Ausangate Trek and Rainbow Mountain

Rainbow Mountain & Ausangate Information

Ausangate and Rainbow Mountain Hike offers superb alpine scenery, a challenging route, few people, solid cultural components, and beautiful countryside that transcends your expectations. It is an epic, unforgettable trip for those who love hiking and mountains.

Discover the new natural Phenomenon of Rainbow Mountain alongside the long standing traditional communities and culture of the Ausangate region. Learn about the history, locations, routes within the highest possible multi day hike in the Cusco Region. “If you want to discover the real Peru you need to go to Ausangate.” – Joel CEO of Southern Peru Explorers

Rainbow Mountain

This colorful mountain at 5200m (17060feet) is placed in the Red Valley and is apart of the Andes range. Ths makes this location one of the highest you will visit within your trip, it has a higher elevation than Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu and Urubamba. Located 100km, a 4 hour drive away from Cusco to the Southeast is more accessible now than it has ever been. Due to roads being created especially for the purpose of visitation, the long multi day hike through the red valley and the Ausangate region is no longer required. However we feel is still the best way to reach this natural phenomenon. The colorful seams tapered through the rock which makes this mountain so famous is due to weathering and the natural sedimentary deposits.
Each color represents a certain mineral is present: Red – Iron –-Oxide Rust
-Yellow & Orange – Iron Sulfide
-Turquoise – Chlorite
The color shades in between indicates an interaction between these chemicals which produces even more strips of brilliant color, adding to the magnificent of this natural land formation.

Ausangate

Ausangate is the highest trek you can do within the Cusco region, reaching heights of 5723 meters above sea level (18776 feet) in the Apolobamba mountain range spreading from Peru to Bolivia, with the parent mountain range of the South American Andes. You will be trekking through the snowy mountains of the highlands where remote traditional communities still thrive through farming mainly potatoes and Alpacas, two symbolic icons of the Peruvin Culture . Moving through this region, you will be able to see the traditional native way of life, wild Alpacas, llamas and Vicunas along with the beautifully colorful 7 lagoons and the famous Ausangate mountain itself.