Laguna 69 Overnighter Wrap

About 3 hours north of Huaraz, in the northern half of the Cordillera Blanca is one of the most popular day hikes in the area. The day trip is to visit Laguna 69 (no idea why it's called that). You reach the lake at the end of a 6 km hike through a valley and up to its end. Like much of the walking in the Cordillera Blanca, the valley and the lake are surrounded by snow-capped peaks and glaciers in every direction, which makes for a stunning backdrop.

A little peak behind the planning curtain

I’ve found with hiking that the planning stages, like figuring out routes and organising logistics, are a big part of the fun. That’s probably true of other hobbies too. So before I dive into the walking itself, I’ll explain how this trip came to be.

In researching shorter walks to do in Huaraz as practice and transition between day hikes and longer hikes like the Santa Cruz, I found that there is a group of mountain huts (Refugios) throughout the Blanca that you are able to stay in.

Throughout Huaraz, the backpacking infrastructure of hostels and tour companies do a really great job of advertising activities you can do while you're up in the Andes. These offerings range from day hikes (such as the ones to Laguna Churup and Laguna 69), rock climbing day trips, glacier walking, basic mountaineering trips, and multi day hikes like the Santa Cruz Trek and Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit. Interestingly, these Refugios aren't really advertised or spoke about as places you can visit.

I purchased a topographic map of the Blanca from a tourist information centre to get a good lay of the land and see exactly where all the campsites and huts are throughout the Blanca, so that I could see what shorter 2 or 3 day walks I could chop together were. On a slightly different trail to the main Laguna 69 day walk through the valley, but about halfway between the start of the track and the Laguna, is Refugio Peru. Immediately this became a no-brainer for an overnight hiking loop:

• Transport from Huaraz to start of Laguna 69 day hike
• Walk alternate route up to Refugio Peru, stay at Refugio overnight
• Hike from Refugio around to Laguna 69 next morning
• Walk the day trip route through the valley back to the start point in the arvo
• Transport back to Huaraz

Cross checking with AllTrails, this loop existed as a route, so I am not trying to say that I invented it, but it was just interesting seeing how the planning process had to work in my head for it all to click. I think I would have seen that loop on AllTrails before, when looking at hikes in the area, but it wouldn't have clicked that it was a good overnight hike option. Without knowing about the Refugios and then without looking at a big physical map that showed all the campsites and Refugios in the area really clearly, I would have not joined the dots up.

Assembling the team

I am early into my trip, so I really don't know what I am talking about, but I feel like the hostel scene in Huaraz is particularly special. Everyone who has come to Huaraz has come to hike or climb and so you're crossing paths with similar people who have a certain level of outdoor adventure in them. Everyone is always just about to go on or has just come back from an adventure of some sort, and the conversation around the hostel communal areas is always chatting plans, sharing tips and knowledge about what they've been up to. This energy meant that getting a group to come together for this trip happened really easily. The pitch was super simple- it was just one night in the mountains, there were beds inside a dorm, so no camping gear was needed, transport to and from Huaraz was simple (due to Laguna 69 being such a popular day trip, there's busses going there every day), and hiking food for 2 days is easy enough to organise. With about one days notice, the group that came along was as follows:

• Tamás: Swiss/Hungarian guy, I'd met at the bus terminal at Lima, we were on the same bus to Huaraz. We'd had dinner earlier in the week, and we both did the Laguna Churup day hike, so he was keen for another
• Eva (German) and Haz (Brit): two girls in the same dorm room as me, we'd gotten along well and they had heard me yapping about my Huaraz plans for days, they also were on the Churup day hike, and they were also keen to take things up a notch.
• Flo and Shoshana (both Brits): also staying at the same hostel. They were starting the Cordillera Huayhuash circuit a few days later and were wanting to get another little practice in before that.

The Hike

Day 1: Bus drop point to Refugio Peru
3.5km, 750m elevation gain

The minivan we had organised for transfers picked us up mid-morning and by early afternoon we were away and walking. The route to the Refugio was straight uphill for 3.5km, going from 3,900 m above sea level (mASL) to about 4,700 mASL. This walking was brutal, it was steep. All the excitement and chatter in the van fell quiet, there was an implicit 'don't ask each other any questions' on the steep sections, as walking and talking at this gradient and altitude was really tough going. We stopped under some trees about two-thirds along the trail for lunch, and then finished off the last of the walking to arrive at the Refugio at about 4pm.

