Is the Tomb open every day?

On Alpine days, no. In the current 208-island pool the Tomb is open on every Mesa day, 103 of 103. It does not appear when the Alpine replaces the Mesa.

Do I need a key to open the Tomb?

No key or item is needed. On open days you simply climb down the pit in the middle of the entrance mound.

What badge does the Tomb give?

Picking up the Ancient Idol counts as obtaining a mystical item (Esoterica badge). Throwing the Idol into the lava at the Kiln or the lava cauldron in the Citadel gives every living player the 24 Karat badge.

Does the fog rise inside the Tomb?

No. The fog does not rise inside, so you can take the climbing chamber slowly, but the fog keeps rising outside while you are underground.

How do I carry the heavy Ancient Idol to the top?

It weighs 40, so pass it between players and let whoever has the most stamina hold it on hard climbs. Thrown on its own it does not go far, but put inside a Backpack it can be thrown much farther.

Do dead players get the 24 Karat badge?

No. Only players who are alive when the Idol hits the lava get it, so revive anyone who died at the last Ancient Statue before the final climb.

PEAK Tomb Guide: How to Find, Enter and Loot the Mesa Tomb

Can't Find the Tomb Entrance? (Live Map)

Build snapshot; checking live data…

Map date (17:00 UTC → next 17:00 UTC): 2026-10-27
Today’s biomes: Shore → Roots → Mesa → Caldera → The Kiln
Today's Tomb Status: Open
Today’s entrance check: Mesa today: the Tomb is open. Use the marker to find the plateau entrance.
Next Tomb-open day: 2026-10-28

View Today's Map Today's Tomb Status

On a Tomb-open day, check these first:

Confirm the map date matches your game session. The island resets at 17:00 UTC, not local midnight.
Switch to the 3D / side map. Check the marker’s height, plateau position and your approach direction.
Look for the entrance pit in the middle of the ground mound, rather than only the outer rocks.
Inside the maze, try holding a Backpack while squeezing through narrow gaps. This is not a way to open a closed entrance.

Common wrong turns

At the marker but below it? Climb to the plateau before searching sideways.
Only seeing a ring of rocks? Inspect the mound’s central pit from above.
Map and game disagree? Check the map day and whether your session started before the reset.
A narrow maze gap is not the entrance. Check another passage before treating it as blocked.

Is the Tomb open today?

The Tomb only appears on islands that roll the Mesa in region three. In the current pool of 208 islands, the Mesa appears on 103 days and the Tomb is open on all 103 of them.

Because the island is the same for everyone until the 17:00 UTC reset, you can check before you climb: today’s Tomb status shows whether the entrance is open and marks it on the map, along with the next open days.

Where the entrance is

The Tomb entrance · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The entrance sits in the first half of the Mesa, on the plateau before the big canyon. Look for a large mound of ground with an opening in its middle. In the current pool that opening is present on every Mesa day. Today’s Tomb status is still the check if a later patch seals some of them.

On the full-screen map the Tomb has its own marker in the Mesa segment; open it in the side view if the mound is hard to read from the front.

What to bring

Item	Why
Food	The challenge chamber is a long climb with almost nowhere to rest
Chain Launcher or Pitons	The easiest way across the chamber, especially low on stamina
Backpack	Helps squeeze through tight gaps in the maze, and lets you throw the Idol farther later
A free hand	For one of the torches in the entrance hall

Mesa luggage is the richest on the island, so on an open day you can usually pick up food and a few pitons on the plateau before you reach the mound.

How to get through

No key or item is required. Climb down the pit in the mound to reach the real opening.

Entrance hall

The entrance hall · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A lit torch and two unlit torches you can pick up, plus several Ancient Statues. These statues are decorative: unlike the Ancient Statues near campfires, they cannot be used. Take a torch; the rest of the Tomb is dark.

The maze

The maze · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Most hallways are blocked by rock. Squeeze through the gaps to find the correct path, which ends in a narrow hall with another torch.

If a hole looks too small to fit through, try running at it while grabbing an item; holding something, a Backpack in particular, can get you through gaps you cannot pass normally. Patches 1.28.a and 1.30.a made a fully blocked maze much rarer, so keep looking before you give up.

The challenge chamber

The challenge chamber · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A giant dark pit where the only footholds are rocks sticking out of the walls. The danger is a long fall or running out of stamina halfway across. Eat before you start and cross one hold at a time. If you are not going to make it, you can turn back.

The Idol Room

The Idol Room · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A platform suspended under a giant statue, with the Ancient Idol on a pedestal. A lower ramp leads to the exit, a step climb back up to the Mesa surface.

The fog does not rise inside the Tomb, so there is no timer underground. It keeps rising outside, though, so do not linger.

The exit

The lower ramp leads into another narrow hallway that slopes upward, then a climb of large steps similar to the Caldera temple. At the top, a rectangular doorway cut into the rock opens back onto the Mesa, so you do not have to return through the challenge chamber.

The Ancient Idol

The Ancient Idol · PEAK Wiki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Property	Value
Type	Mystical item
Weight	40 (the heaviest item in the game)
Effect	Invincibility while held
Where	Only in the Tomb (not in ancient luggage or from statues)

Picking it up counts as obtaining a mystical item for the Esoterica badge. The Idol cannot be cooked.

Its weight is the catch: carrying it from the Mesa through the Caldera or Gloom and up the final tower eats stamina quickly. Passing it between players keeps anyone from being stuck with it for long.

Carrying it to the top

Rotate the carrier. Hand it to whoever has the fullest stamina bar before each hard climb, and let the carrier eat first at every campfire.
Use a Backpack. On its own the Idol barely travels when thrown, but inside a Backpack it can be thrown much farther, for example up to a teammate on a ledge.
Hold it when it matters. The invincibility only applies while you are actively holding the Idol in your hands.

Solo vs group

Solo, the Tomb itself is manageable; the Idol is the real test, because you carry 40 weight alone for two full regions. Pack extra food and skip optional detours. In a group, one player leads through the maze with a torch, the strongest climber crosses the chamber first, and everyone takes turns with the Idol afterwards.

Common reasons a Tomb run fails

Problem	Fix
Searching for the entrance on a closed day	Check today’s Tomb status before the run
Running out of stamina mid-chamber	Eat before you start, bring pitons, or turn back
A teammate dies before the Idol is thrown	Revive them at the last Ancient Statue; the final tower has none
Fog catches up outside	Keep the Tomb visit quick; the fog keeps rising while you are underground

The 24 Karat badge

To earn 24 Karat (“Offer the Kiln a worthy sacrifice”), carry the Ancient Idol to the top of the island and throw it into lava:

the lava of the Kiln on Caldera days, or
the lava cauldron in the Citadel on Gloom days.

Every living player gets the badge, and its reward is the Bing Bong Beanie. In the Kiln there is no campfire or natural food on the climb, so stock up at the Caldera temple first; in the Citadel the lava crucible is on the second floor. Combined with today’s lineup, you can see in advance which of the two finales you will reach. The full list of badges is in the badges guide.

History

Patch	Change
1.20.a (11 Aug 2025)	Tomb added with the Mesa
1.27.a	Entrance open 50% of the time instead of 25%
1.28.a / 1.30.a	Maze less likely to be blocked