Sabancaya is high and rises above the surrounding terrain. It forms a group of volcanoes with the northern Hualca Hualca and the southern Ampato in the Cordillera Occidental, which tower above the Colca Canyon in the north and the Siguas Valley in the southwest. Ampato and the more heavily eroded Hualca Hualca are the dominant volcanoes of this group, with Sabancaya forming a northeastward extension of the former away from Ampato's summit. There is evidence of age progression from the oldest, Hualca Hualca, over Ampato, to the youngest volcano, Sabancaya.