The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Peru’s Ausangate Circuit Trek

When last minute cancellations by other clients put paid to my plan to trek to the Incan site of Choquequirao, I signed up instead for an extended Ausangate Circuit trek in the remote Cordillera Vilcanota range of the Andes, south of Cusco, a city I hadn’t visited since 2009. After two days of acclimatization near Cusco, we commenced our nine day trek. Our group of seven clients, one guide and a horseman with his “sag” horse hiked about 90 km (56 miles) and ascended more than 3700 m (12,100 ft). While the distances and elevation gains were not great, the altitude certainly was: five high passes which ranged from 4850 to 5200 meters (15,900 to 17,060 ft).

The Cordillera Vilcanota boasts several 6000m peaks, including the sacred Ausangate, at 6372m (20,900 ft), the highest mountain in southern Peru. This high and wild trekking circuit wound its way on quiet trails through this rarely-visited range, following lovely alpine valleys and traversing a series of passes connecting them. After a lovely soak in the Pachanta town hot springs one afternoon, the usual end point for the Ausangate Circuit trek, our trek continued another 2 1/2 days, highlighted by the remote and stunning Laguna Singrenacocha.

Enjoy some of the hundreds of photos that I took!

View of the Sacred Valley from Parque Arqueológico Pisac, our first of two acclimatization walks
Banana passionfruit flower
A view of Incan farming terraces from Parque Arqueológico Pisac
A Cyclopian-style Incan wall at Sacsayhuaman above Cusco, where we did the 2nd of our two acclimatization walks. The stones weigh up to 200 tons.
Approaching Ausangate from near the Tinki trailhead on Day 1. The trailhead was a leisurely 4-hour drive south from Cusco.
Our first night’s camp. The orange tents on the left side are ours.
Glacial melt-water serenades our group of 7 clients early on Day 2. Our group included five Brits and two Americans. Can you spot them in this photo?
Laguna vista with Ausangate
Old Man of the Andes cacti (Oreocereus celsianus)
View from the pass Abra al Arapa, 4850 m, the first of the five high passes we would cross on the trek. The needle-like peak is Sorimani.
Laguna Pucacocha
Our group down-climbing above Laguna Pucacocha
Our horses grazing near our 2nd camp in the late afternoon
Late afternoon light on Ausangate
Hatun (Great) Pucacocha and alpaca herd early on Day 3
Ausangate with Hatun Pucacocha on the left here
Th Vagabond Hiker with our horseman, Rozes, on the Apachita Pass (4920m)
Painted Mountain, a popular day hike from the opposite side.
Llamas
Our 3rd campsite
Pano with clients on Day 4
Rozes and our guide Evr (r), on Abra Paloman (5100m)
The Vagabond Hiker on Abra Paloman
Pycnophyllum molle moss
Landscape with Senecio leucophyton (in the daisy family)
Lodge, tarn, and Ausangate, seen on Day 4. The usual climbing route ascends from the red-roofed lodge seen in the lower left.
A Northern Viscacha, a type of chinchilla. Over a couple of days we saw (and heard) numerous Viscachas near streams.
Nevado Ausangate in all its formidable glory
Lupinus weberbaueri, seen on Day 5. We saw several different lupines. . .
Lupinus alopecuroides. None of the flowers I saw seemed to have common English names, hence I’m sticking with the Latin binomials for this post.
Some of our pack horses on Day 5 near Abra La Campa (5060m). Jatunhuma (6100m) is in the background.
Puka Punta (5600m), Pachanta (5950m), and Callangate (6110m) seen to our east on Day 5.
Nototriche obcuneata, in the mallow family
View descending towards our Day 5 camp
Sunset view on Day 5. Puka Punta (“Red Point” in Quechua) is on the right.
Laguna Pucacocha in the morning of Day 6.
Grasses and blue pond with reflection of a portion of the Ausangate massif.
A remote village with Callangate behind, seen on Day 7
Some dry stone walls testify to the ubiquitous alpaca and Llama herding over the centuries
Perezia pygmea, in the daisy family
Landscape with glacial stream
An alpaca herd
Closeup of five alpacas. The 2nd from the left looks to me like a character in the Wizard of Oz.
Our “sag” horse, Ausangate, being encouraged to cross a stream
Day 7 sunset vista with horses and alpenglow on Callangate
The turquoise Laguna Singrenaccocha, seen early on Day 8
Gentiana sedifolia
Another view of Laguna Singrenaccocha, which we essentially circumambulated this day, camping near the southwest corner
Hatun Q’ampa reflected in a small, unnamed lake
The main river feeding into Laguna Singrenaccocha, which we crossed downstream, near its entrance to the lake
An view upstream of that river
Yet more alpacas (and some llamas)!
Mark crossing one section of the river near the outlet of Laguna Singrenaccocha
Our scenic Day 8 campsite and our horses
Our support crew (our cook, two assistants, and muleteers), Day 9
Still morning reflections in Laguna Singrenaccocha
Our final canyon descent to the roadhead near Malima on Day 9.

I chose to spend this summer in the Rocky Mountains of southwest Colorado and on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range of California. If I get some decent photos, expect one or two blog posts from some of my numerous day hikes. In early September I will be traveling around Europe for about 5 1/2 weeks, trekking across the Picos de Europa in northern Spain and the Julian Alps in Slovenia (yes, I know they are not particularly close together!), and doing a series of walks on São Miguel Island in the Azores. Expect three more blog posts this autumn from those adventures!

In the meantime, enjoy as much of the summer outdoors as you can,

The Vagabond Hiker

Comments

  1. Looks like you had a wonderful trek. I did the 5 day Ausangate trek in 2007. I enjoyed the remoteness and high passes. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

  2. I love the high mountain lakes and rivers! So beautiful! Come see us in CO!

    • I’d love to visit, but I’m leaving for CA next week (and it’s a 7 hr drive each way from my place near Durango). I’ll be in the STG area this autumn, if perchance you’re headed that way. . .

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