Cordillera Huayhuash Treks

The classic loop starts at Llamac (3,300m) or Cuartelhuain (4,200m), runs clockwise around the range and returns to Llamac. On the full circuit you cross up to eight passes, and the order is always the same:

• Cacanan Punta, 4,700m: between Cuartelhuain and Laguna Mitucocha, on the continental divide.
• Punta Carhuac, 4,650m: between Mitucocha and Laguna Carhuacocha, with the first full view of Yerupajá and Siula Grande.
• Paso Carnicero, 4,600m: between Carhuacocha and the Huayhuash valley.
• Portachuelo de Huayhuash, 4,750m: between Huayhuash and Laguna Viconga, with its hot springs.
• Punta Cuyoc, 5,000m: between Viconga and the Elefante camp, the highest pass of the classic circuit.
• Punta Tapush, 4,750m: between Huatiac and Laguna Susucocha.
• Punta Yaucha, 4,800m: between Susucocha and Laguna Jahuacocha.
• Pampa Llamac, 4,300m: between Jahuacocha and Llamac, the last view of the range.

How many of them you cross depends on the route. The 12-day circuit takes Cuyoc; the 8 or 9-day circuit takes the Trapecio pass instead, an unformed alpine crossing from the Huayhuash valley to the Elefante camp; and the 15-day versions add Siula Base Camp or the San Antonio crossing. Most campsites sit beside a lake: Mitucocha, Carhuacocha, Viconga and Jahuacocha.

Our arrieros live in Llamac, and their donkeys carry the tents, the kitchen, the food and your duffel bag. You walk with a light daypack: camera, snacks and your water bottle. The trails are unformed dirt paths, also used by animals, often steep and slippery or rocky in places, and that is part of why the walking is hard even though nothing is technical.

The whole circuit crosses community-owned farmland, not a national park. Each community lets groups pass and camp and charges an access and camping fee, and in return keeps toilets at the campsites. On our treks the fees are included in the price.

How booking and payment work is explained on how to book your trek with us.

Graded Hard: Most Huayhuash treks are hard — not for technical difficulty, but because you spend many days above 4,000 metres, which tires the body. On a full circuit you climb up to 8 high passes, the highest at 5,000 metres, and the long descents that follow are part of the work. Average to good fitness is enough: you should manage a sustained uphill of up to three hours and several cold nights under canvas.

Shorter circuits — Very Hard: Condensed full-circuit treks of 8 or 9 days run with no rest days and a high pass to cross every single day. Some of those passes are true alpine crossings with no formed trail underfoot. If this sounds like more than you would enjoy, tell us — we will gladly suggest something gentler.

Because the Huayhuash is so remote, there is no quick way off the trail. The only villages are Llamac at the start and Huayllapa around the half-way point. Our guides and crew know how to manage altitude: we walk slowly, rest often, and keep you supplied with plenty of boiled water throughout.

Before any Huayhuash trek you need to be well acclimatised, so you can avoid altitude-related illness and actually enjoy the walking. We recommend arriving in Huaraz at least 2 full days (3 nights) ahead for treks starting at Llamac, and at least 3 full days (4 nights) for treks starting from Cuartelhuain.

Where you start changes everything. From Llamac (3,300m) the first day is a gentle, scenic walk up to Cuartelhuain, which doubles as a valuable extra acclimatisation day. Drive straight to Cuartelhuain (4,200m) and you gain 1,130 metres from Huaraz in a single day — then climb a 4,700m pass on day one. That route is only for the genuinely well acclimatised, so we will plan day hikes around Huaraz with you first.

Altitude sickness can start with a headache, nausea or poor sleep, and in rare cases turns into pulmonary or cerebral oedema, which is why we never rush the first days. If you arrive with little time, we organise guided acclimatisation hikes with transport around Huaraz (3,070m) before the trek: see our day treks and hikes.

The road from Huaraz to Chiquián is a paved mountain highway; beyond Chiquián it turns to unpaved dirt track all the way to Llamac and Cuartelhuain. It is roughly 156 kilometres and four to five hours to Llamac, then another 18 to Cuartelhuain — so the first day of a Huayhuash programme is usually the drive out and a night at the trailhead, with walking starting the next morning.

May to September brings the more settled weather. June, July and August are the driest months and also the busiest. May, at the end of the rains, is fresh and green with wild flowers and often clear skies; September, at the close of the dry season, can still offer fine walking weather with far fewer groups on the trails.