Ausangate trek, is one of our beautiful trekking programs that brings you by the most remote places in Peru. This hike by the highlands, leads by the knot of the Cordillera Vilcanota (an impressive range of mountains, where Ausangate “6,363m” a glacier mountain is located, most of the mountains here are above 6000m.
This trail is mostly trekked by ice climbers, but it is also a trail, that is used by people who are not going to climb up the ice. The area is quiet, interesting, and has scenic landscape view, there are several glacier lakes, and it is the land of Llamas and Alpacas Sheepherders.
This path highest point is at 5.200m which becomes to be one of the highest trail summits in peru, there are many colorful mountains which with the glaciers are kind of another world.
To trek the Ausangate, you have to previously get adjusted to the altitude, the trek itself isn’t really hard, but the high elevation of the place is a challenge for people who are coming from sea level. We always bring emergency horses, first aid kit including Oxygen bottle and a team of expert guides, cooks and muleteers who make you Ausangate trek very enjoyable.
Departures: Year around departures available in private service, recommended from April to October.
06:00 hrs
Depart Cusco at 06 hrs, drive towards east of cusco, the road passes by some interesting villages such as Urcos, which has a little lake nearby, Ccatcca, a highland village and Ocongate, then arrive to tinki where you’ll start walking, after about 02 hours, we will reach the place for lunch, from lunch we will reach a grassy meadow land named Upis, the train fantastic and offer the majestic Ausangate mountain view.
After about two more hours we will reach Upis campground, have our tea time at 17:00 hrs, then we can have the opportunity to enjoy a natural hot spring water, then after relax we will dinner and spend the night at about 4350m.
(Trek Overview info: difficulty Medium, walking distance 8 km in about 6 hours).
In the morning a hot tea will be offered in to the tents, then after some time to pack we’ll breakfast and depart towards the 1st summit named Arapa (4750 m), it is a hill below the Ausangate mountain, and reddish color make special touch to the place.
From here can see nice mountains and the trail lead by almost flat trail towards lagoons, our cook and muleteers who are very fast will be waiting for us to provide us lunch, it will be nearby yanacocha (black lake), it is kind of luxurious picnic lunch.
From this point, we are going to continue our hike, until we pass a clear water stream, small uphill trail will take us to a highland valley where will see a glacier lake named Hatun Pucacocha 4,500m “big red lake”, our campsite will be set nearby, we will enjoy a walk around the banks of this lake, have tea time and dinner then spend the night.
Info: Trek Difficulty: Medium. Distance 10 km “6 miles” and 6 hours of walk.
The 3rd day will challenge us with 02 summits, we will start by about 08 hours, after about 2 hours we can reach an small pass named Apacheta (4850 m – 15, 908 ft.), the hike up to here is very gentle, then a downhill trail take us to the banks of a lake named Ausangate cocha, we will have early lunch, we may arrive before the cook, so we can have plenty of time to relax and take pictures.
After lunch we can climb up to summit the highest pass of our trek, it is the (Palomani pass 5180 m), then again walk the downhill trail.
The scenery at this point is magnificent, we can see the Ausangate Mountain, red color mountains, lakes and valleys that are, land of llamas and alpacas. We will descend for 2 hours, then reach the camp ground named huchuy finaya, over 4.500m.
(Info: Difficulty Challenge. Distance: “6 miles” 10 km, walked in about Seven hours).
We’ll wake up with our wake tea offered by our team, then have nutritious breakfast, then we will take a trail by a glacier lake below the santa maria glacier, the lagoons in the Ausangate circuit trek are very clear and almost all of them has trout.
At this trip you’ll see several lakes along the trail, that leads by scenic summits, after 3.5 hours of walk we will arrive to the spot for the lunch at pampa cancha.
After eating, we’ll do a large but gentle hike, to summit the second high pass named “Qampa” (5050 mt 16,564ft), it may takes up about 2.5 hours, the trail is just magnificent and hard to describe with words, from here we will descend by a gentle trail to the camp at Qomercocha “green lake”, the trail is nice and the lagoons along the way are nice portraits.
Overnight under clear starts at a quiet location.
(Medium difficult. 14 km (8 miles average distance) in 8 hours..
We’ll have early breakfast, then walk the easy part, once we re-start walking, we can pass by glacier lakes and llamas fences, we can also see some villagers, some of them are weavers, and found in tourism a business, they will bring us to the trail to buy their colorful textiles. The path follows all downhill, llamas along the trail and kids expecting candies, straw thatched houses provide the sense or medieval times.
After almost 05 hours, we will end our day al pacchanta, we have lunch and have a long siesta. You can walk by the nearby village, go the hot spring, and or just read a book, and enjoy the view of Ausangate Mountain. We will dinner at about 19:00 hours.
(Medium challenge trek, 10 km “6 miles” and 5 hours).
We sleep until about 06.30 then have breakfast, after nutritious breakfast we take the way back trail to Tinki. The hike is scenic, we will follow a truck road, we will pass a picturesque village, and arrive to tinki (it is the same point where we started the trek, by the time we end we have made a circuit).
At tinki we will have our lunch, after lunch we catch our Transport back to Cusco, We will arrive at around 18:00 hours, the guide will bring you to your hotel where the fantastic of ausangate trek, Classic hike ends.
(Difficulty: Challenge. distance: 8 km “5 miles” in 3 hours).
Do you want to explore the larger program know only by locals? see our ausangate mountain tour, if you want to explore the other site, then look at Humantay Lake Trekking.
