return to the vehicles that await us to take us to the town of Guicán.

Once in the village, we will check into the hotel where we can take a hot shower and have dinner.

Day 5

In the morning we will be taking the bus that will take us back to Bogotá. On the way we will stop for breakfast and there will be other short stops to rest.

Travel tips

Personal equipment list:

  • Day pack – 20 / 35 lt.
  • Back packing / Trekking leather boots
  • Synthetic / wool socks (2 pair)
  • Sun glasses (UV400)
  • Rain pants and jacket / technical shell – gore-tex
  • Thermal underwear
  • Synthetic / polar fleece pants and jacket
  • Gloves
  • Gaiters (optional)
  • Head lamp and extra batteries
  • 2 lt Water containers (Nalgene type)
  • Trekking poles
  • Personal toiletries
  • Small towel
  • Sun block # 60/100
  • Beanie
  • Hat/Cap
  • Camera and / or binoculars
  • Identity documents (passport)
  • Personal medicine
  • Keep all your clothing and equipment in plastic bags
  • Do not wear military camouflage clothes