A Stunning, Under-the-Radar Landscape is Waiting.

The Cordillera Blanca (CB) is a mountain range located in the highlands of Ancash, Peru in the North of the country. Part of the 20 million-year-old Andes mountain range, the CB extends in a northwesterly direction for about 200 km and is the largest snowy tropical mountain chain in the world, with 17 peaks that exceed 6,000 meters, more than 500 high-altitude turquoise lagoons, and 722 individual glaciers.

In pursuit of adventure Niraj and I came to Northern Peru and backpacked for 10 days through the CB. We chose to explore the Alpamayo circuit, a trail that encircles a series of the CB’s mountains, at its center Alpamayo; said to be one of the world’s most beautiful mountains because of its explicitly triangular shape.

The CB is filled with melting ice-cap rivers, high peaks, green valleys, and grazing animals. Uniquely subtropical, the weather is pleasantly warm until certain heights are reached. Then, it is inevitably cold. The night skies are galactic as the arms of the milky way shine through the black velvet. The silence, more than anything, mesmerized us and pulled us right into our presence.

The southern leg of the circuit is the Santa Cruz trek, a very popular and relatively easy trail. There, we encountered quite a few other trekkers and many Peruvian farmers and villagers walking with trains of donkeys and horses from one end of the range to the other, transporting goods from the bigger villages in the West to their homes in the East.

The Northern leg of the trek was desolate and vastly more challenging. With that, the beauty was unreal. High 14,000-15,000 foot mountain passes led to special, less-seen, and breathtaking views of the CB’s famous glacier-capped peaks and deep, river-filled valleys. We didn’t see a single trekker. The aloneness made the whole scene even more mystifying. The few small villages in this region were an entrance into another world and the cows, horses, and alpaca that roamed the ranges were always appreciated. This Northern trail will be our path!