Outdoor Specialists Huaraz ★ Llanganuco Lodge ★

Duke of Edinburgh Award - ‘Good Mountain Guides’ can offer fully escorted expeditions into the Cordillera Blanca mountain range and the Huascaran National Park in the high Andes, north of Lima in Peru from their dedicated lodge near Huaraz for the Gold Expedition.

Plus extend the gold expedition into a ‘once in a lifetime’ holiday with tours and treks into surrounding areas.

Season is from May to October.

Contact: Jennipher Marshall-Jenkinson in the UK on jennipher AT chileinsideout.com or phone on 01753 652 939 for more details.

Llanganuco Lodge operatesfrom LlanganucoLodge, the closest possible accommodation to Mount Huascaran, the highest mountain in the Cordillera Blanca and Peru, the four-peaked Mount Huandoy and several other 6000ers. Needless to say that the views are simply incomparable. At 3550m above sea level not only is this the perfect place to acclimatize in comfort in preparation for your sorties into the “Parque Nacional Huascaran”, but also provides all the services you could require. The Lodge is right on the edge of the National Park so all activities can be started from the front door. What’s more, over the years Huaraz unfortunately has become larger and noiser. We believe that people coming here, do so for the Mountains, and want to live in the Mountains, not in Huaraz. Goodmountainguides is British owned and run, but you can also write to us in Spanish, French, German or Dutch. The founder first came to Huaraz in 1997 and has seen the considerable changes it has gone through since. He noticed that despite development in outdoor activities there was still a considerable gap in the market, and this is when Llanganuco Lodge was founded. Llanganuco Lodge aims to take the unreliability of the Peruvian Factor out of your visit to Huaraz. We will provide you with, guides, equipment and logistics all of which you can pre-book before you travel to Peru, thus ensuring availability of resources, especially during the busy season. All of our equipment is from recognized leading brand names, and is in excellent condition. St. Cruz - Llanganuco Probably the most widely know trek in the Cordillera Blanca. But it is very true: stunning beauty it is! Ideal for people who don't want to spend too much time in the mountains or have only a limited amount of time. Would you have more time to spend, you could consider doing the Cedros - Alpamayo trek. Often people like ascending Pisco after doing the Santa Cruz trek. Ask us for the options: we'll sort you out with a tailor-made tour. Duration: 4 days Difficulty: Easy Description: Day 1: We start hiking e arly in the morning, cross several valleys before turning in to the Santa Cruz valley, that houses our first campsite at Llamacoral. Day 2: Today we hike about 6 hours towards the next campsite Taullipampa. We highly recommend the side-trek in to the Arhueycocha Valley, to the Alpamayo Base Camp. Our guide will, of course, assist you. Day 3: About 7 hours hiking to Paria or Tuctupampa, depending how far you feel like going. Today you cross the highest point of the whole trek: Punta Union at 4750 m. above sea level. Day 4: A relatively short hike to Vaqueria where transport will be waiting for us to take us back to the lodge for a great shower and the "aprés-hike" at the bar. Our comfortable matresses will be remind you of your stay at the Hilton in London. This trek goes through many rural villages and shows beautiful mountain scenery. Highlight is the Northface of Mount Alpamayo, considered by many as the most beautiful mountain in the world. Depending on the chosen route, chosen trailend and side-treks, the trek can take anything from 7 to 12 days. We describe the 7-day version from Hualcayan to Pomabamba. Alternatively we can also arrange to return to Cashapampa through the Santa Cruz Valley (10 days) or to Carhuaz through the Ulta Valley (12 days). The Cedros and Alpamayo Valley are a lot less visited than any other Valley in the region. You'll meet very few people on the way and if you don't happen to go in July or August, you might have the trail and campsites for your own. (not considering local people of course) Duration: 7 - 12 days Difficulty: Moderate Description: (7 days) Day 1: Transfer from the lodge to Hualcayan, where our trek starts. Today we'll hike about 3 hours to our first campsite in Hualcayan Pampa right next to some pre-inka ruins. Day 2: Hike 7 hours to Cullicocha. Relatively strenuous day because of the 1450 meter ascend. Day 3: About 7 hours hiking to Osoruri in the Alpamayo Valley. We cross the highest point of the whole trek today: Osoruri pass at 4860 meter. Marvellous views of Alpamayo today. Day 4: Osoruri to Alpamayo Base Camp and back to the Alpamayo Valley. Day 5: Alpamayo Vall ey to Huillca: About 6 hours hiking and a pass of 4830 meter to be crossed (Caracara pas). Day 6: Huillca to Jancapa mpa through a quenua wood and crossing another 4810 meter high pass (Paso Huillca) Day 7: Jancapampa to Pomabam ge Duration: 3 - 5 hours Difficulty: Easy to difficult We will take you up t o the 4767 meter high pass "Portachuelo de Llanganuco" from where you have magnificient views over the Llanganuco Valley including the two famous "Llanganuco Lakes", wrongly named after the Valley they reside in. (Real names: Lake Orconcocha and Chinancocha, "Cocha" means "lake" in Quechua) From there you have a n excellent downhill drive back to the lodge, or over the sandroad zigzagging the same way down as you were taken up, or if you're more adventurous, you can follow most of the way steeper and more demanding downhill tracks. We have detailed maps of th e route at the lodge. Alpamayo (5957 meter) Duration: 6 days Difficulty: AD + (Ferrari route) Before starting t his 6-day route, unless you've been on altitude for several days before starting this climb, we suggest staying a couple of days at the lodge for acclimatization. We'll organize an