-Day 05
Departing Huaraz very early today, we drive to the town of Musho, the jumping off point for Huascarán. Here, we load our gear on burros and hike with day packs to Huascarán Base Camp at an elevation of 4,200 m / 13,780 ft. The walk to Base Camp normally takes about 4 hours.
-Day 06
As we climb above Base Camp the route becomes more difficult, taking a complex path up and around huge glacially polished granite slabs. Before reaching the glacier it is possible to visit refuge "Don Bosco" 4,900 m / 16,075 ft. we arrive at the edge of the ice itself. An additional 2 hours of glacier travel brings us to camp 1, on the glacier at 5,200 m / 17,060 ft. We will use porters to carry much of the group's gear to this camp.
-Day 07
Today we move up to High Camp (camp 2), located in "La Garganta" (The Throat - 6,000 m / 19685 ft), a broad saddle between the north and south summits. As we climb through the increasingly broken glacier, we encounter short section of technical climbing including ice up to about 60 degrees at "La Canaleta." Again, we will have the aid of porters to carry some of our group gear. In this passage it is common to find great crevasses in the glacier.
-Day 08
The advantage of the trek and ascent of Pisco and a gradual acclimatization will be appreciated today. With the benefit of the climb of the La Garganta behind us, the 35° to 40° snow slopes on summit day will be taken in stride. Leaving our camp on the Col very early, we will cross towards the slopes below the South Summit. We will then climb a short gently angled snow couloir before traversing right, across the face, towards a small group of seracs. From here, we reach the final slope and climb south-east straight up to the summit. Time: 8 hours to the summit, 4 hours return to camp 2.
-Day 09
Descent to the base camp
- Day 10
From base camp, we will descend to Musho to be met by our transportation. Our vehicles will be a welcomed sight, especially as they whisk us back to Huaraz.
Recommended season: June - September