Travel Guide

HOW IS THE AUSANGATE TREK

It is a circular route of about 55Km that is usually done in 4 or 5 days. Along the route you will find lakes of all colors, glaciers, wild llamas and snowy peaks, including the impressive Ausangate, the highest mountain in Cuzco with 6384 meters above sea level. It is one of the best mountain experiences I have ever had in my life, I think the pictures speak for themselves.

The best time to do the Ausangate trek is from May to September, when the weather is sunnier. Even with good weather conditions it is scratchy, we are talking about a route that runs at all times above 4200 meters above sea level and often over 5000 meters above sea level.

PREPARATION FOR THE AUSANGATE TREK

I know what you are asking yourself: Is the Ausangate trek difficult?

I’m not going to fool you: doing the Ausangate Trek on your own is very hard. I only recommend you to do it if you are in good physical shape, have some experience in the mountain and if you are acclimatized. And I clarify: 2 days in Peru is not acclimatized. In this guide about altitude sickness we explain everything, everything about it.

As -for the moment- it is not among our plans to send anyone to death, first of all, let’s make things clear:

The Ausangate trek is a tough and unmarked route that runs at high altitude, including a pass at 5200 masl. It is essential to take out insurance that covers you at least up to 5400 meters above sea level. You can use our 5% discount at IATI, another blogger’s or another insurance company’s, but do not do it without insurance.

• As with any high mountain route, weather conditions can change suddenly.
• Unlike the Salkantay Trek, the Ausangate trek is not even done by Tato and you will only come across llamas. Do not even think of doing it alone.
• There is no service of any kind on the entire route. You have to carry food for the 4 days. Of course there is no wifi, no plugs, no nothing.

Along the Ausangate trek there is NOTHING to stay in, so you need to bring good camping gear. Below I will tell you what equipment you need.

We are not professionals, but when we decided to do the Ausangate Trek on our own, we had been in Bolivia and Peru for months and we had already done the Colca Canyon on our own and the Salkantay Trek on our own without incidents. I am not telling you all this to freak me out, but to make you understand that acclimatization is key.

As you can imagine, all the agencies in Cuzco told us that undertaking this feat on our own was impossible and that we were starting from absolute uncertainty. But that will not happen to you because you have this entry that also includes a section of frequently asked questions.

EQUIPMENT FOR THE AUSANGATE TREK ON YOUR OWN

I reiterate in case it has not been clear: on the road there is nothing. To make sure you don’t forget anything important I recommend you to take a look at this article about camping equipment. As a minimum, to do the Ausangate trek on your own you will need the following:

A double-layer tent that weighs as little as possible. A proper tent, not the one we bought, which did not have a double layer and that made it rain inside the tent because of the condensation from our breath. Very unpleasant.
In the end we made do with a rented one that weighed as much as a dead man, but if I were to go again I would take a tent of this type.

A warm, lightweight bag and a good insulator.

Of course, I recommend not to carry a giant backpack with things you don’t need because at this altitude every gram adds up. A 50L backpack at most should be enough. We couldn’t choose because we only had a big and heavy backpack, but if you can I recommend a light and waterproof backpack like this one.

Food for every day, ideally a kitchenette and utensils. I recommend you to bring coca leaves that you can buy in bulk at any market.

Water for the first day and water purification tablets.

• A mountain GPS or, at least, an offline map. We used Maps.me and it worked for us.
• Warm clothes that are not too heavy. We took a fleece, thermal T-shirts and a good raincoat.
• Waterproof footwear that can withstand the snow. Since we were traveling all over South America and couldn’t carry heavy boots, we took waterproof trekking shoes, which is not ideal but will do. I had these Asolo shoes with Goretex and they responded incredibly well considering the conditions, which they did: