Pastoruri Glacier

Altitude: 5.200 m.
Duration: 01 day.
Daily trips start at 9 am returning to Huaraz at 7 pm.

The visit to Pastoruri starts from Huaraz by road to Catac, whre we stop for a cup of mate de coca (coca leaf) tea, walk around and shop for picnic food, and take a few pictures. Back on the road, we arrive at the intersection of two roads: one leads North to Caxamarca traversing Huaylas Valley ; the other leads south to Junín Lake , which used to be the main road to Cusco – Quito . A third road leads West through Chasquitambo to Paramonga. From the place called Pachacoto there is a 35 Km dirt road that leads to Pastoruri. On the way we enter Huascaran National Park (Carpa section) passing Patococha Lake . We stop to pay entrance to the park. Further on there are the mineral water sources of Pumapampa, possible to drink; the “Pumashimi puma pashimin”, a hole of 10 m approximately, inside which there are rocks of various shapes, that change colors according the position of the sun in the sky. We can also observe “Puyas Raimondi“, a plant only found in south America, of impressive size, and that only flowers once every 10 years approximately. Further on the side of the road we can see old cave paintings. The road zigzags climbing to Huarapasca Pass , where we take the road to south, and reach the parking lot 2 km from the glacier. The glacier can be reached by foot or horse. Once on the glacier (5 400 m at the summit) it’s possible to practice ice climbing, ski or snowboard. It’s the place where ski competitions take place every year during the Andinism week.