Cordillera Blanca and Huascaran

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Huascaran National Park (1985). The Highest Tropical Mountain Range In The World, With The 6,768 M Huascaran, Turquoise Laguna 69 And The Santa Cruz Trek. A Premier Trekking And Climbing Region. · Huaraz, Ancash

The Cordillera Blanca is the highest tropical mountain range in the world, a wall of glaciated peaks above the Callejon de Huaylas valley in northern Peru. The town of Huaraz, at about 3,050 m, is the base. Around it lies Huascaran National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which protects more than 600 glaciers and over 20 peaks above 6,000 m, among them Huascaran at 6,768 m, the highest mountain in Peru. The draws are the turquoise Laguna 69, the four-day Santa Cruz trek, the Pastoruri glacier, the pre-Inca temple of Chavin de Huantar and the lakes of Llanganuco. It is spectacular and demanding. The altitude is real, the weather turns quickly, glaciers are shrinking, and serious climbing is technical work for guides. Most visitors come for one-day hikes, and those are within reach after proper acclimatisation. Come in the dry season from May to September, book through a licensed Huaraz agency, and treat the weather, the thin air and the rescue gap with respect; the reward is some of the clearest high mountain scenery anywhere in South America.

Snow-capped range above the Callejon de Huaylas, entered from Huaraz at about 3,050 m, with the Huascaran National Park around Peru's highest peak, Huaraz, Ancash, Peru

The mountains and lakes have no closing time, but park entry points and ranger posts work in daylight hours, and the valley roads are best driven in the morning before clouds build. Day hikes such as Laguna 69 start very early, often before dawn. Chavin de Huantar and the museum keep daytime hours and may close one day a week. Huaraz tour offices open early and close in the evening.

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