Laguna Wilcacocha

Wilcacocha is a modest lake, shallow and reed-fringed, at about 3,750 metres on the Cordillera Negra - the dry, snowless range that faces the glaciated Cordillera Blanca across the Callejón de Huaylas. Nobody comes for the lake. They come because the walk up to it is short, gains only four hundred metres, and puts you on a hillside looking straight across the valley at the entire Blanca skyline: Huascarán, Huandoy, Ranrapalca, Ocshapalca, Vallunaraju, a wall of ice peaks running the length of the horizon. It is what guides recommend on a first or second day in Huaraz, before Churup or Laguna 69, because it is low enough to be safe and high enough to help. The path climbs through farmland and small communities, and there is a fee collected locally.

What you actually see

• The Blanca panorama - the full ice skyline from Huascarán to Vallunaraju.
• The lake - small, shallow and reed-fringed at about 3,750 metres.
• The Negra hillside - dry farmland and hamlets on the snowless range.
• The acclimatisation role - the standard first walk out of Huaraz.

When to go

May to September for clear mountain views. Go in the morning - cloud builds on the Blanca by early afternoon and hides the whole point of the walk. Three to four hours return.

Honest expectations

The lake itself is unremarkable and can be low or muddy. Afternoon cloud frequently blanks the view. Little shade on the climb. A small community fee is collected on the trail.

Nearby

Huaraz is below; Laguna Churup and the Blanca trailheads are across the valley.