Laguna Llaca

The Llaca valley climbs directly from Huaraz to a lake at about 4,470 metres held behind a moraine, with Ranrapalca and Ocshapalca closing the head of the cirque and their glaciers ending in ice cliffs a short distance above the water. The lake is a pale grey-green, thick with rock flour, and the surrounding ground is raw moraine - loose rubble bulldozed into ridges by ice that has since retreated hundreds of metres, leaving the classic before-and-after picture that gets used in glacier-loss reporting. What makes Llaca unusual is that the road goes almost to the lake, so it is one of the few places in the Cordillera Blanca where a visitor can stand at 4,400 metres beside a glacier without a hike. That is also its risk: people arrive from Huaraz at 3,050 metres within an hour and feel it immediately. There is a refuge in the valley used by climbers.

The landscape

• The lake - grey-green with rock flour at about 4,470 metres.
• Ranrapalca and Ocshapalca - glaciers ending in ice cliffs above the basin.
• The moraine - raw rubble ridges marking where the ice used to reach.
• The road - drivable almost to the water, rare at this altitude.

When to go

May to September; the dirt road is poor and often impassable in the rains. Half a day from Huaraz. Go in the morning before cloud builds.

Practical notes

An hour by vehicle from 3,050 to 4,470 metres gives many people headaches and nausea on arrival. The road is rough and needs a suitable vehicle. Cold, exposed, no facilities beyond the climbers' refuge.

Nearby

Huaraz is below; Laguna Churup is in the next valley east.

Key facts