appropriate acclimatization programm for your party. You'll enjoy your climb a lot more if acclimatised properly. Day 1: After brea kfast at the Lodge you are driven to Cashapampa, the start of the walk-in. Our donkey drivers are waiting for us and pack all equipment but your daypack on their donkeys. We hike to Arhuaycocha which is our first campsite. Day 2: We start ascending towards the Alpamayo morrain camp. After pitching our tents we prepare all climbing gear for the following day. Day 3: Today we c limb to Base Camp 1 where we try to make an early night: tomorrow wake up call is at 2 am! Day 4: This day is the reason many people have come to Peru for: Summit Alpamayo, considered by many to be the prettiest mountain in the world. We start our day at 3 am: as a warm-up we walk through snow towards the 75º inclined Ferrari Route. We summit Alpamayo at about 9 am with once in a lifetime views of the surrounding Cordillera Blanca. After half an hour enjoying the views and taking Gigabytes of pics we start rapelling back down to the base camp where we will have a little celebration. Day 5: Traversing back to Arhuaycocha. Day 6: Walk-out towards Cashapampa where transport will be waiting for us to take us back to the lodge. Show the other guests proudly our pictures ;-) Huascaran (6768 meter) Duration: 5 days Difficulty: PD+/AD- (via "Gargante", meaning "throat") Before starting this 5-day ro ute, unless you've been on altitude for several days before starting this climb, we suggest staying a couple of days at the lodge for acclimatization. We'll organize an appropriate acclimatization programm for your party. You'll enjoy your climb a lot more if acclimatised properly. Day 1: After breakfast at the lodge you are driven to Musho where our donkey drivers will pack our equipment on their donkeys. We walk approximately 4 hours to Huascaran's base camp at 4.150 meter. Day 2: Continue to Ba se Camp 1 at 5.400 meter. After pitching our tents we prepare all climbing gear for the following day. Day 3: Continue to Bas e Camp 2 ("garganta") at 6.000 meter, early night: tomorrow wake up call is at 2 am! Day 4: We start climbing at 3 am to make it to the summit at 6768 meter in about 7 hours of hard work: the altitude makes it a difficult climb. Return back to Base Camp 2. Day 5: Walk out the who le way back to Musho, where Transport will be waiting for us to take us back to the lodge where we enjoy the great showers and some celebration cocktails before hitting the comfortable mattresses. Ishinca Valley: Urus (5497 m), Ishinca (5530 m) & Tocclaraju (6052 m) Duration: 6 days Difficulty Urus: PD- Difficulty Ishinca: PD- Difficulty Tocllaraju: D Before starting this 3-day route, unless you've been on altitude for several days before starting this climb, we suggest staying a couple of days at the lodge for acclimatization. We'll organize an appropriate acclimatization programm for your party. You'll enjoy your climb a lot more if acclimatised properly. Day 1: After breakfas t at the lodge you are driven to Pashpa, where our donkey drivers will pack our equipment on their donkeys and we will start hiking towards the Ishinca Base Camp. After pitching our tents we prepare all climbing gear for the following day. Early night: tomorrow wake up call is at 4 am! Day 2: We start climbing at 5 am towards our first peak in this valley. At around 10 am we summit Urus and after taking the obligatory pictures we make our way back to our Base Camp where hot tea is waiting. Early night: tomorrow wake up call is at 3 am! Day 3: We start climbi ng at 4 am towards Ishinca (NW slope). After about 5 hours we have made it to our second summit and another 3 hours to get back to the base camp, again we're delighted to see that our cook has expected our return. Day 4: After practis ing on Urus and Ishinca we are now ready to tackle Tocllaraju, a bit more demanding mountain and for many people the first 6000er. As we don't summit any peak today , there is no reason to get up early. We make our way up in about 3 hours to the Tocllaraju high camp at 5300 meter and take a rest the rest of the day. Day 5:Get up at 4 am to start our climb at 5 am. It will take us about 7 hours to get ourselves up to this 6000er. Do we need to mention the splendid views over the Cordillera Blanca. After enjoying this spectacle we return to the high camp to spend another night at 5.300 meter. If you were doing this as a preparation for a bigger mountain: now you can claim to be well-acclimatized! Day 6: Hike out of th e Ishinca Valley and leave these beautiful peaks behind. In Pashpa transport is waiting for us to take us back to the lodge where we can chill out another day or so before returning to what all 9-to-5 workers call "civilization". Pisco (5752 meter) Duration: 3 days Difficulty: PD (SW sl ope) Before starting this 3-d ay route, unless you've been on altitude for several days before starting this climb, we suggest staying a couple of days at the lodge for acclimatization. We'll organize an appropriate acclimatization programm for your party. You'll enjoy your climb a lot more if acclimatised properly. Pisco is an ideal mountai n to gain your first climbing experience or as training or acclimatization before attacking one of the bigger ones nearby. Day 1: After breakfast at the lodge you are driven to Cebollapampa. We hike up to the Pisco Morrain Camp at 4900 meter carrying a daypack only. All equipment is carried to the camp by porters from the local community. After pitching our tents we prepare all climbing gear for the following day. Early night: tomorrow wake up call is at 3 am! Day 2: We start walking towards the glacier at 4 am. Then we climb for about 4 hours before reaching Pisco summit. After enjoying the views all around we return to the moraine camp the same way as we came up. Day 3: We return from the mo raine camp to the road at Cebollapampa where transport is waiting for us to take us back to the lodge.