Peru - Ausangate Trek

The final big trek of our year off was the one that had been on our wish list the longest – Ausangate. The trek winds around the mountain of the same name. Ausangate is the highest mountain in southern Peru at  20,945’ and is a sacred mountain or Apu, in Incan mythology.  When we visited Peru back in 2008 we heard about the hike just southeast of Cusco, but didn’t have the time to do it. We brought home a topo map though, and finally made it there in 2015.

We were rapidly running out of time, so we caught a flight from Huaraz to Lima, then another onto Cusco. We spent a day in Cusco buying food for the hike, then were up early the next morning to catch the 6:15 bus to the small town of Tinki, just over three hours away. This was the lowest point on the trek at 12,437’.

As the dirt road gently climbed out of Tinki, the houses thinned out and the rain started. A black dog hanging around the back of a house spotted us and began following us, then shortly after that, another dog joined us. Despite out best attempts to shoo them both away, we remained a foursome for the rest of the day.

We enjoyed a bit of sun in the afternoon, and managed to get our tent set up and cook dinner near the tiny village of Upis before the rain and darkness arrived. We completely ignored the two dogs’ hungry looks and figured the lack of food combined with the cold rain would discourage them from sticking around. We were half right.

The little village of Upis, with Nevado Ausangate in the distance.

When we got out of our tent about 6:00 in the morning, the black dog was laying on the wet ground just outside the door and was overjoyed to see us. We tried to drive him away again – even resorting to gently throwing rocks in his general direction. Nothing worked. By lunchtime we’d left the road and civilization completely behind, and climbed over thousand feet. Our friend had been with us for over twenty four hours and showed no sign of leaving. It was time for a name and a bit of food. We settled on Aussie – after the mountain in front of us, not the country – and began calculating how much food we could spare over the rest of the eighty kilometre hike.

Aussie led most of the time, ranging far ahead to scout, but always waiting patiently for us to catch up. We’d spot him sitting high on the ridge 500’ above, then 10 minutes later he’d trotting right in front of us. He always waited at each pass, perhaps unsure if the old gringos would make it all the way up.

Most of the second and third days were spent above 15,000’ as we climbed over Arapa, Apacheta, and Palomani passes. At 16,811’, Palomani was our new elevation record. We only saw two other hikers on our trek as well as about a dozen locals who lived in stone houses, herded alpacas, and travelled traditional trails through the mountains on foot. There was no outward signs that their lives had changed much for hundreds of years.

Our campsite overlooking Laguna Jatun Pucacocha, with the
north side of Ausangate behind.

We had a spectacular campsite above Laguna Jatun Pucacocha, and the wonderful surprise of bathrooms with running water in the absolute middle of nowhere beside Laguna Ausangate-Cocha before the tough slog up Palomani Pass. We set up our tent in the middle of a driving snowstorm late in the third afternoon, and hiked through wet snow for most of the fourth day. It was well worth the effort though.

The view as we climbed over the Apacheta Pass.

Looking back before the climb over the Palomani Pass.

Aussie waiting patiently for us to pack up.

Looking down the Rio Jampamayo valley.

After climbing the Qampa pass, the last of the trek, we had a long, slow descent into Pacchanta. A village of about a dozen houses, it is blessed with hot springs, a couple of hostels, and a small tienda. In addition to the snow of the previous day, we’d had a lot of rain on the hike so we decided to splurge on a hostel instead of tenting it for our last night. We paid 15 Peruvian Soles each (about $6) for beds in the dorm room which we had to ourselves. A quick change of clothes and a trip to the tienda and we were sitting in the hot pools sipping cold beer as we gazed back at Nevado Ausangate.

Nevado Puca Punta on the way down to Pacchanta.

Puca Punta again from a different angle.

The hot pools and Pacchanta in the background.

The last day was a little anticlimactic. The hike from Pacchanta back to Tinki is the opposite of the first day. There is a dirt road between the two towns, and the traffic and houses increase in number the closer you get to Tinki. As we entered the outskirts of Tinki, we were worried about Aussie. He’d been with us for five days, sleeping outside our tent, eating our extra food, and sitting patiently twenty feet from the hot pools as we relaxed in Pacchanta. We had visions of him trying to get on the bus with us and a tearful farewell.

Instead, as we cut down a trail that crossed the river to the market and the bus stop, Aussie continued straight ahead without even looking back. He was only a few hundred meters from where we’d first found him, and we thought for a minute that he was going back to his home and frantic family. Then we realized it was more likely that he was headed back to the start of the trail, waiting for the next group of hikers to come along.

We caught the bus back to Cusco around noon, and were lucky to arrive in time to meet up with the other Aussies Chris and Sarah again before they headed on to Ollantaytambo in the morning and with Ron, who we’d last seen several weeks ago in Huaraz. We all got together for pizza, wine, and beer and it was a fitting celebration to spend with some great old and new friends. We only had four nights left in South America before flying north for a three week stop in Costa Rica on our way home. In less than four weeks, we’d be back on Canadian soil driving north to the Yukon and Alaska.