Leaving Huaraz city heading to the north of the Callejon de Huaylas we descend by a road to Caraz (2300 m/7546 ft), then from this place we begin to ascend towards the Cordillera Blanca to the small town of Cashapampa (2900 m/9514 ft), where we meet up with our mountain staff: guides, cooks, muleteers, etc. and begin the walk having loaded up our donkeys. We begin the trek heading up the Santa Cruz valley to set up our first camp in Llamacorral.

We continue the trek up Santa Cruz’s wide valley, passing Ichiccocha and Jatuncocha lakes; we arrive at Quisuar where we can make a diversion towards Alpamayo base camp via the Arhuaycocha valley, with splendid views of the peaks of Quitaraju (6040 m/19816 ft), Alpamayo (5947 m/19511 ft), Artezonraju (6025 m/19767 ft) and others. Tonight we camp in Taullipampa (4000 m/13123 ft) at the foot of the impressive Taulliraju peak (5830 m/19127 ft) and surrounded by snow peaks.

Today we cross our first pass, the Punta Union (4780 m/15682 ft), the Continental Divide, from which there are some excellent views of the Pucaraju range (5025 m/16486 m). The climb is steep up and steep down; along the trail we often find the beautiful rima rima flowers that are typical of this area. We camp in the Tuc Tucpampa valley below Morococha (about 4250 m/13944 ft) surrounded by mountains.

We continue descending to the small Andean town of Colcabamba (3350 m/10991 ft), then we begin to ascend toward Vaqueria (3700 m/12139 ft) to take a vehicle up to the Portachuelo de LLanganuco (4765 m/15633 ft) with splendid views of Huascarán Norte (6768 m/22205 ft), Huascarán Sur (6650 m/21818 ft), Chopicalqui (6354 m/20846 ft), Huandoy (6395 m/20981 ft) and Pisco (5752 m/18871 ft). Then we descend the Llanganuco valley visiting the Llanganuco lakes. Return to Huaraz.