Cordillera Blanca Range

About Cordillera Blanca Range

The Cordillera Blanca Range, in English ‘The White Mountain Range’, is the highest tropical mountain range on the planet, located in the Ancash Region of Peru. Forming part of the larger Andes Range, it has 33 peaks each exceeding heights of over 5,500 m (18,045 ft.) while covering an area of 21 km (13 mi) wide and 180 km (111.8 mi) long.

It is also the location of the highest mountain in Peru, the Huascaran, with a height of 6,708 m (22,008 ft.), while the smaller Alpamay peak - height 5,947 m (19,511 ft.) - has been voted the world’s most beautiful mountain in an international survey.

The Huascaran National Park, established in 1975, encompasses nearly all of the entire Cordillera Blanca Range. UNESCO has declared the Huascaran National Park a Biosphere Reserve and National Heritage site.

Snowmelt from the Cordillera Blanca Range supplies Peru with water all year round. However, global climate change has caused a major retreat of the range’s glaciers, with over 15% lost since the 1970s. Some have disappeared altogether.

Flora and Fauna

The Range has a great biodiversity, with 112 different species of birds - among which the Andean condor, the giant coot and the Andean gull - and 779 species of plants being recorded.

Activities

Cordillera Blanca Range is one of the most accessible high mountain ranges in the world and a popular climbing destination. Its valleys, running west to east through the mountains, have deep turquoise blue glacial lakes, especially north of Hucandery Mountain in Caraz. Trekking is popular – either to go alone or to join one of the tours to learn more about the area’s geology, wildlife and origins of Pre-Incan and Incan civilisations.

Other activities include mountain biking, horse riding and climbing. The mountain range is also home to 22 major hot springs, such as Monterrey, which has high levels of sodium chloride and an average temperature of 49°C. These springs are thought to be beneficial for several health conditions.