A Fast & Soiled Information to the Cordillera Blanca Traverse

• Located within the Ancash area of Peru, the Cordillera Blanca is a sub-range of the Andes mountains. It’s roughly 13 miles broad (21 km) and 124 miles (200 km) lengthy because the condor flies.

• The Cordillera Blanca incorporates a dozen peaks which can be larger than 20,000 ft (6,096 m), with an additional twenty-four topping 18,000 ft (5,486 m).

• There are estimated to be 722 particular person glaciers inside the Cordillera Blanca vary, which is the biggest focus of tropical-zone glaciers on the planet. Because the 1970’s they’ve retreated greater than 15%. A staggering discount, particularly contemplating their hydrological significance to a rising Peruvian inhabitants.

• In 1970, the Cordillera Blanca was rocked by an earthquake (7.9 on the Richter scale) that worn out 95% of Huaraz (the regional capital), utterly destroyed the city of Yungay, and was chargeable for the deaths of as much as 70,000 folks. It was the worst pure catastrophe in Peru’s historical past, and the ensuing avalanche is taken into account the deadliest in world historical past.

For the needs of resupply, I cut up the CBT into 4 phases (click on on the hyperlinks under for journal entries from 2014). Every of the stage trailheads is accessible by public transport, which means that people that aren’t curious about thru-hiking the CBT might probably do a number of of the phases as stand-alone hikes (Be aware: Distances have been up to date as of 2022, and can fluctuate relying on route decisions):

The CBT takes place in Parque Nacional Huascarán. For any multi-day hike within the park, you’ll have to acquire a trekking allow from their workplace in Huaraz (-9.53203, -77.52984) earlier than setting out.

• Could to September is the dry season within the Peruvian Andes. Technically talking, that is late autumn/winter within the southern hemisphere, nonetheless, attributable to the truth that the Cordillera Blanca is located so near the equator, temperature fluctuations are comparatively minor all year long. I hiked from late August to early September and had nice climate all through many of the 16 days. Temperatures ranged between highs round 20°C and lows of -10°C (Be aware: The latter was skilled when tenting just under 5,000m).

• What’s too early? What’s too late?:  Clearly, circumstances will fluctuate from 12 months to 12 months, however given common annual snow ranges, I wouldn’t advocate beginning the route earlier than early June or later than the tip of September. A working example is Austin Lillywhite’s Could 2017 hike, the place he was unable to go over Stage 3’s Cashan Go due to snow circumstances.

• My CBT Expertise: I took 16 days to finish the CBT. A few of these days have been spent route discovering, visiting archeological websites, and usually trying out different factors of curiosity alongside the way in which. I took one full “zero-day” (relaxation day) in Huaraz and one other “nero” (virtually a zero) in Chavin. Pushing a bit bit more durable and with out the diversions, route-finding, and relaxation day, I believe I’d have taken round 13 days to finish the hike.

• Common Length: It is a route that ought to solely be undertaken by skilled long-distance hikers who start the path properly and really acclimatized. If you happen to tick these containers, together with turning up in good condition and carrying a lightish pack, I’d estimate the common time wanted for the CBT can be between 16 and 22 days (together with a relaxation day or two).

After the preliminary climb out of Hualcallan, virtually all the CBT takes place above 4000 m (13,123 ft). I can’t emphasize strongly sufficient that it is a hike for which you might want to be well-acclimatized earlier than setting out.

• Northern Terminus: Hualcallan Village. I took a collectivo (minibus) from the city of Caraz to the village of Cashapampa, from which I walked 9 kilometers to Hualcallan. If you wish to go on to Hualcallan, personal transport/taxi may be organized from Caraz.

• Southern Terminus: Pastoruri Glacier is a well-liked vacation spot for day-trippers from Huaraz. If you happen to arrive earlier than late afternoon, there ought to be no points getting a spot on one of many buses that commonly ply the path to and from the regional capital. 

• Water: Considerable all through many of the hike. Typically talking, I handled with Aquamira within the low-lying areas and/or wherever there was livestock or human settlement. Within the larger reaches, the place water was coming straight off the glaciers, I drank straight from the supply. I had no intestinal points on this or another hike I’ve finished throughout my journeys to Peru.

• Resupply: From north to south, the primary resupply factors are Huallin, Chacas, Pitec (Huaraz), and Chavin de Huantar (see Transport above). The regional hub of Huaraz has a variety of “conventional backpacking” meals out there, corresponding to dried fruit and nuts, cereals, pasta, tuna, powdered milk, chocolate, and so forth. Decisions are way more restricted within the villages alongside the way in which. On the cooking entrance, you’ll be capable to decide up a fuel canister or denatured alcohol in your range in Huaraz.

On the route itself, you may wild camp just about wherever you want. That stated, I’d keep away from establishing too near villages or shepherd encampments (which can be patrolled by territorial guard canines).

