Santa Cruz-Ulta trek, 6 days

I will pick you up at your hotel with my private vehicle, then we’ll drive along the Callejón de Huaylas valley, passing through small agricultural towns with preserved colonial architecture. On the way, we will stop several times to enjoy spectacular views of the Andes, including the western face of Peru’s highest peak, Mount Huascaran. After that, we will continue driving until we reach the Cashapampa village, where we will encounter our donkeys and donkey handlers. While they load our gear onto the donkeys backs, we will begin our trek. We will walk along the right bank of the Santa Cruz river into a narrow valley with sparkling waterfalls, groves, and highland bushes and trees, until we reach a wide grass meadow. We will camp there, with a spectacular view of snowcapped peaks at the valley’s head. Camp overnight at Llamacorral.

After breakfast we will start walking, passing the beautiful mountain lakes of Ichiccocha (a small lake) and Jatuncocha (a bigger lake). We will continue hiking in the Santa Cruz valley until we arrive at Quisuar, after which we will wind up a steep, zigzagging trail to the Alpamayo viewpoint above the Arhueycocha gorge. We will relax and enjoy the splendid summit views of the majestic mountains of Alpamayo, its flouted ice wall on the southwest face, and its peak, which is considered the most beautiful mountain in the world. After a break for lunch, the route brings us to the isolated Taullipampa campsite located at the foot of Mount Taulliraju. Camp overnight at Taullipampa.

After breakfast we will start gradually ascending a pre-Inca route until we reach the Punta Union Pass at 4750 meters (15,600 ft), where we will enjoy spectacular, panoramic views of huge mountains and turquoise lakes. After lunch and a little rest, we will cross the pass to descend on a rocky trail towards the Huaripampa valley. We’ll observe small glacial lakes, waterfalls, and Andean trees on the way to our campsite at Paria valley. Camp overnight at Paria valley.

After breakfast we will start walking down wide meadow and flat valley through sections of quinual and quisuar forest, whose trees display lovely twisted trunks and orange bark. The trail is almost easy as we reach the Huaripampa village and continue down to the bottom of the valley. We’ll cross a bridge and start hiking up on a dirt road to the Colcabamba settlement. We will continue ascending until we reach the Molinopampa campsite. Camp overnight at Molinopampa.

After a hearty breakfast we will start a gradual ascent with a few steep sections. We will be accompanied by a gorgeous view of the huge mountains of Contrahierba, hiking until we reach our high plateau camping spot. Last overnight camp at Avalancha.

On our last day we will walk up a rocky trail until we reach the Yanayacu pass, where we will be able to take amazing pictures of giant snowcapped peaks to the north, south, and west as we observe the Huascaran, Chopicalqui, Hualcan, and Contrahiervas summits. After that we will descend on a sloped trail to the Ulta valley. There we finish our trek and meet our private transportation waiting to drive us to Huaraz.