Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca

While the Himalaya gets all the attention when it comes to high-altitude trekking, Peru's Cordillera Blanca offers the solitude of big mountains with far less people than in Asia. It's also a less-crowded alternative to the hordes headed to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail. The mountains take precedence here—the Cordillera Blanca are one of the most concentrated collections of big peaks in the Western Hemisphere, with 33 summits topping 5500 meters and 16 over 6000 meters, including 6768 meters Huascarán, the highest mountain in Peru, all squeezed into a 21 km-wide, 180 km-long corridor.

Having heard of all these features, I arrived on the 6th of October in Huaraz, at 3050 meters, the biggest city located near the Huascarán National Park (a UNESCO nature world heritage site) where many visitors from around the world arrive to the city to practise outdoors sports like climbing, hiking, snowboarding and also to visit the glaciers and mountains of the Cordillera Blanca.

Needless to say that at this altitude, you need at least a few days to acclimatise so before embarking for any challenging treks, I decided to do a one-day trek to visit the Laguna 69 and spend a few days in Huaraz wandering around the city. This trek wasn't too challenging as only 2,5 hours were needed to go up and 2 to go down, but we were rewarded by fantastic views and a lake of pure blue waters.

Here are a few pictures of the trek:

View of the Cordillera Blanca, from the bus

The Pisco mountain is one of the famous climbs in the area

Lots of cows around the trail, some are peaceful, some...well... better not to angry them!

Laguna 69 in sight!

So blue....

At an altitude of 4400m, you're quickly out of breath when going up...

Waterfall + Sun = Great pictures

Some crazy people jumping into the frozen water...

Better be careful with the cows when their calves are around...