The Callejón de Huaylas - Huaraz Cordillera Blanca & Huayhuash

The Callejón de Huaylas ("Alley of Huaylas") is a valley in the Ancash Region in the north-central highlands of Peru. Huaraz, the capital of Ancash is the largest city in the Callejón, located at 3000 m above sea level. As you go north along the river at the valley floor, you pass through the cities of Carhuaz, Yungay (the site of a major earthquake and landslide in 1970 that buried the town and killed over 17,000 people), and Caraz, considered the last city in the valley.

This area of high peaks is a favourite of mountain climbers from all around the world, as there are 35 peaks in the Valley over 6,000 meters high. Among them of course is Huascaran, with its 6,768 meters, the highest snow capped peak in Peru and the second highest in the Americas after Aconagua, in Chile. Another famous mountain of the Huaylas Valley, Alpamayo (6,210m) is known as the "most beautiful snow-capped mountain in the world".

The Cordillera Huayhuash is a mountain range in the Andes of Peru. Aligned north to south, the main range of some twenty peaks stretches for approximately 25 km, with a subsidiary range of smaller peaks stretching out to the west for approximately 15 km. Six of the peaks exceed 6000 m. Included among them are Yerupajá (6617 m), the second highest mountain in Peru (behind Huascarán at 6768 m), and Siula Grande (6344 m), made famous by Joe Simpson in Touching the Void. There are many lesser peaks surrounding those covered by ice, and several passes exceeding 5000 m. It is necessary to travel a considerable distance from the central range to find ground lower than 3000 m, even on valley floors, and the Cordillera Huayhuash is often taken to include this much larger area.


The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "White Range") is a mountain range in the Ancash Region of Peru. It is part of the larger Andes range and includes 50 peaks over 5,500 metres (18,040 ft) tall in an area 21 kilometres (13 mi) wide and 180 kilometres (112 mi) long. The highest mountain in Peru, Huascarán (6,768 m), is located here. Huascarán National Park, established in 1975, encompasses almost the entire range of the Cordillera Blanca. In 1966, the Alpamayo mountain was declared "the most beautiful mountain in the world" by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Snow melt from the Cordillera Blanca has provided Peru with its year-round water supplies, while 80% of Peru's power comes from hydroelectricity. With global warming, the area of permanent ice pack shrank by about a third between the 1970s and 2006.

Our Callejon de Huaylas - Huaraz Programs

We offer the following tours through the Huaraz and other places.