Discover the Huayhuash mountain range on a guided trek. Admire the Himalayan features of the peaks and learn about the area's history and geology.
Meet your guide in Huaraz and head to the Huayhuash mountain range. Admire the peaks of the range, which are morphologically speaking, much more hilly and have more difficult access than those from the Cordillera Blanca.
See the main range of some twenty peaks stretching for approximately 15 kilometres, with a subsidiary range of smaller peaks stretching out to the west for approximately 15 kilometres. Six of the peaks exceed 6000 metres.
Included among them are Yerupaja 6617 metres, the second highest mountain in Peru behind Huascaran at 6768 metres, and Siula 6344 metres, made famous by the film Touching the Void.
The area is barely populated at all, with what hamlets there are being very small and generally only found below 4000 metres. The snowline is found at approximately 4,800 metres.
The nearest villages are Chiquian at 3400 metres and Cajatambo at 3375 metres. Some mining takes place in the area, so to the north of the mountains there is an unsurfaced road leading up to as high as 4750 metres.
In 2002, the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture declared the Huayhuash mountain range a “reserved zone” and prohibited certain economic activities, including any future mining.