About the SN de SM

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is a little known yet impressively tall mountain range that hovers over the Colombian Coast of the Caribbean Sea. I believe my whole interest in this Blog and effort came from the impossibility I found in such a tall mountain, 18,000 ft, or 5700 m, being so close to what I have kind of disregarded as the listless and tamed waters of the Caribbean Sea. It sits distinct from the Andes, although quite close to their northern extent with the Sierra Occidental that runs along the Colombian Venezuelan border. It’s a huge pyramid of massif, topped by glaciers, skirted by Jungle and almost desert in proximities that seem implausible, basically roadless, and it is inhabited with traditionally living tribes despite it’s location in fairly modern Colombia and just a short flight from Miami. It contains the highest mountain in Colombia, Pico Cristobal Colon, although few Colombians realize it after 50 years of war, and a slightly smaller twin, Pico Simon Bolivar. Dozens of other peaks and ridges dot its triangular form. Almost everyone who discovers it is there is a bit stunned by it.