Climbing Pisco mountain (5752m) is fairly straightforward but also a great warm up for other more challenging peaks in the Cordillera Blanca (popular ones over 6000metres include Chopicalci and Tocllaraju). Here are some photos of the trip which I did with Chris in June 2016 (who I met at the fabulous Llanganuco Mountain Lodge).

NOTES on climbing Pisco:

This will take you two or three days in total. It is far cheaper to get a guide directly than going through an agency and just means organising your own food, transport and gear. I can highly recommend Guido Mollepaza Mollohuanca as a guide (see my Facebook to contact him). You could also probably organise it from the very conveniently located Llanganuco Mountain Lodge 3500m (if that’s where you’re staying) which would also be a good place to help with acclimatisation if you’re coming up from sea level. We left from base camp at 1am at a reasonably fast pace and arrived at the summit half an hour after sunrise. Now…go and climb it.

Carrying all the gear up from Cebollabamba (3800m) to basecamp (4800m); Chris is on the left.

Basecamp. Pisco mountain on the right. We had an extra night up there which seemed to help with acclimatisation.

1am: starting out across the moraine.

Nearing the summit

Other groups. This is a popular climb, and most climbers seemed to be inexperienced. There is no technical climbing and the footprints meant for easy navigation above the snowline.

Summit shot with Guido (our guide). Backdrop: the Huascarán massif

Chris descending. Backdrop: the Huascarán massif (Chopicalci (left), Huacarán Sur (6768m -Peru’s highest) and Huascarán Norte (right)

Exhausted, crossing back across the loose rocks and moraine in the hot morning sun.

Next: The alternate third circuit in the Cordillera Huayhuash.