The countries of South America are simply an amazing place to visit and climb in - with wonderful people and incomparable landscapes and peaks. And while countries like Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina etc are all well known amongst the United States and European climbers - Colombia hasn't yet quite been thought of as a go-to country for high alpine goals. While I have been lucky enough to climb in Ecuador a number of times, and was looking to plan something in Peru or Bolivia, my partner and I decided to shift gears and dig into what Colombia had to offer.

Despite Colombia overall being one of the more peaceful and accessible countries in South America these days, many of its beautiful peaks are difficult to get access to, and beta for these peaks is equally difficult to ascertain. After some research, we settled on Nevado del Tolima, an iconic glaciated peak anchoring the southeast corner of the Los Nevados National Park. At 17,100', Tolima is an extremely picturesque - still active Volcano, and the second highest peak in the park behind Volcon Ruiz (currently closed and considered one of the deadliest volcanos in the world, still being active after it's eruption in 1985 which killed almost 30,000 people).

Tolima is not an easy mountain to reach. The summit is ~17 miles and 11,000-ish vertical gain from the park trailhead. In fact, ~15 of those miles (so 30 miles of the RT distance) actually are done in plastic knee high swamp boots due to the wet tropical climate and ecosystems you go though on the approach. Simply put - the terrain is hard and relatively slow to move through.

A number of routes on Tolima have closed over the years, due to global warming and melting glaciers. In fact, it's estimated that in the next 20-30 years, Tolima's glaciers will be completely extinct.

Today, the "standard" route generally starts in Salento - a beautiful coffee and adventure town popular with tourists and backpackers, and an easy 30 min flight from any of the major cities in Colombia.

We checked into our hostel, one of a number that were very climber focused, rented our rubber swamp boots, put some good soles in them and got ready to head into the park in the morning.

In the morning, we hooked up with our guides, and grabbed a cab to Los Nevados National Park - a quick 25 min drive from Salento. The park entrance lies in the Cocora Valley - a national landscape in Colombia, and home to much of the remaining population of the national tree of Colombia - the Quindío wax palm. The park itself is busy - lots of tourists rolling in and out - and the park staff goes through a lengthy explanation about the rules of the park - especially as it relates to Tolima itself, who was actually granted the same rights as a citizen of Colombia.

At the trailhead, we left our bags for some mules who would be carrying much of our heavier gear up to the Playa de Primavera - essentially a farm/climbers hostel and our first camp.

Day 1 is a roughly 11 mile and 6000 vertical gain though some non-ideal terrain. The route would move through multiple eco-systems, starting here in the Cocora Valley, moving into the jungle and eventually getting into the high and important paramo of Colombia.

After a few miles of trekking through the mostly flat Cocora Valley, the terrain abruptly changes into a lush jungle, and the climbing begins. It's amazing how abrupt the transition of ecosystems happen, and the scenery completely changes around you.

After a few miles, you reach a sign detailing out the Tolima climb. We found the information to be pretty accurate (~60km round trip, elevation markers etc).

Eventually, you descend down to about 12,100' where you arrive at the Finca de Primavera. This is a family run farm that doubles as a climbers hostel. There are maybe 40 beds, a kitchen, bathrooms, and even a shower (with hot water for 6000 COP!). There were a number of teams here this evening, most headed to or from Tolima - and a few others attempting some other peaks in the area.

The next morning was the push to basecamp - another 6-ish miles and 3500 vertical gain or so. After getting our first look at Tolima from the Finca - we were able to enjoy it all day on the approach as it worked it's way out of the clouds.

The route generally continues to follow the mule trail up to base camp - again, fairly muddy and slow going - but just dominated by beautiful terrain and peaks everywhere.

We made good time, working our way up a couple sub peaks and getting to the main ridge that leads to Tolima base camp.

Eventually we arrived at base camp @ 14,700' or so. Weather was perfect, basecamp vibes were hopping. Our plan was to get some sleep and have an alpine start of 2AM. The route generally moves east, up a steep scree slope, into some rocks where some brief rope moments would happen. After that, we would climb through the rocks up to reach the Shimmer Glacier, where we would take that to the summit.

Overnight we got a brief snow, dropping an inch or so at basecamp and a couple inches up higher. It make the snow perfect for crampon's and we enjoyed a safe and efficient climb to the summit.

We arrived at the summit around 5am, and had perfect weather to hang around for 45 min or so until the sun began to rise. In the meantime, we continued east from the summit a bit where you can reach the still smoking crater.

Nevado del Ruiz dominates the landscape to the north east, with heavy smoke billowing out. Ruiz is one of the deadliest volcanos in the world, having killed almost 30,000 people in 1985 when it erupted.

After hanging around the summit for a bit - we headed back down. We moved pretty quickly through the rock areas, and worked our way back down to basecamp to pack up.

Paramillo del Quindio, a beautiful extinct volcano is a reminder of what is happening to all of these peaks in the area. The glaciers that existed on this peak disappeared in 1985. The peak is still climbable, and we met a group headed back from there at the Finca the next morning.

After packing up camp, we descended back to the Finca la Primavera - spending another night there.

In the morning, we kicked off the 11 mile trek back to the trailhead. Beautiful views of Tolima stuck with us as we climbed back up to the ridge, eventually descending all the way back down to the Cocora Valley.

Nevado del Tolima was an amazingly fun experience, and one very different than say a typical Ecuador trip where you can bag a number of peaks very quickly. It's about the approach and the trek, and the ecosystems to experience getting there that is more difficult than the summit climb itself. The climbing community and climbing culture in Colombia is real - and the peaks are amazing - I can't recommend experiencing the beauty of this for yourselves enough.

Of all the climbers I met, the majority were Colombian. A large chunk of them were female climbers. Europeans made up the rest, with myself being the only climber on the mountain from the United States (my partner lives in the United States, but is from Colombia).

There are a number of guided options (guides are required) in the area, based out of Salento. Many guides speak english. We ultimately decided to go with an indigenous group based out of Cali that was recommended to us by a pro (Colombian) athlete based in Wyoming - and they were amazing. They didn't speak english - but if you are comfortable with that, I would highly recommend. Their stoked was next level for getting after it.