Scenically, it doesn’t come much better than a 10 day hike around Alpamayo. Topaz lakes, perfect pyramids of mountains, an uninhabited wilderness where you may be lucky and spy a condor whirring by.
We’ll let the photos do the talking.
Nevado Ulta – another of the Blanca’s beautiful peaks. This photo is taken from the road to Punta Olimpica – the mountain scenery is so accessible in the Blanca that even without doing any exercise you can be wowed by incredible views.
Looking towards Yanama from Punta Yanayacu (4,850m).
Descending from Punta Yanayacu, past Contrahierbas’ glacial waterfalls.
Yanama’s cute old church, most of which has collapsed and been removed. A monstrous new concrete church is just being completed, paid for by the Don Bosco Foundation. We can’t help but think that they’ve gone way OTT on the scale of the new building – incongruous in this sleepy, 2-storey town.
The pre-Inca ruins at Yayno. We spent the night camped near the impressive walls of this former citadel, with no one else in the area. It brought back memories of our many ancient ruin camps on the Lycian Way in Turkey.
Some well-tended fields near Pomabamba.
The ATM queue in Pomabamaba. More colour and better hats than in our usual queue at Victoria Station.
Folklore festival in Pomabamba. We spent a happy few hours watching some traditional dances, before reaching our limit. This particular ‘dance’ is Atahualpa vs Pizarro (I won’t spoil it by telling you who won). They hadn’t quite got things right yet with the timings though. All 36 local districts were allocated a 10 minute slot, but this usually ran over to 15 minutes. Not sure anyone was willing to watch 6+ hours of dances, particularly when some of the groups appeared not to have practised, and most of the dances just began repeating themselves after the first minute!
A lovely abuelita we met on the climb to Jancapampa. Walking up from Pomabamba to Jancapampa the local populace (though not this lady) begged for sweets more than anywhere we’ve been in the Andes. It was like being on the popular trails in Nepal, only the “one pen”s were “dame caramelo”s. We’ve become accustomed to the occasional kid asking for sweets, but in this area all adults seemed to ask for chocolates or chewing gum too. It made us wonder who’s fuelling this begging, on a part of the route that doesn’t see that many gringos. Tour groups? Random trekkers thinking they’re being kind?
Jancapampa – an idyllic meadow under the shadow of the mighty Pucajirca.
Pucajirca, from Laguna Safuna Baja.
Sunset on Pucajirca – one of our favourite mountains in the Blanca.
Admiring the view from Gara Gara. Coming from the west, the panorama that greets you on reaching the pass is incredible.
Descending from Gara Gara to Jancarurish. Another lakelet appears, demanding to be admired.
On the descent from Gara Gara. A steep pass with breathtaking views.
Descending to precious Laguna Jancarurish.
Alpamayo – the most beautiful peak in the world?
Getting chilly making breakfast at Alpamayo basecamp. It was -5C and our coldest camp of the trip so far. Our 4 season bags are probably overkill in the Cordillera Blanca – we’ll be needing them in a few months down on the Puna though.
Early sun on Nevado Santa Cruz. Always a delight to open the tent door and be treated to a view of a 6,000er!
The unforgettable side trip to Lagunas Santa Cruz. Abasraju (L) and Nevado Santa Cruz (R) form the backdrop.
Pike – Cairn – Alpamayo. Trying to take it all in at Lagunas Santa Cruz – one of the Cordillera Blanca’s best viewpoints.
Quitaraju and one of five turquoise lakes visible on the side trip to Lagunas Santa Cruz.
The eastern panorama from Lagunas Santa Cruz. R-L: Quitaraju, Alpamayo, Tayapampa.
Hanging out by the magnificent Nevado Santa Cruz. At 6,240m, the 8th highest peak in the Cordillera Blanca.
Alpamayo’s famous NW face. So geometrically perfect that Pachamama must’ve sculpted it using giant protractor and ruler.
Alpamayo – hovering over Laguna Jancarurish.
Sunset at Wishcash. The Cordillera Negra black as its name.
Dawn sun-dance at a chilly Wishcash. A few hours later and we were sweating buckets on the picturesque, bucolic walk from Hualcayan to Cashapampa.
Descending to Hualcayan’s patchwork fields.
Surveying the descent to Hualcayan. It was a long, but gentle, one.
I never comment, but this is so abundantly gorgeous I had to thank you.
Thanks for the comment George! The Cordillera Blanca is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been – splendid scenery at every turn!