Vinicunca, Mountain in Cusco region, Peru

Mineral layers in shades of red, yellow, purple, and green stretch across the slopes of this Andean peak at 17,100 ft (5,200 m) elevation, forming parallel bands. The geological formations appear most clearly on the eroded flanks, where different sedimentary strata have been exposed through natural processes and create a distinctive striped pattern.

Vinicunca's coloured beds drew mass tourism only from the mid-2010s. In 2013 the glacier caps that had covered the summit melted away. On 30 March 2015 Minquest Perú SAC, owned by Canada's Camino Minerals Corporation, filed the Red Beds mining petition over 400 hectares; the concession was granted on 16 March 2018 and renounced that 21 May after protests.

Locals call it Cerro Colorado, and the mountain lies between the peasant communities of Chillihuani and Pampachiri, near Pampa Chiri where the road ends and the climb begins. The route from Pitumarca passes rural hamlets such as Ocefina, Japura and Hanchipacha, whose residents work in tourism. In 2018 the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) voiced concern over the site's management.

Access requires a several-hour drive from Cusco followed by a hike at elevations exceeding 16,400 ft (5,000 m), making proper acclimatization necessary. Most visitors depart before dawn and need warm clothing plus sun protection. Conditions between May and September offer drier weather with clearer visibility. Entrance tickets are sold at the trailhead, where basic food stands operate.

The bands come from specific rocks: pink from red clay, mud and sand; white from quartz sandstone and calcium-rich marl; red from iron-bearing claystone of the Upper Tertiary; green from phyllite and ferro-magnesian clay; brown from Quaternary fanglomerate with magnesium; mustard yellow from sulphur-rich calcareous sandstone. The glacier caps that once covered the summit melted in 2013.