Huay Huash Trek through Cordillera Blanca

The small town of Huarez, Peru is filled with adventure seeking alpinists and some of the most genuine local Peruvians. Even though there are many different treks one can take, my family and I landed on doing the Classic Huayhuash route because of its diverse mountaineering and scenic camp spots. Huayhuash, can be done in many different routes, taking some alpinists 8 days and others 12 to complete the full circle around this mountain range. We would encourage that people not familiar with the mountains to do the Classic route with a guide, which is what we took. You can do this with guides, cooks, and donkeys if you desire or, if you are a beast, pack it all on your own. The best time to go is during the winter in South America because it is the dry season in the mountains, and we all know the last thing any camper wants to experience is being stuck in a tent due to weather. The camp spots are also pretty clearly marked, at each one you have to pay a small price for maintenance and upkeep. But other than that you don't need to pre purchase any types of camp passes. Some camps you'll meet some of the local farmers who live close and enjoy a good cold beer or coke with them and their friendly family. We usually found a couple other campers sharing the spot with us, usually from Europe, but never experienced any troubles with that.

Each day you climb a different pass always finding something new and exciting on the other side, mostly lots of massive glacial lakes. The passes vary between 12000 and 15000 ft. We also took on Diablo Mundo, a 18000 ft peak that can be an optional summit along the way.

Here is a rough outline of the Classic Route (our guide and tour company didn't measure by distance, instead they measured in the amount of time)Day 1: drive to campsite in taxi or travel agency van (there is no parking available), make sure all the gear is in order, get donkeys and donkey drivers (we had 2 very nice guys) and get stoked!Day 2: 3 hours, easy going walk up to the official trailhead for the trek, sleep beneath the first passDay 3: 5 hours, climb about 14000 foot pass and came down into a beautiful valley for camping at the foot of the first of many massive glaciers you seeDay 4: 4 hours, climb a 12000 foot pass and arrive at the most scenic camp spot right next to a glacial lake filled with fish, if you like to do some fishingDay 5: 6 or 7 hours, this day was the longest but by for the most beautiful. You walk through a canyon between the mountain range and pass 3 giant crystal blue glacial lakes, we also got to see a couple of avalanches during this day. You also climb a pass about 14200 feet.
Day 6: 5 hours, climb a 13000 foot pass and arrive at a campsite with a natural hot springs to take a dip and wash your clothes, so refreshing!Day 7: 5-7 hours, climb a 14500 pass and optional lookout. The hike up is extremely difficult, but so rewarding when you get to the top. From this point you can also see where the climber from the story Into the Void faced a crazy near death experience. I would also recommend this book if you like adventure stories and are planning on going to Huay Huash.Day 8: 6 hours, climb down into a canyon and back up, pass through a village to get some more supplies if neededDay 9: 4 hours, easy walk to the next camp spotDay 10: this is when we did the optional Diablo Mundo summit. There are two routes up it, an easier one and a more challenging one which includes a repel and crossing crevasses. This is something you'll want to talk to your guide about.Day 11: day of relaxation at the final campsiteDay 12: 5 hours hike out back to the trail head to complete the loop!There is always wiggle room though to construct the type of trip or loop that you want to do (skipping campsites, climbing bigger mountains ect..) . You don't have to do exactly what we did.

So, as you can see, in the classic route there are so many things to see and experience. Camping, fishing, bouldering, ice climbing, photography and of course lots of enjoyable moments at the campsite reminiscing of the day.

O one more thing! Our guide didn't speak english so, I would encourage brushing up on your Spanish skills or your going to be doing a lot of charades.