Ishinca and Tocllaraju mountains

Conquer a 6000 m summit of the highest tropical mountain range in the world, the Cordillera Blanca.

This is an ideal excursion for adventure lovers. You’ll explore a beautiful region of the Cordillera Blanca and have the fulfilling experience of attaining the summits of two mountains, one of them over 6000 meters in height. From here you can contemplate the majority of the peaks of the central Cordillera Blanca and the deep valleys below them.

Duration of trip: 12 days / 11 nights.

Places visited:

  • The Huaraz city
  • The Cordillera Blanca
  • The Huascaran National park
  • Ascent to Ishinca and Tocllaraju peaks

Trip includes:

  • 6 nights hotel and 6 nights camping
  • Transfers from/to airport and bus stations.
  • All food during the tour and some meals the first and last days as is indicated in the itinerary
  • Bus tickets (Lima – Huaraz – Lima) with a first-class agency
  • Transportation to and from the trailhead
  • Two acclimtazation hikes in the Huaraz vecinity
  • A bilingual (English/Spanish) guide for  the climb.
  • Camp cook
  • Burro driver
  • Pack animals (burros and/or horses)
  • General camping and climbing equipment for everyone’s use
  • Entrance fees to the park and tourist sites
  • First aid kit
  • General logistics for the trip

Trip does not include:

  • Food or meals not specifially mentioned above
  • Travel or accident insurance
  • Visas or Immunizations

Acclimatization

As you can see on the itinerary, the trek includes two days of acclimatization hikes in the vicinity of Huaraz, because the trek takes place in regions higher than 3000 meters.

Hotels

These are the hotels we will be staying in on this tour: Hotel Bay View in Lima and Hotel Morales in Huaraz, both of 3 star category. In the event that there is no availability, we will change for other of the same category.

Equipment list

  • WA backpack with a capacity of 60 or 70 liters (this could be a duffle or other similar bag of comparable size)
  • A daypack
  • A sleeping bag (we recommend that it be lightweight, synthetic or down, compressible, and warm to temperatures that may drop below 12°C.
  • A warm down or synthetic jacket
  • Three pairs of trekking pants (cotton pants such as jeans are not advisable because they will not dry when they get wet)
  • Two to four pairs of wool socks
  • T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, a sun hat, and a wool knit cap
  • A light rain jacket or rain poncho and a pair of rain pants
    A good pair of trekking boots in good condition
  • A light pair of shoes or sandals for camp
  • A pocketknife
  • A headlamp with spare batteries
  • A pair of sunglasses (VERY IMPORTANT)
  • A tube of sunscreen and lip balm with sunscreen (VERY IMPORTANT)
  • Any medicines you need
  • Personal and hygienic items
  • A set of light or medium weight long underwear tops and bottoms
  • A pair of gloves

Mountaineering equipment

  • 1 pair of plastic boots
  • 1 pair of grampons
  • 1 normal Ice axe
  • 1 harnes
  • 1 carabiner
  • 1 pair of Gore-Tex shell gloves
  • 1 pair of Gore-Tex gaiters (heavy-duty, sized large enough to fit over plastic boots)

* If you don’t want to bring them from your hometown, you can rent almost all the mountain equipment here in Huaraz.

Optional

  • Trekking poles
  • Inflatable sleeping mattress
  • Book, notebook, and pen

Climate

The trekking season in the Cordillera Blanca and Huayhuash extends from April to September. Even though this is technically winter in the southern hemisphere, this is also the dry season with very little rain in these months as we are close to the equator. In the dry season the weather is very stable; we can expect only a couple of days with precipitation each week. The average temperature in the mountains above 4000 meters from April to September is between 10 and 14°C. At night the temperature may drop below freezing. In the camp high camp at night the temperature drops until -15 °C.

Is this trip appropriate for me?

To climb these peaks, the most important is to be in shape and a previous acclimatization is necessary, if you can make a short trek with camping nights would be better. It is necessary a previous mountain climbing experience.

Day 1: Arrival in Lima

Airport pickup and transfer to hotel.
In the hotel meeting with the group, welcome words from one member of the staff of Go2Andes and tour briefing.

