This long Trek to Ausangate (6384m), offers glimpses of high altitude wildlife and local residents. It is a perfect place to escape from the bustle of the modern world. Ausangate Snow Mountain Trek offers walls of ice, glaciers, waterfalls frozen rivers and numerous hot springs and medicinal underground water. The traveler, when taking this trek as part of his tours to Peru, will also find beautiful views of the surrounding area, looking down into fertile valleys and mountains of the Vilcanota. These are capped to the southeast to protect the valley Canchis, making his Peru travel totally astonishing.
The Ausangate Snowy is the principal mountain of the Andean Cusco. It is located in the Cordillera Vilcanota at 6.372 meters above sea level, and 100 kilometers southeast of the Cusco City.
On the top of the Ausangate there are big bright teal colour gaps and along the way rock formations of more than 5.000 meters high, covered with ice lagoons. Climbing the Ausangate mount is an amazing adventure of high adrenaline and beautiful scenery.
The Ausangate, is every year the center of Qoyllur Rit'i celebration in Quechua Snow Star, in which some members of the Quechua people make a pilgrimage and they climb the Ausangate in search of the Snow Star. The other people wait at the base of the Nevado and perform dances, processions, music and more activities.
In Inca mythology, the Ausangate mountain and the nearby lakes are the source from where the male energy that fertilizes the Pachamama (Mother Earth) emerges. The waters, After flowing, seep into the land to return and fill the lakes and glaciers and every night converted a river of stars (Willkamayu) known it as the Milky Way.
This is an 80 kilometers rout and lasts six days. The tour can be done on foot.
Due to the landscapes and the geographical features, the Ausangate tour becomes one of the most chosen by travelers who like trekking and climbing.
Previous to realizing the tour, the traveler needs to adjust to hight in Cusco City. The treks are long, and last about five hours a day. At night the travelers stay in camps and when the trek is over they can enjoy a wonderful hot springs that are more than 40°C.
The travelers are immersed and relaxed in warm and comforting water, the temperature outside is around 5°C at sunset.
The people who live in this area are very simple and they keep to the ancestral traditions, they wear beautiful and colorful traditional clothings like ponchos, blankets and chullos. Most of them communicate in Quechua and understand little Spanish.
Their main economic activity is the agriculture. They produce a variety of root vegetables, mainly potatoes and oca.
The Apu Ausangate trek is an experience that you can´t miss!