Pico Humboldt
Appearance
Pico Humboldt | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 4,940 m (16,210 ft) |
Prominence | 440 m (1,440 ft) |
Isolation | 5.62 km (3.49 mi) |
Coordinates | 8°32′58.78″N 70°59′46.11″W / 8.5496611°N 70.9961417°W |
Geography | |
Location | Mérida, Venezuela |
Parent range | Sierra Nevada, Andes |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1911 by Alfredo Jahn |
Easiest route | Laguna del Suero |
Pico Humboldt is Venezuela's second highest peak, at 4,940 metres above sea level. It is located in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, in the Venezuelan Andes of (Mérida State). The peak with its sister peak Pico Bonpland, and the surrounding páramos are protected by the Sierra Nevada National Park.
It is named after the famous German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
Glaciers
The summit is surrounded by the Eastern Coromoto glacier and the Sievers glacier, the two largest out of the four glaciers remaining in the country (the other two smaller glaciers are on Pico Bolívar). The glaciers on Humboldt Peak (as most tropical glaciers) have been receding fast since the 1970s and they are forecast to melt completely in a couple of decades.
References
- Jahn A, Observaciones glaciológicas de los Andes venezolanos. Cult. Venez. 1925, 64:265-80