Cordillera Vilcanota Expeditions to Nevados Campa (5485 m) & Ausangate (6385 m)

About Nevado Ausangate: (Quechua: Awsanqati) is a mountain of the Willkanuta mountain range in the Andes of Peru. With an elevation of 6,384 metres it is situated around 100 kilometres southeast of Cusco. The mountain has significance in Incan mythology. Every year the Quyllur Rit’i (Quechua for “star snow”) festival which attracts thousands of Quechua pilgrims is celebrated about 20 km north of the Ausangate at the mountain Qullqipunku.

It takes place one week before the Corpus Christi feast. The region is inhabited by llama and alpaca herding communities, and constitutes one of the few remaining pastoralist societies in the world. High mountain trails are used by these herders to trade with agricultural communities at lower elevations. Currently, one of these trails, “the road of the Apu Ausangate”, is one of the most renowned treks in Peru.

The area has four major geological features, the Andean uplift formed by Granits, the hanging glaciers and glacial erosional valleys, the Permian formation with its singular colors: red, ochre, and turquoise and the Cretaceous, limestone forests.

The name of the mountain Kitarahu correlates with the name of the nearby lake Kitaqucha (Quechua for storage lake, hispanicized Quitacocha).

Cordillera Vilcanota: is located in Peru east of Cusco in the Cusco Region and in the Puno Region. It extends between 13°39′ and 14°29’S and 70°31′ and 71°20’W for about 80 km. It is made up of 469 glaciers.

To the east the rivers San Gabán and Azángaro are the natural boundary which separates it from the Kallawaya range. The La Raya range near the La Raya pass is sometimes included or listed separately.