Pico Bolívar is the highest mountain in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, at 4,981 metres. Located in Mérida State, its top is permanently covered with névé

Névé

Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice. This type of snow is associated with glacier formation through the process of nivation. Névé that survives a full season of ablation is referred to as firn, which is both...

 snow and three small glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s. It can be reached only by walking; the Mérida cable car

Mérida cable car

The Mérida Cable Car was the world's highest cable car. Its base is located in the Venezuelan city of Mérida at an altitude of , and its terminus is on Pico Espejo, at . The whole system was opened to the public in 1960; it was closed indefinitely in 2008, with a declaration that it had reached...

, the highest cable car in the world, only reaches Pico Espejo

Pico Espejo

Pico Espejo is a mountain in the Andes of Venezuela. It has a height of 4,880 metres....

. From there it is possible to climb to Pico Bolívar. The peak is named after the Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolívar

Simón Bolívar

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...

.

The Pico Bolívar is located on the mountain previously called La Columna, next to El León (4,743 m) and El Toro (4,695 m). The new name was suggested by Miguel Febres Cordero

Miguel Febres Cordero

Saint Miguel was a member of the Order of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was born Francisco Febres-Cordero Muñóz on November 7, 1854 at Cuenca, Ecuador and died at Premià de Mar, Spain on February 9, 1910....

 in 1925. It was officially renamed on December 30, 1934.

Elevation

The 4,981 metre elevation is now the official height,and was confirmed by a 2006 GPS reading. An older figure of 5,007 metres is still sometimes quoted.

Glaciar retreat

During the Merida glaciation in the Pleistocene epoch, the glaciated area had a maximum extension of 600 km2 and covered mountains with a height of at least 3,000 m. At the end of the glaciation, the area covered by the glaciers progressively reduced and before the start of the small ice age they had possibly all disappeared.

It is estimated that in 1910 the area covered by glaciers was around 10  km², divided in two large areas, one embracing Picos Bolivár, Espejo and Concha and the other embracing Picos Humboldt and Bonpland). Possibily a small glaciated area covered the northwest side of Pico El Toro.

Aerial pictures taken in 1952 show the glaciated area had already reduced to 0.9  km² for the Picos Bolivár, Espejo and Concha and to 2.0  km² for the Picos Humboldt and Bonpland.

In 2003 almost all the glaciers of the area had disappeared, with the exception of a two small glaciated areas (7.48 Ha on Pico Bolivár and 35.81 Ha on Pico Humboldt).
It is forecast that at the current rate Venezuela will lose by 2020 all its glaciers, making it the first Andean country without any glaciated area.