"A great sea of mountains," "Peru’s Chamonix" are some
of the remarks made by mountaineers who visit the site. Located 410 kilometers northeast
of Lima (5-6 hours by car and 7-8 hours by bus), the Cordillera Blanca is the world’s
highest tropical mountain chain. It stretches for 180 km from north to south and splits
the eastern and western headwaters of the Andes in this region. Easily reachable by a
paved road off Pativilca (210 km north of Lima) that leads to the Callejón de Huaylas,
every year the Cordillera Blanca welcomes thousands of mountaineers eager to conquer its
summits or walk through its beautiful landscapes. Practically the entire range is a
protected area within the Huascarán National Park, a paradise of snow-capped mountains,
663 glaciers, 269 emerald-green lakes and 41 rivers, plus 33 archaeological sites. Its
flora and fauna are an additional attraction featuring almost 800 varieties of blossoming
flowers including the Puya Raimondi and ancient queñual and cacti forests unique to these
mountain scenarios, as well as Andean condors, vicuña, puma, taruca or Andean deer and
well over a hundred species of birds.Only a handful of the area’s innumerable
trekking circuits have gained international fame.
The route across the Santa Cruz gorge is perhaps
the most popular of all. From the village of Cashapampa where it starts, all the way to
the Llanganuco ravine, it is dotted with beautiful emerald-green lakes. A walking tour of
the gully usually takes four to six days. Other highly popular circuits include a tour of
Alpamayo, a spectacular trek among snow-capped summits that takes about 12 days; the
Cedros gorge tour where trekkers take four days to hike the mountains in the northern
sector of the Huascarán Park; the less demanding and faster (one and a half days) trek
through Llanganuco and Portachuelo, and the excursion through the Quilcayhuanca ravine, a
gently sloping route that can be traveled in a couple of days.