There’s one full-service mountain hut alongside the route – Refugio Ishinca. Located within the shadows of  Toclarraju (6,032m) and Polcaraju (6,110m) peaks, Refugio Ishinca was an sudden bonus. Half anticipating a semi-dilapidated backcountry outpost, what I acquired as an alternative was cozy beds, good meals, useful workers, and even a solar-powered bathe!

In City: The regional capital of Huaraz has a mess of choices to swimsuit all budgets. Throughout my time on the town, I stayed on the Resort Churup, which I can extremely advocate. Juan Quiros Romero and his household have been wonderful hosts, the breakfasts have been first-rate, the rooms comfy, they usually saved my further baggage after I was out within the boonies. Double thumbs up.

Concerning the opposite cities alongside the route, in Chacas, I arrived late and ended up staying at a dodgy place whose solely redeeming characteristic was that it was centrally positioned. As for Chavin de Huantar, I stayed on the characterful Hostal La Casona on the Plaza de Armas. I’m 99% sure that this was the identical place I stayed at in 1996, and for the sake of nostalgia, I couldn’t resist returning 18 years later. On the distant probability that they’re studying this submit, shout-out to my 1996 touring/mountaineering companions, Sylvia, Fleischy, and Dave.

I put collectively the CBT route in 2014 with the assistance of the below-listed topo maps, Google Earth, and Jim Bartles’s basic Cordillera Blanca textual content (see under). When mountaineering the route, I used stated maps and a Suunto M-2 compass for navigation. I additionally took alongside a Garmin Foretrex, with which I took waypoints of notable spots alongside the route. 

The collective crux of the CBT are the passes. Relying on route decisions, there are between twenty-one and twenty-three in whole, ranging between 4,347 m and 5,201 m. By any standards, it’s a rollercoaster of a visit, with a lung-busting, knee-wobbling whole elevation acquire and lack of round 50,000 m (164,000 ft).

When placing the route collectively, the vast majority of the passes have been marked on the above-mentioned topo maps. Nonetheless, in the course of the southern half of the journey, there have been a handful that weren’t, and a few of these represented probably the most difficult facet of the planning section. The passes for which I had no info on the time included Urus/Akilpo (5,040m), Ishinca/Palcaraju (5,201m), Shallap (5,001m), Cashan (5,157m), Rurec (4,350 m), Pucaraju (4,583 m), Maraytaca (4,611 m), Landslide (4,951 m), and Huarapasca (4,930 m). Please word that almost all of those names merely mirror adjoining peaks, valleys, or within the case of “Landslide”, a comparatively latest geological occasion, and is probably not the names utilized by locals for a similar excessive factors.

Right here’s the checklist of passes (from North to South), with their respective elevations in parentheses. Stage 1 passes are in black font, Stage 2 in blue, Stage 3 in crimson, and Stage 4 in inexperienced:

1. 1. Osoruri Go (4,848 m/15,906 ft) 
   2. Vientunan Go (4,760 m/15,617 ft)  
   3. Gara Gara Go (4,840 m/15,879 ft)  
   4. Mesapata move (4,450 m/14,600 ft)  
   5. Yanacon Go (4,601 m/15,095 ft)  
   6. Tupatupa Go (4,347 m/14,262 ft)  
   7. Alto de Pucaraju (4,615 m/15,141 ft)  
   8. Punta Yanayuca (4,790 m/15,715 ft)  
   9. Punta Olimpica (4,909 m/16,106 ft) 
   10. Portachuelo de Honda (4,763 m/15,551 ft) (Various possibility out there) 
   11. Urus Go (5,040 m/16,535 ft) 
   12.  Ishinca/Palcaraju Go (5,201 m/17,064 ft) (Various possibility out there)
   13.  Choco/Huapi Go (5,073 m/16,644 ft)
   14.  Shallap Go (5,001 m/16,407 ft) (Various possibility out there, although not beneficial)
   15.  Cashan Go (5,157 m/16,919 ft) 
   16.  Rurec Go (4,350 m/14,272 ft)
   17.  Pucaraju Go (4,583 m/15,037 ft)
   18.  Maraytaca Go (4,611 m/15,128 ft)
   19.  Punta Raria (4,801 m/15,751 ft)
   20.  Landslide Go (4,951 m/16,243 ft) (Various possibility out there)
   21.  Huarapasca Go (4,930 m/16,175 ft)

In placing collectively this Q&D Information, I plugged all the info I had into Gaia GPS, created a route, and got here out with the next up to date figures for distance and whole elevation. For these doing the hike sooner or later, relying on route decisions, last totals will fluctuate as much as 10 %.

Distance: 152 km (94.4 mi)

Complete Ascent: 10,517 m (34,504 ft)

Max. Elevation: 4,911 m (16,112 ft)

Min. Elevation: 3132 m (10,276 ft)

Notes: 

• The primary stage of the CBT was totally on established trails. The preliminary couple of days coincided with the Alpamayo Base Camp Trek, and later the route intersected briefly with the area’s hottest multi-day hike, the Santa Cruz Trek.

• Throughout stage 1, the route goes up and over 9 passes, all of that are marked on the topo mapsets listed above.

