Huascarán National Park

Huascarán National Park covers the core of the Cordillera Blanca, a 180-kilometre chain of peaks that is the highest tropical mountain range in the world. Over 30 summits exceed 6,000 metres. The park protects some of the most spectacular high-altitude scenery on earth: glaciated peaks, turquoise glacial lakes, deep quebradas (valleys), and a remarkable variety of high Andean flora including the giant Puya raimondii bromeliad, which takes up to a century to flower and then dies.

The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve. Entry permits are required and purchased at the park gates or in Huaraz. The permit is valid for multiple days and covers all areas within the park. Day hikes to lakes like Laguna 69, Chinancocha (Llanganuco), and Laguna Churup are the most popular activities; multi-day treks including the Santa Cruz Trek and the Huayhuash Circuit (partially within the park) draw serious trekkers from around the world.

things to do sight
A story
Huascarán, at 6,768 metres, is the highest mountain in Peru and the fourth highest in the Americas. In 1970, an earthquake triggered a massive ice and rock avalanche from its north peak that buried the town of Yungay, 14 kilometres below, in less than three minutes. An estimated 25,000 people died — one of the deadliest geological disasters in South American history. A single palm tree and the statue of Christ above the cemetery were all that remained visible.