A Low Season Guide to Huaraz, Peru

“This is called the train” a gruff Geordie voice drawled, “Just one shuffle, then another, inches, then yards, don’t stop, just like a train”. I was not on the Yorkshire Dales. I was at 5,000m in the Peruvian Andes with my friend Chris, and there was precious little oxygen in the air. Half an hour later, I had reached the San Antonio Pass, at almost the same altitude as Everest Base Camp and the highest point of my eight-day romp through the Cordillera Huayhuash. Ahead, at the base of a sheer kilometre-tall mountain face, shimmering like a mirage in the thin air was a sapphire blue lake, as if an inlet of the Caribbean was stranded in the High Andes. Delirious from altitude sickness and entranced by the view, we could only hug each other in pure rapture.

In truth, I had second-guessed my decision to be up here at all. The conventional wisdom was that past September, as the rainy season began, trails would be impassable bogs until May if you could even find a guide willing to go. Relying on word of mouth in the bars of Cusco and Lima, which spoke of empty landscapes and cut-price tours, I ventured up in October, to what I thought would be a rainy mire. Yet, the only activities that were unavailable were technical mountaineering expeditions to peaks like Alpamayo, which only appeal to a fringe set of travellers.

Huaraz is the name of the town which serves as a gateway to the surrounding mountains. It is not a looker – it was levelled in 1970 by an earthquake, but it functions well as a base. Its mountain location allows for daytrips to truly astounding locations, combining Himalayan-level wilderness with the accessibility of the English Lake District.

Meet the Paramount Mountain

The name Artesonraju sounds like a science-fiction planet, but the mountain will be immediately recognisable. The silhouette that precedes movies is a real vista and one that almost caused me to miss my bus back from gawping at it. The lake is a shimmering turquoise quilt, ringed like an amphitheatre by snowy peaks, a rampart crowned by the spire of Artesonraju. It is quite simply one of the best views in Peru. As tours do not involve much walking, this is perfect to do on your first days in Huaraz to acclimatise to the altitude.

Hike to a mountain lake

Peru’s system of naming lakes by numbers felt bizarre to me. If just one of these lakes was in England, it would have the most flowing, poetic name possible for its beauty. Two outstanding such lakes are Laguna 69 and Laguna 571. Each is accessible by daytrip from Huaraz and should be visited after at least three days of acclimatisation as the hikes have about 800m of elevation gain. As you will see when you arrive, it is utterly worth it. Laguna 69 is the most visited. A path winds through wild lupins and over glacial streams and rises up to a hypnotically-deep blue lake fed by an icy rivulet from a glacier above. Laguna 571 is similar, but less visited. The ascent takes in high-altitude woodland, wizened and crooked by icy gusts like a scene from the Wizard of Oz. The lake is a similarly brilliant blue, but the star of the show is the crumpled silver masses of the glacier looming just above.

Santa Cruz Trek

There is nothing quite like walking through the Andes for days. The combination of wonder at the majesty of the mountain world with an acute vulnerability of being days from civilisation in the face of the savage elements makes you feel utterly alive. Santa Cruz is a four-day route, which suits less experienced hikers or those with a tight schedule. There is only one day of strenuous walking, ascending the Punta Union pass, which takes you right up against the jagged fangs of Taulliraju. With celestial tapestries of shooting stars at night and secluded mountain lakes by day, it was an unforgettable journey and one of my most memorable birthdays. When I did this during the low season, I did experience rain, but as if by clockwork, it started in the afternoon, allowing guides to begin hikes earlier to maximise clear weather.

Huayhuash

South America as a continent is a succession of superlatives. The longest mountain range, the highest altitude cities, the largest rainforest, etc. this spirit animates the entire Huayhuash circuit. Each day you ascend mountain passes up to 5100m, descend so fast and deep that breathing oxygen makes you giddy, condors wheel overhead and the landscape is as if a medieval stonemason were loosed on the Andes. Meeting isolated Quechua-speaking communities, subsisting on their own potatoes and llamas reinforced the sense that this is utterly unlike anywhere else on earth.

This eight-day hike was also the true test of Huaraz in the low season. Did it rain? Yes, on one day, the third day that included Tres Lagunas, the most famous viewpoint of the hike. I strode for hours through frigid blankets of rain and snow, uphill to the famous sight. Far from an Instagram-perfect blue, my view was of a steely grey succession of lakes beneath fanged peaks. Was I disappointed? No. I felt the savage power of nature and a respect for the grandeur of the Andes in a way that using it as a background for photos in peak season would not allow. The rest of the hike proceeded with little low-season drawback, and I paid Amazing Huayhuash, an indigenous-owned operator, about £200 less than peak prices.

Getting to Huaraz

To get to Huaraz from the UK, you will fly into Lima, Peru’s capital. From Lima, Huaraz is an 8-hour bus ride or an hour-long domestic flight away.

Where to stay

Huaraz is replete with accommodation options to suit a range of budgets. I stayed in Alpes Huaraz, a simple but clean hostel overflowing with Persian cats and with an amazing pancake breakfast available. A more high-end option that I stayed in as a treat after the Huayhuash Trek is Cuesta Serena. The mountain views and tranquility of its rural location were perfect for unwinding after days of being bullied by the Andes.Peru