1942 Erwin Kraus and Guido Tamayo Ritacuba Blanco Historic First Ascent Expedition

Colombia🏔️ 2 Peaks

Erwin Kraus

Born in Bogotá in 1905 to German parents, Erwin Kraus developed an enduring passion for high wilderness during his youth. Combining the athletic precision of classic European mountaineering with deep love for the Colombian cordilleras, Kraus embarked on an unparalleled four-decade campaign of high-altitude exploration that systematically conquered every major glaciated massif in Colombia. In January 1939, Kraus joined the American expedition led by Walter Wood and Anderson Bakewell into the isolated coastal massif of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. On February 2, 1939, after hacking through dense cloud forests and climbing steep firn on the North Glacier, Kraus and his companions stood upon the summit of Pico Cristóbal Colón (5,730 m), achieving the first ascent of Colombia's highest mountain. Three years later, on April 3, 1942, Kraus led Colombian companions Guido Tamayo and Heriberto Degen up the virgin western glaciers of Ritacuba Blanco (5,410 m), crowning the Cordillera Oriental in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy. Kraus went on to complete first ascents of Nevado del Huila (5,364 m) and Nevado del Tolima (5,215 m). A gifted photographer and landscape painter, Kraus carried heavy view cameras to high cols, producing an irreplaceable visual record of tropical glaciers that are now rapidly vanishing. A visionary conservationist who championed the creation of Colombia's National Natural Parks system, Kraus passed away in Bogotá in 2003 at the age of 97, immortalized as the founding father of Colombian alpinism.

Colombia🏔️ 1 Peak

Guido Tamayo

Guido Tamayo was one of the core pioneers of twentieth-century Colombian alpinism. Possessing exceptional physical endurance and a passion for high wilderness, Tamayo joined Erwin Kraus during the golden age of Colombian mountain exploration in the early 1940s. At the time, the glaciated peaks of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy in the department of Boyacá were known only from distant paramo trails and indigenous legends. In March 1942, Tamayo, Kraus, and Heriberto Degen organized an expedition into the northern heart of El Cocuy to attempt the highest peak in the Eastern Cordillera: the unclimbed ice dome of Ritacuba Blanco (5,410 m). Overcoming freezing rains, steep moraines, and the thin air of the paramo, the three climbers established an assault camp beneath the western ice tongue. On April 3, 1942, roped together across untracked glacial firn, Tamayo and Kraus climbed steep 45-degree snow slopes, skirted crevasse chasms, and navigated an exposed corniced arête to step onto the 5,410-metre summit. Tamayo's success proved that native Colombian climbers possessed the technical courage and stamina to conquer their country's highest ice walls. Tamayo continued to explore El Cocuy for years, helping map high-altitude passes and inspiring the establishment of Colombia's earliest mountaineering clubs.