Peruvian Andes, Cordillera Huayhuash Trek
After four acclimatisation hikes we started on May 22nd towards Cordillera Huayhuash. The road till there takes between 3,5 and 5h, it depends. On the way there the guide might stop the car to show you one place or another, so you are likely to be on the road for some 5h. On the way back you are so overwhelmed by what you have seen in Huayhuash that nothing can impress you anymore so you just sit silent in the car. You can see the best pics from Huayhuash in the gallery, however here comes the story.
Cordillera Huayhuash is a smaller mountain range stretching over approx. 30 km. It comprises several peaks over 5.000m but the most extraordinary ones are Nev. Jirishanca (6.094m), Yerupaja Chico (6.089m) and Yerupaja Grande (6.617m), Siula Grande (6.344m) and Sarapo (6.127m). Circumnavigating the main ridge of Huayhuash is what the Classic Huayhuash Trek is about. It covers 120km and takes between 10 to 12 days (it depends, if you want to take a day off – which is highly recommendable – and/or want to visit the base camp of Siula Grande, scenery of the dramatic book “Touching The Void”). Each day you will walk 8-15km, each day you will cross a pass. The highest points are Pass Cuyoc and Pass San Antonio (both have ca. 5.000m), the lowest is the village Huayllapa (3.600m).
My fascination with the Andes goes back to the time I was a kid, reading Jules Verne’s novel ” The Children of Captain Grand”. Accordingly, I should have gone to Patagonia, because this is where Lord Glenervan and his companions experienced their first adventures. However as time went by Matthias and I couldn’t decide what we wanted to see in Patagonia. One day, while surfing in the Internet, I came acrros the website of a professional photographer showing beautiful pictures of Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru. We were both so fascinated by the landscape that we dropped right away the plans to visit Patagonia and focused instead on Peru. As it happens, while searching for further information about Cordillera Huayhuash we came across Christian Alvarado and his small agency,