Alpamayo was awarded as the most beautiful mountain in the world for its unique pyramidal appearance, it won the scenic beauty photography contest held in Germany in 1966.
The Alpamayo snowy mountain with 5,947 masl is part of the beautiful Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes; this mountain is the most attractive for professional climbers, so year after year it is visited by climbers from all over the world. Alpamayo is also one of the most climbed peaks during the season due to the spectacular photographs that are captured at sunset from its high camp as well as during its climb. Undoubtedly, it is a challenge that makes many people dream and sigh.
The route climbed every season is called the Basque-French route, some make the mistake of calling it French direct. This route has a difficulty level of Difficult (D), it has between 450 to 500m of ice wall climbing, starting with 60º and reaching 85º degrees of slope during the climb. Depending on the conditions of the mountain, even during the season, it can be impassable to reach the summit, and the variants in its route are frequent.
Huaraz (Google Map)
4:00 am (Pick up at your hotel)
Participants must be in good physical condition to join this climb. Andean Raju Expeditions recommends previous and constant preparation as a crucial factor to take on this challenge, then, the physical stress caused by the days of climbing will be minimized.
We strongly advise all participants to have an adequate training plan in gyms, outdoor sports, climbing peaks, bearing weight and long day hikes.
If you would like our advice, we can provide you a training plan after evaluation of your experience in hiking and sporting activity.
You must have knowledge of glacier progression, technical climbing on ice walls.
You must have a knowledge of mountain rescue, safety and equipment management. These skills allow you to optimize your safety and generate a collaborative work with our guides during the climb.
Participants should have experience in altitude the last week prior to the begin the climb Alpamayo, which ensures adequate acclimatization and conditioning of the body to the altitude. It is recommended to stay above 5,000 meters above sea level.
We suggest an acclimatization program before your expedition, it can be mountains of the Cordillera Blanca with a minimum of 6 days of anticipation. We recommend acclimatization at Churup lake, then a previous climbing in peaks such as Huarapasca or Yanapaccha.
Our expedition starts in Huaraz, we will pick you up at your hotel with private transportation. We will go north through the Huaylas valley to Yungay then continue to Huascaran National Park to check in and pass through Llanganuco canyon while visualizing the turquoise lakes Orconcocha and Chinancocha. Then we will go up the road until we reach the beautiful viewpoint Portachuelo Pass, where we will stop to enjoy the visual domain of Huascaran, Chopicalqui, Huandoys, Pisco, and all the turquoise lakes that compose the far Llanganuco valley. Finally, we will continue to Vaquería village, this is the place where we will begin the approach to the Alpamayo mountain. Vaqueria village is where the donkey drivers and donkeys are waiting to assist us with the transfer of logistical equipment to the camp. After about 5 hours of walking, we will arrive at Tucto camp.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Box lunch, lunch, tea time and dinner.
Transfer by car: 3 hours
Estimated hiking time: 4 to 5 hours
Elevation: +550 m (3700 masl to 4250 masl)
Distance: 13.5 km
On the second day of the approach hike to Alpamayo mountain, we will go up to Punta Union Pass (4750 m). From this pass we will have an awesome viewpoint of the snowy mountains: Taulliraju (known as the Cathedral of the World), Artesonraju (known as the mountain of the Paramount Picture), Rinrijirca, Paria and Quitaraju. We will go down to the Santa Cruz valley, passing by the Taullipampa camp. We will continue our hike to the Quebrada Arhuay to finally reach our Alpamayo base camp.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, lunch, tea time and dinner.
Estimated hiking time: 4 to 5 hours
Elevation: +50 m (4250 masl to 4300 masl)
Distance: 13 km
This day we will prepare the personal mountain equipment to be carried by the porters. Then, we will hike uphill for about 3 hours on a rocky trail until we reach the Alpamayo moraine camp.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, tea time and dinner.
Estimated hiking time: 6 hours
Elevation: +650 m (4300 masl to 4950 masl)
Distance: 2 km
This day we should arrive at the high camp of Alpamayo. The porters will take care of the transfer of the camping equipment.
We will continue our ascent through morainic sections until we reach the glacier. Once on the glacier, we will equip ourselves with the necessary material: harness, mountain boots, helmet, crampons and ice axe. The guides will be in charge of the safety of the team to arrive safe to our camp. After a traverse across the glacier, we will reach a small climbing wall that will take us to the high camp.
During the sunset we will be able to enjoy awesome views of the sunset and its reflection on the Alpamayo climbing wall.
Finally, we will have dinner, it will be a time to eat and rest to continue with the next day’s climbing.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, tea time and dinner.
Estimated hiking time: 6 hours
Elevation: +450 m (4950 masl to 5400 masl)
Distance: 2 km
The most awaited day has arrived, it’s time for our ascent to the summit. We will start the day around midnight, after breakfast the guide will rope us and he will inspect all the necessary equipment for the climb. We will start the departure, we will make a traverse to the base of the wall, we will enter the climbing channel that begins on slope of 60º. Depending on the conditions of the mountain, the guide will look for the best route. After approximately 8 hours of continuous climbing, we will reach the summit. From this point you will be able to appreciate in its maximum splendor the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, a 360º view of the most emblematic mountains of Peru: Huandoy, Chopicalqui, Huascaran, Quitaraju, Santa Cruz, Pucajirkas, Rinrijirca, Paron, Caraz, Aguja, Piramide.
We will stay at the summit the necessary time to rest, hydrate and take pictures. Finally we will make the descent rappels by the same route of ascent, we will arrive to our camp, we will eat and rest.
Depending on the fitness of the client and previous coordination with the guide and support team, we could descend the same day to Base Camp.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Breakfast, box lunch, tea time and dinner.
Estimated climb time: 10 to 12 hours.
Elevation: +547 m (5400 masl a 5947 masl ), 450 m Alpamayo ice Wall.
This day, after breakfast, we begin our descent to base camp. We will make a few rappels and continue with the journey until we reach the moraine and we will continue our descent until we reach the camp. Our cook will be waiting for us with a delicious lunch to replenish energy and then we will rest satisfied for the great feat done.
Lodging: Mountain tents.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, tea time and dinner.
Estimated descent time: 3 to 4 hours.
After breakfast we dismantle the camp for going downhill, the donkey driver and the donkeys will be ready to transport all the logistic equipment to Cashapampa village. We will head downhill through Quebrada Santa Cruz. The transport bus will be waiting for us in Cashapampa village to take us back to Huaraz.
Meals: Breakfast.
Estimated hiking time: 5 to 6 hours.
Elevation: -1200 m 50 / -150 m
Distance: 23.5 km
Transfer by car: 3 hours
