Trip Report
Trek Peru’s Ausangate Circuit and Rainbow Mountain
This trek was everything we had hoped for and more! Our group of 10 did two days of acclimatization day hikes (the Four Ruins walk and a hike up Pachatusan Mountain), one overnight acclimatization hike (to the Waqrapukara 'Horned Fortress') and a 7-day trek around Ausangate. Our support team was amazing, the group was strong, and we had mostly blue sky weather though we had snow for short periods twice which did not impact our trip.
Cheryl Talbert
- Sun, Sep 25, 2022 — Fri, Oct 7, 2022
- Trek Peru’s Ausangate Circuit and Rainbow Mountain
- Backpacking
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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Pachatusan is a hike that isn't done often and didn't have any trails, so we were glad to go with guides. Turned out to be an excellent day with expansive views! The Waqrapukara hike was on well defined trail (available on Gaia) though the route we took required separate drop off and pick up locations. Our Ausangate trek was on mostly well defined trails (also readily available on Gaia). Late Sept during the transition from dry to wet season turned out to be a great time to be on these trails - very few other people and mostly blue sky though we did have a couple of snows and cold temps overnight. Primary hazards were from altitude (up to nearly 17,000'), GI illness (there was alpaca poop everywhere and water sources were contaminated) and covid-19, and we managed to prevent/avoid serious issues with any of these.