Arriving at the Refugio was really cool. Eva remarked that it looks just like the mountain huts from back home. This is has to be considered as extremely high praise from a Central European! The Refugio was tucked into a little corner, high up in the valley, below the huge peaks of Huandoy (6,395 mASL) and Pisco (5,752 mASL). Big wide glaciers sat in between the mountain peaks. Across the valley we were looking right at Chopicalqui (6,354 mASL), and slightly obscured by a hill in front of the Refugio, but just sticking out over the top were the big peaks of Huascarán Norte (6,652 mASL) and Huascarán Sur (the tallest peak in Peru, 6,768 mASL). Rattling off mountain peaks doesn't really mean much to anyone, but again, setting the scene of 360-degrees surrounded by massive mountains, snow and ice everywhere. It was a really cool spot to be spending the night.

Part of the reason I was doing this hike was for a bit of practice before longer walks, to test out how all my gear worked up at altitude, if it would keep me warm and, work in general. So while the rest of the team went inside to explore the Refugio, I went and found a flat bit of ground and put my tent up. It was exciting, this was my first pitch in South America and I don't think you'd be able to find too many better locations to camp for a night in the mountains.

The sun set over the mountains and lit them up orange. As soon as the sun was down it was really cold, so I joined my friends in the restaurant section of the Refugio where it was warm and cosy. We chatted over dinner and after dinner hot chocolates and then went to our respective sleeping places for the night.

Day 2: Refugio Perú to bus drop point, via Laguna 69
10.5km, 400m elevation gain

Turns out the spot I chose for my tent was also a favourite grazing area for cows. I could hear them sniffing and munching close by during the night, which made for some nervy sleep. They eventually wandered off. Apart from that, the night went smoothly. My gear held up, and I stayed warm. 

I woke up to watch the sunrise, looking across the valley it was a little bit cloudy in the sky, but looking back up to the peaks behind me, the sun had lit up the glacier between the peaks an amazing bright orange. This only lasted a couple of minutes. The colour in the sky for most of the sunrises and sunsets has been quite brief while I have been in Huaraz, with beautiful colours for only a short window before day or night settles in. I am still trying to figure out why. I am wondering if it is something to do with the mountains and not seeing the sun drop below the horizon because of the peaks and valleys? My main theory is that across the world, the colour in the sky becomes most vivid when the sun is sitting low in the sky. And because Huaraz is so close to the equator, the sun rises and falls in a much more straight line, and doesn’t hang low in the sky in the mornings and evenings for as long as more northern or southern latitudes. But I digress.

After packing up, I made porridge and coffee on the table outside the Refugio and we hit the trail.

Because we had done a big chunk of elevation gain yesterday, the first bit of the hike today, to get to Laguna 69, was following the edge of the mountains around the valley, with only a little bit of climbing and descending. The walking was more technical (bigger, more uneven rocks underfoot, with some scrambling over bigger boulders), but was flatter than the day before. It made for really fun walking. Each corner we walked round exposed even more huge mountain peaks further down the valley, and each crest we walked over revealed lakes and rivers at the bottom of the valley.

In this section we walked over a pass that was 4,865 mASL, a new altitude PB! Shortly after this we arrived right on top of Laguna 69. A steep descent brought us to the lakeside. With the knowledge there was just 6km of easy downhill walking through the valley to finish the trip, we got stuck in to all our remaining snacks. A very light lunch the day before for me meant that I had surplus sandwich ingredients: avocado, tomato, bread, mozzarella (one night hikes mean you can go gourmet on the food!), that were shared around the group. I used the glacial water of the lake to cool a beer down and enjoyed that with my sandwich. 

The Laguna itself is pretty spectacular, when in the direct sun it glows a bright turquoise shade of blue, there are multiple glaciers feeding into it and the big peaks of Pisco and Chacraraju (6,108 mASL) towering immediately above it. 

The final 6km of walking was really nice, cruising down the valley next to rivers and grassy fields full of cows. We made it back to the start of the track, our van picked us up and it was a quiet, sleepy drive back to Huaraz. 

In Conclusion

I would say this was a big mission success. The walking was more beautiful than I had imagined it would be. It was hard walking but wasn’t impossible, it felt like my body was adjusting well to the high altitude. Most of all the company was great - shout outs to Tamás, Eva, Haz, Flo and Shoshana! In the van on the way home we started sharing our photos amongst each other, a few of us sent the following group photo to our family group chats. Funnily, 3 different mothers in 3 different family group chats commented on 'what a nice group of people' it looked like their respective child was hiking with. Couldn't agree more!

It is a weird but nice thing about travelling and hiking - our little group thrown together for this walk only spent about 32 hours together, but walking out of the valley we were getting on like old friends. There’s something about doing something hard together, as well as how present you are when you are hiking that makes connections form more quickly, or more deeply. I had a really great time.