Program:
Transfer from Lima to Cusco by flight or by bus.
Acclimatization in Cusco (3400 m.)
Arround of the sacred mountains of the Incas
Day 1: CUSCO - TINQUI
We bus 100 km East by Southeast from Cusco in the morning. The road passes north of Ausangate, and we leave the road a bit west of the mountain. We camp in Tinqui at 3,800. As we fall asleep the setting sun lights up the glacier on the NW face of Ausangate.
Day 2: TINQUI - UPIS
We break camp and hike up to the Ausangate glacier. We set up camp alongside the Upis thermal springs, about 4 kilometers in the air. We bathe in the hot springs and the cold Upismayo which runs beside our camp
Day 3: UPIS - PUCACOCHA
We break camp and hike up to a pass at 4,500 which separates Ausangate proper to the East from a spur named Quellacocha to the West. In the afternoon we pass Lake Pucacocha, WSW of the summit and nestled among various minor peaks. The setting sun plays in cascades of colored ice where we finally make camp.
Day 4: PUCACOCHA - CHILCAFINAYA
We continue walking among high-altitude lakes in the valley immediately south of Ausangate, which are unnaturally green-blue. We rise to cross Palomani pass at 4,800 masl. This is the highest point on the journey. We don't pass between the massif and some spur, but rather rise to take advantage of a gentler slope high on the mountain´s side. Here we can see east over the large hand-shaped Lake Sivinacocha to the jagged, snowcapped Vilcanota Mountains which crade this valley. We descend from the cold to camp at Chilcapinaya.
Day 5: CHILCAPINAYA - PACHASPATA
We descend into the sunny Jampa valley inhabited by shepherds and their flocks of alpaca and sheep. We lunch in the valley bottom, pass Lake Ticllacocha, then climb over a pass at 4,650 masl. Camp is at small Lake Q´omercocha if we make it, or at Pachaspata if dusk catches us here.
Day 6: PACHASPATA - PACCHANTA
We drop into the valley and village of Pacchanta and bathe in their hot springs all the long afternoon.
Day 7: PACCHANTA - TINQUI - CUSCO
We pass through increasingly inhabited valleys among the headwaters of the Paucartambo river on the north side of the mountain until the sun sets. We return to the road and our bus. We get back to Cusco for happy hour and a night at the discos, or a long rest, as your mood takes you.
Recommended date : All year.
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