Volcán Galeras

The 4,276 m Galeras volcano looms over Pasto from the west, its summit often hidden in cloud. The mountain is the reason the city has such fertile soils and one of the reasons Pasto sits where it does — on a high plateau in the volcano's caldera. Galeras has been almost continuously active since the Spanish arrival.

When monitoring levels permit it, the road can be driven to about 4,000 m for spectacular views over the city. Closed during periods of elevated alert.

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Galeras is one of the most consistently active volcanoes in South America and was placed on a Decade Volcano shortlist by the UN in 1991 — a list of sixteen worldwide considered most dangerous. A major eruption in 1993 killed nine people, including six volcanologists who had descended into the crater for fieldwork.

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