Rainbow Mountains

Short answer: Peru's best-known 'rainbow mountain' is Vinicunca (Winikunka), also called Montaña de Siete Colores ('Mountain of Seven Colors'). It's in the Vilcanota range of the Cusco region, about 100 km southeast of the city of Cusco, between the districts of Pitumarca and Cusipata.

Peru's official tourism inventory gives an altitude of 5,036 m, and the top viewpoint is listed at over 5,200 m. The stripes are tilted layers of marine, lake and river sediments laid down roughly 65 to 2 million years ago, then folded and lifted as the Andes rose. Erosion exposed them, and oxidation brought out their colors. The Cusco cultural landscape office, as reported by BBC Mundo, matches each color to its rock. Pink comes from red clay, mudstone and sand. White is quartz sandstone and limestone or marl. Red is iron-bearing claystone. Green is clay rich in iron and magnesium. Mustard yellow is calcareous sandstone rich in sulfur minerals. Brown is magnesium-rich fanglomerate, a rock made of cemented fan gravel. BBC Mundo also mentions copper oxide in the green layers, but neither source mentions copper sulfates. The mountain sits in lands of the Quechua farming communities of Pampachiri and Chillihuani and is regarded locally as a sacred apu (mountain spirit). The footage shows drone views of the striped slopes in mist.

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