Meals included: none

Day 2: Lima – Huaraz

At the appointed time you will be picked up at your hotel and taken to the bus terminal. You will travel to Huaraz leaving at 9:30 a.m. and arriving at about 5:30 p.m. You will then be picked up at the bus station and taken to your hotel.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch

Day 3: The Rock Forest of Hatun Machay

At about 8:00 a.m., after having breakfast, we board our vehicle and head south from the city of Huaraz following the shores of the Santa River for about two hours to Hatun Machay, which can be translated as “Big Cave”. Located at 4200m, this geological formation features a large overhang in which there are exceptional ancient rock paintings and many curious rock outcrops, which resemble various animals including a gorilla, a peccary, an eagle, and a snail to name just a few. Hatun Machay is also a popular rock climbing destination with many bolted routes and an excellent vantage point for views of the Cordillera Huayhuash.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch

Day 4: Lake Churup

After breakfast, at the appointed hour (about 8:00 a.m.), we will leave Huaraz (3100m) in a private vehicle and head east toward Pitec, which is situated on the border of Huascaran National Park. Here we will begin to climb to Lake Churup (4450m), which takes about two and a half hours. After a rest and ample time to take photos we will return via the same route to Huaraz, arriving at about 4:00 p.m.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch

Day 5: Huaraz – Pashpa – Ishinca Basecamp

At the appointed hour, after breakfast, we’ll drive north along the Santa River in the Huaylas Valley from Huaraz to the town of Yungar. From here we take an unpaved road eastward to the village of Pashpa, where we will meet with our burro driver and his pack animals. At this point we will begin our hike of about three and a half hours up the Ishinca Valley to basecamp (4385m). This is to be our camp for several nights.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch | dinner

Day 6: Basecamp – Summit of Ishinca – Basecamp

Climbing Ishinca requires a very early start, so we’ll get up at about 2:00 a.m. for breakfast before we begin our ascent. We begin by hiking to the edge of the glacier. This takes about three and a half hours. Here the guides will help you get into your climbing gear and then we will clamber onto the glacier proper. From here it’s about three and a half hours more to reach the summit, which stands at an altitude of 5530 meters. The top of Ishinca has one of the most spectacular views in the central Cordillera Blanca; the summits of Huascarán, Tocllaraju, Palcaraju, Ranrapalca, and more are visible from here. After a photo session we’ll begin to descend with care back down to the edge of the glacier where we will remove our climbing gear and continue our descent back to basecamp. Our cook will be waiting for us with a great meal.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch | dinner

Day 7: Rest Day in Basecamp

This is a day to recover our strength. We’ll spend it relaxing in basecamp.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch | dinner

Day 8: Basecamp – Camp I Tocllaraju

After breakfast we’ll depart from basecamp with Tocllaraju’s Camp I at 5200 meters as our destination. We follow a steep trail to the moraine and then we’ll continue onto the glacier where we pitch out tents. We will have the assistance of porters for this four and a half hour climb.
Meals included: breakfast | lunch | dinner

Day 9: Camp I – Summit of Tocllaraju – Basecamp

At about one in the morning we will depart from Camp I to begin our climb to the summit. We’ll make our way up the mountain avoiding crevasses and climbing short walls of varying degrees of steepness as we go, until we arrive at the bergschrund. Here we must climb a steep, between 60 and 80 degrees, crux section of about 80 meters to gain access to the summit (6032m). The climb from Camp I to the summit takes about seven hours. Once on top, we’ll have a break to take photos and eat our box lunch. The descent involves a rappel down the face and over the bergschrund. We then walk and rappel down the glacier passing moraine camp and continuing all the way back to basecamp, where we should arrive at about 4:00 p.m.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch | dinner

Day 10: Basecamp – Pashpa – Huaraz

We’ll leave basecamp and hike for three hours back down the valley to Pashpa, where our vehicle will be waiting to bring us back to Huaraz.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch

Day 11: Huaraz – Lima

At the appointed hour you will be picked up at your hotel in Huaraz and brought to the bus terminal where you will board the 11:00 a.m. bus for Lima. Upon arrival in Lima at about 7:00 p.m., you will be met by a vehicle, which will take you to your hotel.

Meals included: breakfast | lunch

Day 12: Lima – Point of departure

At the appointed time, you will be picked up at your hotel and dropped off at the airport.

Meals included: breakfast