Pastoruri Glacier is one of the few remaining glaciers in South America’s tropical areas. Sadly, it’s been retreating and could be gone in a decade. There’s no easy way to get there, so the only budget option is to go on a day tour from Huaraz, which is a few hours away. It doesn’t matter which tour company you pick because they just sell you a seat on one of the many buses that go to the glacier. Each bus has a guide that will give some information along the way, but only in Spanish. The glacier is in Huascaran National Park, which has a S/30 entrance fee. You can also purchase a multi-day pass that will give you access to other places in the park, like Laguna Churup and Laguna 69.
Once we entered the park, we made a couple of short stops before the glacier. The first was at a small bubbling spring with a nice view of the mountains in the distance. The second stop was at Pumapashimin Lagoon, which is small body of clear water with several shades of blue. We also saw the Puya Raimondii here. They are the largest species of bromeliad and look like they are straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. Also called the “Queen of the Andes”, these plants can reach up to 15 meters in height.
The walk to the glacier took about 45 minutes and was 2 miles round-trip. There’s only about 700 feet of elevation gain, but the glacier is at 16,256 feet, which up to that point, was the highest elevation we were ever at, until Rainbow Mountain in Cusco. You have the option to take a mule up, but they only take you halfway. Once we reached the glacier, we only had 30 minutes to explore, which felt a bit rushed. It was easily the coldest place we were in Peru, and one of the few were it snowed.
Even though we went on a group tour, I definitely recommend visiting the glacier since it’s beautiful and may not be around much longer. For those that aren’t hikers, this is one of the few things for you to do in Huaraz.
