Huayhuash Circuit

The soaring, icy, serrated Cordillera Huayhuash of northern Peru is one of South America’s most beautiful ranges. Trek through a gorgeous wilderness of glaciers below vast cliffs and spikes, colourful lakes (especially along the eastern flank), grasslands and deep valleys, under the magnificent peaks of this superb range.

The Huayhush are tightly packed, long(ish) but narrow (30km east to west), looming magnificently over the surrounding undulating grasslands. They include Peru’s second-highest mountain (Yerupaja, 6,634m).

The wildlife is amazing and varied, from condors to (rare) puma to mountain cats, as is the flora — mainly shrubs and grasslands, but some pockets of forest of dark, reddy-barked quenua forest.

Meet highland herders and (on a couple of occasions) villagers. The west face of Siula Grande (and the glacier below it) are famous for the tale of horror-endurance told in Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void.

Most people nowadays circuit the range clockwise from Llamac, in the north-west. There are plenty of variants which cater for your appetite for hard work and your available time, so distances vary (100-170 km), as does timing (8-12 days). This is a long, tough walk in high, remote mountains, on which you will have to be self sufficient and where altitude can cause real problems. Come prepared.

Our friend Charles Bookman says:

     “Huayhuash: The Most Beautiful Trek in the Andes

Why the Huayhuash? As my friend Roger put it, “You are out there and you are in it.” Walking 95 km (55 miles), we spent eleven days and nights at altitudes of 4,000-5,000 meters (13,000-16,000 feet) surrounded by snow-capped giants of the earth—the peaks of the Huayhuash soar over 6,000 meters (over 20,000 feet). The entire hike is above the tree line, so you see forever. From the mountain passes, the glaciers roar up close and personal. Limpid lakes dot the valleys, and birds, notably Andean geese on the lakes and condors on the cliffs are ever present.

Cattle and sheep graze the high grasslands and we encountered at least one herd of alpaca. Families tend the herds, so encounters with the locals are common. Many women still wear distinctive multi-layered skirts and tall hats, while the men dress like the cowboys that they are. Quechua is their first language, but most speak Spanish as well. We got by just fine with our transactional Spanish, exchanging pleasantries with the locals, asking for directions and talking about the weather.

The Huayhuash trek deserves to be on every trekker’s bucket list. It is not easy to get there, but the scenery and the journey are well worth the effort.

Logistics

Huaraz, the nearest city and the jumping-off point for the Huayhuash, is nine hours by bus from Lima. Fortunately, Cruz del Sur runs a luxury non-stop bus service that rivals airline comfort. We were so excited during the bus ride that the nine hours flew by along with the scenery.

The air is thin in the Andes. We spent four days acclimatizing in and around Huaraz to make sure we didn’t have altitude complications on our trek. We acclimatized as follows:

Day 1: day hike to Laguna Wilcacocha, a fine viewpoint near Huaraz.

Day 2: visit Chavin ruins. We took an all-day commercial tour to the Chavin ruins. The Chavin culture predates the Incas by nearly 3,000 years. The Chavin archaeological site, actively being excavated, includes ceremonial plazas and an extensive tunnel system.

Day 3: hike to Laguna Churup. Much steeper and longer than the Wilcacocha hike, to a magnificent lake tucked into the base of dramatic Nevada Churup at over 4,300m.

On the fourth day, we hired a van to drive us 5½ hrs to the Cordillera Huayhuash.

Carrying day packs, we hiked six to sixteen kilometers a day. Most days we climbed over a mountain pass, so daily elevations ranged from 250m (800ft) to 800m (nearly 3,000ft). While these statistics may not seem challenging to experienced trekkers, all effort was expended between 4,000-5,000m (13,000-16,000ft), where the air is thin.  A typical day began at 7:30 am and ended with a late lunch about 1:30 pm. That left the afternoon for soaking in the sun, swimming in nearby lakes, or walking more hills for different perspectives on the nearby, ever present snow-capped peaks.

(See Charles’ thoughts below on practicalities.)

Our cook Teo took good care of us. Breakfast consisted of porridge or pancakes. Lunches featured soup. Tea and snacks appeared in midafternoon. Soup appeared again at supper, along with meat or fish, and potatoes.

Teo began his day at 4:30am boiling a huge vat of water. His valiant efforts to keep us healthy proved fruitless, as water boils at a much lower temperature at altitude, 84.5 deg. C (184 deg. F) at 4500m (15,000ft); thus sometimes the drinking water was less than sterile. There is also the burro problem. Where there are lots of animals, there is lots of dung, and where you have lots of dung, then harmful bacteria can be a problem. Three of our number suffered from Atahualpa’s revenge on the trail. Fortunately, with the usual medicines, the attacks cleared up in a day or two, but keeping everyone healthy, and adapting our itinerary to accommodate everyone’s physical condition were important factors in trip planning.

(Note: when one person’s intestinal problems persisted, we abandoned plans to visit the site of Simon Yates’ and Joe Simpson’s dramatic “Touching the Void” experience. https://www.google.com/search?q=touching+the+void+summary&oq=touching+the+void&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.5117j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8).

We opted instead to drop down to the remote village of Huayllapa, where we found a government nurse. With the nurse’s help (and medicine) our ailing team member bounced back quickly.)

The Trek

We crossed nine mountain passes on our 11-day trip, walked 95km (55mi.), and climbed about 4,700m (15,000ft). We began an hour above Llamac village at Quartelhuain trailhead and finished at the village of Llamac. A typical day involved scaling a mountain pass and then following a valley to a lake or a riverside campsite. Wide-open vistas framed snow-capped peaks. Sometimes the peaks were far away. At other times, they were in our face. The giants, Yerupaja, Siula Grande and the others became friends as we walked around them and got to know them from all sides. The giants were restless, especially at night. More than once, we woke to the sound of alpine glaciers shedding tons of ice, which cascaded down steep slopes to debris fields below.

The campsites are expansive, with room for the donkeys to graze. Every camp we stayed at had a rudimentary privy, some with running water. Some were eastern-style, requiring “Hole in one” target practice; others were equipped with toilets (but never seats).

Most hike the Huayuash circuit clockwise. In addition to the main route (see map), there are alternative or alpine routes. The alternatives are more challenging, some are downright obscure, but this is territory for mountaineers. You would not be in the Huayhuash unless you sought a challenge, so explore to your heart’s content. Carry a good map. You may wander, but you will never get lost."

Walkopedia says thank you, Charles!

See Charles’ detailed description of his trek below. And see his entire, illustrated article here.

This page needs more work. Please help us by making suggestions and sending photos! Thank you!

We have a lot of helpful practical information and tips about this walk, covering everything from the best books and maps, to timing and weather, geting there, possible problems, whether you need a guide and where to find them, and useful websites. This section is only open to members.

Membership is FREE AND JOINING TAKES 30 SECONDS. To login or sign up click here