• Aside from the beginning and ending villages, you might be able to complement your provisions within the blink-and-you-miss-them hamlets of Huaripampa, Colcabamba, and Yanama.

• Aside from a one-mile (1.6 km) stretch between phases 3 and 4, the one time you’ll stroll on a paved highway in the course of the CBT is on the finish of Stage 1, from the Punta Olimpica tunnel to the villages of Huallin and Pompey. Each earlier than and after the tunnel, a lot of the highway part may be averted by following (generally) faint and sometimes steepish trails that bypass the numerous switchbacks on both aspect of the move. These paths have been utilized by locals within the days earlier than the highway was constructed.

Distance: 108 km (67.1 mi)

Complete Ascent:  5,978 m (19,613 ft)

Max. Elevation:  5,201 m (17,064 ft)

Min. Elevation:  3,416 m (11,207 ft)

Notes:

• The primary move of Stage 2 – Portachuela de Honda (4,763 m) – is bookended by dust highway walks in Juitush and Honda Valleys. At Portachuela de Honda, there are a few totally different excessive factors from which to decide on; each DM in 2018 and myself in 2014 took the blue route, which is shorter, steeper, and (maybe) much less well-defined than the crimson route (at the least from what I can collect on the topo maps).

• It’s price noting that the japanese finish of Quebrada Honda has a mining presence, and you’ll presumably see autos touring to and from the mines when you attain the dust highway that runs alongside the valley ground. Neither I nor DM encountered any points with these people; quite the opposite, they have been uniformly pleasant and nobody appeared bothered by our presence. This was the state of affairs in 2014 and 2018, I can’t say if the temper has modified within the ensuing years.

• If I needed to decide my favourite part of your entire CBT, it might be the roughly 50-55 km (31-34 mi) stretch between the western finish of Quebrado Akilpo and the northeastern reaches of Quebrada Quilcayhuanca. Starting with the “enchanted forest”, the route goes up and over three 5,000 m plus passes – Urus/Akilpo, Ishinca/Palcaraju, and Choco/Huapi. The primary two of those excessive factors have been among the many group for which I didn’t have any pre-trip data, and although I used to be pretty certain each would go, I used to be over the moon after they truly did. All that zooming out and in from totally different angles on Google Earth wasn’t for nothing………. I could have even finished a celebratory jig! (Be aware: Each passes had small cairns at or close to the highest, so locals accustomed to this a part of the Cordillera Blanca positively knew of their existence, even when I didn’t). For anybody studying this submit who’s curious about doing a bit of the CBT somewhat than the entire trek, that is the stage I’d advocate. It’s difficult, however the rewards greater than compensate. For my cash, one of many most interesting stretches of high-altitude mountaineering in your entire Andes vary.

• It’s normally doable to catch a experience all the way down to Huaraz from the tiny village of Pitec on the finish of the stage. Pitec is the beginning/ending level for one of many space’s hottest day hikes – the path to Laguna Churup (4,480 m). If nothing’s out there if you arrive in Pitec, stroll for 4.5 km all the way down to the neighboring village of Llupa, the place common collectivos run up and down the mountain to Huaraz.

Distance: 65 km (40.4 mi)

Complete Ascent:  4,520 m (14,829 ft)

Max. Elevation:  5,157 m (16,919 ft)

Min. Elevation:  3,747 m (12,293 ft)

Notes:

• The third stage traverses 4 passes, particularly Shallap (5,001m), Cashan (5,157m), Rurec (4,350m), and Pucaraju (4,583m).

• Cashan is the final and presumably probably the most difficult of all of the passes. As talked about above, anybody trying the CBT earlier than mid to late June in a median snow 12 months is prone to encounter fairly a little bit of snow/ice on the northern aspect and appreciably extra on the even-steeper southern aspect. If you happen to’re adamant about doing the hike early season, make sure to take microspikes and an ice axe. Possibly a rabbit’s foot as properly.

• Descending into Quebrada Rurec after Cashan move, the panorama transitions from rock and ice to pastoral. The next move, which I unimaginatively referred to as “Rurec”, is principally only a lengthy grassy slope (see picture under). The identical goes for “Pucaraju” close to the tip of the stage (-9.68107, -77.34529).

• In the course of the last few kilometers of the third stage, you’ll attain Laguna Querococha, the biggest lake on the route. Each DM and I skirted the lake’s northern shore earlier than making a beeline to the highway to Chavin. A greater possibility can be to observe the lake’s western aspect after which swing round its southern finish to hitch the highway at a lookout (-9.72753, -77.33123). This may minimize just a few kilometers of highway strolling off the start of the fourth and last stage.

Distance:  72 km (44.7 mi)

Complete Ascent: 4,402 m (14,442 ft)

Max. Elevation:  5,040 m (16,535 ft)

Min. Elevation:  3,865 m (12,680 ft)

Notes:

• Ranging from the Lago Querococha viewpoint, hike for a mile (1.6 km) down the highway to the place it passes over the lake’s outlet stream. Go away the highway right here, and start descending WSW alongside the watercourse’s true left aspect.