Ritacuba Blanco is the highest peak of
Cordillera Oriental, in the
Andes Mountains of
Colombia. It's also named Ritak'uwa, an ancient name from the
U'wa indigenous people that live in the lowlands of the
National Park Sierra Nevada del Cocuy y Güicán, where the Ritacuba Blanco is located. The summit is accessible from the west via the town of
El Cocuy, the village of Güicán and the hamlet of Las Cabañas. The hike is fairly easy, but weather is not reliable, and a glacier must be crossed. Because of
global warming, its glacier is melting at very high rates, backing down 25 linear mts per year; same is happening at amazing speeds to all other snow-covered tropical mountains in
Colombia. In 1950, Ritacuba Blanco's glacier extended down to above sea level; in January 2007 its lowest point was at above sea level. If this melting rate continues, the glacier is expected to disappear before 2025.