Volcan Galeras - Alternative route
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 6.87 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,396 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Very difficult
- Elevation loss
- 1,247 ft
- Max elevation
- 13,600 ft
- TrailRank
- 19
- Min elevation
- 8,317 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 6 hours 34 minutes
- Time
- 9 hours 40 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1002
- Uploaded
- April 10, 2023
- Recorded
- April 2023
near Jenoy, Nariño (Republic of Colombia)
Viewed 61 times, downloaded 1 times
Itinerary description
2023 trail for Volcan Galeras near Pasto Nariño Colombia.
This is a hard climb - around 1800m over 7 km. There are large parts of it which have 60° slopes so it's VERY steep. Maximum height of around 4220m, from around 2500.
If you're lucky with the weather as we were then the views are absolutely stunning. Fully recommend if you're in Pasto for a few days.
Out and back is around 14 km. Go early. The numbers on altitude and mileage are wrong because of the awful GPS chip in my cheap phone, the ones above are closer to reality.
This is a hard climb - around 1800m over 7 km. There are large parts of it which have 60° slopes so it's VERY steep. Maximum height of around 4220m, from around 2500.
If you're lucky with the weather as we were then the views are absolutely stunning. Fully recommend if you're in Pasto for a few days.
Out and back is around 14 km. Go early. The numbers on altitude and mileage are wrong because of the awful GPS chip in my cheap phone, the ones above are closer to reality.
Comments (10)
You can add a comment or review this trail
What is the cost to do this hike? I am in Tatacoa desert making my way downto Ipieles and May stop in Pasto to try this hike. I heard the summit was closed but I cant get reliable information as to it being ope again
Absolutely free!
Don't underestimate the incline, it's very tough
The summit is technically closed all the time, but it's not enforced. It was closed when I did it too
Cheers Alex for that.
I have done a lot of hikes with super challenging inclines so I am not overly bothered by that, I accept it will be super tough, although as long as I don't need any specialist equipment and can hike it in my regular hiking gear then all is good.
How come you chose that route instead of the typical road route that snakes up the mountain from Pasto and villages? was that to avoid the checkpoint or house on the road?
When I was looking at google maps there was a road with a big house and a gate which looked like it was preventing access, I understood that only access to the lake was available on the south western corner somewhere, I forget the name, then I came across this and figured you were looking for a shortcut up to bypass the gates, which I am basically doing :-)
We weren't really looking for a bypass, we just headed to the trailhead marked on the route and then started climbing. The route wasn't particularly clear so we just slogged it up - no gate, no house no nothing. We were advised by a local that this was the place to start, and that's that, no other reason really. But if there is a gate etc, you definitely avoid it going this way (at least, you did a year ago!)
fair enough, thanks for all the information.
I just arrived in Popayan now planning on how to get to pesto next, what time of the day did you get to the trailhead?
Just so I can calculate travel times etc into my route, I saw your route time so thats helpful.
Did you find pesto safe enough? did you take an uber or something to the trailhead?
thanks again for all the help.
We went early morning, and it was worth it because it took us most of the day. You can get a local mini bus to Genoy, then walk to the trail head from there (it was very easy and cheap, I think it cost /- 5000 pesos). We took a chiva back. Can't remember exactly how long the bus was but not too long - somewhere around 30 minutes or so I think.
Thanks for all the help mate, I’m just trying to work out how to get from Popayán to Pasto now, there apparently used to be a bus but no longer, probably only a flight which is annoying
Interesting - that road was out last year too due to landslides. If you are happy to travel a longer route go from Popayan to Mocoa by bus and then take a jeep on the Trampolín de la Muerta from Mocoa to Pasto. That road is easily the most spectacular route in Colombia - if it's clear day you can see right from the mountains to the Amazon river, and the rows itself is a proper adventure too. You can do it in one long day, but it is recommended to stop in Mocoa because the weather is usually clearer in the morning so the Mocoa to Pasto leg is more beautiful and somewhat safer.