East of Huaraz, deep valleys slice through the Blanca. On maps they resemble fingers on a hand. Most are little visited, being far from tourist itineraries and even further from your average Huaracino‘s idea of a good day out. For…
Bikepacking in the Blanca
Bikepacking: backpacking with a bike. Somewhere between mountain biking and cycle touring, bikepacking comprises overnight trips on singletrack and testing dirt roads. Though a conventional cycle touring setup with panniers is possible, it makes carrying and pushing more difficult, so…
Power to Paron
Laguna Paron is the largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca; but it’s not as vast as it once was. After the devastating earthquake of 1970 the Peruvian Government marked it as one of the lakes whose water level needed to…
The Puya Raimondii
It feels odd to be writing another post about plants, but the local species here in Ancash have been impressing us mightily. Fear not, we’ll return to mountain ramblings soon! Cycling from Huallanca to Catac in July we pedalled past…
Alpamayo: Andean Beauty
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.…