LLANGANUCO - SANTA CRUZ (CASHAPAMPA - LLANGANUCO)
Duration: 5 days in trekking.
Daily hours of trekking: 5 to 7 hours
Recommended date: march - october
Huaraz (3090m) - Cashapampa (2800m) - Llamacorral (3800m) At 07:00 am we leave Huaraz with a small bus ("Combi") towards Cashapampa, the starting point of our trek. A street in good condition leads us through the Callejón de Huaylas. In Caraz (2290m) we stop to see the the market and add some typical food to our provisions. The following dirtroad to Cashapampa (2 hours from Caraz) is very steep.
Arriving in Cashapampa we meet our porters and donkeys, who will accompany us during the next days. Very important for this day is a good mosquito protection. By 12:30 we begin our trek through the beautiful Santa Cruz valley.
The path starts with a soft ascent at the edge of the Santa Cruz river. The vegetation becomes generous and the diversity of the plant is astonishing. Very soon we can see the some glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca. At about 3 pm we arrive at our first camp: a large meadow at the river with a good view at the impressing soutface of the TAULLIRAJU (5830m).
Llamacorral (3800m) - Taullipampa (4250m) After our first night in the high mountains we continue our trek at 9 am towards Taullipampa. We slowly gain altitude and in 3850m come to our first mountain lake with name Ichicocha (Cocha means mountain lake in Quechua). Half an hour later we arrive at our second lake (Jatuncocha, 3900m), which impresses us with its intensively turquois water. Later we see at the left hand site the famous Alpamayo (5947m), which for many people is the most beautiful mountain in the world. The Alpamayo basecamp could be reached in one hour from here. We continue our trip and arrive at the next camping site at 2 pm. From here we see the best of the Cordillera Blanca: in the northwest the Alpamayo and the Quitaraju, in the Southwest the Artesonraju (6025m) and in the north the Taulliraju (5830m) and the Rinrijirca (5810m)
Taullipampa (4100m) - Punta Union pass (4750m) - Huaripampa (3800m) Today we face the hardest stage of the Santa Cruz trek: the pass Punta Unión with 4750m. However, the view at the Taulliraju, which we are approching, rewards us for all our efforts. After a 3 hour ascent we made it and deserve a break with an overwelming panorama. The descent is easy and perhaps enables us to see some Condors. Camp in Cachinapampa ( 3,800 m.)
Huaripampa (3800m) - Paccha (4000m) Today`s destination is called Paccha. The trial leads us through a beautiful tract on a soft grass floor - a great boon for our punished feeds. We pass the second andenean village called Vaquería (3900m) - here we also can go for a short "shopping" tour. After some serpentines we come to an asphalt street and search for a suitable camping site on the right hand side of it close to the river. Ascent to Pachha (4,000.) Camp.
Paccha (4000m) - Portachuelo Pass (4767m) – Lake 69 (4700m) -Yuraccorral (3950m) - Huaraz Today we cross the second pass Portachuelo (4767m) Descent and visit to the mountain lakes Llanganuco - Orconcocha (3857m) and Chinancocha (3850m) we finally are picked up in Yungay (2,500 m) by our bus, which brings us back to Huaraz.
