• Getting there: American and Avianca fly nonstop from Miami to Bogotá, with round-trip fares starting around $360; Spirit and Avianca fly nonstop from Fort Lauderdale, with fares starting around $390. The flight is about 3 ½ hours. The ten-hour onward drive to El Cocuy can be made by rental car (a 4x4 is advisable, though not essential; www.hertz.com; from $150 a day), or by bus via Capitanejo (six departures per day). Trailheads above El Cocuy and the nearby village of Güicán can be reached on foot, by horse, jeep or local milk truck.

• Places to stay: Rustic, nameless hotels in El Cocuy provide dormitory-style beds from $15 per person; in nearby Güicán, Kabañas Kanwara (+57 311 231 6004, infokanwara@gmail.com) is basic but cozy. Campfires are forbidden in El Cocuy national park; campsites are little more than areas of half-cleared moraine near clean glacial lakes.

• Advance planning: Allow nine days from Bogotá for three summit attempts. Tent, map and compass are essential; a GPS is recommended. Climbing gear can be rented in Bogotá. Freeze-dried food should be bought outside Colombia. Fresh food is available in El Cocuy.

• Weather: The driest months are December and January; at other times, heavy rain can bog the lower trails and snow can delay summits attempts. Climbing difficulty is rated 5.8 on the U.S. National Climbing Classification System. Between November and March, night-time temperatures rarely fall below freezing, but full wet-weather gear is vital.

• Guides: Spanish-speaking guides such as Alexander Torres (011-57 311 274 4649, alexsuesca@yahoo.es) and Darwin Bravo (011-57 313 480 6482, bravodarwin@gmail.com) can provide specialist equipment; rates are negotiable.

• Information: Consult Footprint Handbooks' ''Colombia Handbook'' for hiking and climbing information, Colombia's national parks service (+57 1 243 3095, www.parquesnacionales.gov.co) for current conditions, and Bogotá's Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi (www.igac.gov.co) for 1:100,000 contour maps.