Lago 69, Peru

We had an early day to get to lake 69. The bus picked us up at 530am and we set out.
The lake is named as such because there are # of lakes in this region.
We drove past the old town of Yungay which was obliterated in 1970 by a 800m chunk of ice and rock that broke off of Mount Huascaran during an earthquake. The rock and ice ripped down the mountain and into the communities below at between 320 mph and 620 mph and within minutes buried the town of Yungay and it's 20,000 inhabitants. It was hard to wrap my head around the size of the avalanche path and the amount of destruction as the mountain is pretty far from the town and there were hills and valleys that the slide had to travel through and over in order to hit the town. There were house sized boulders strewn about all over in the slide path. Being that the catastrophe was 46 years ago there aren't any remenats of old structures as the earth and plants have reclaimed the area.
The entire site of the old town is now considered a burial site.
We continued up the dirt road into the valley which was cut by ancient glaciers. Massive sheer granite walls were on either side.
The day was warm and clear as we reached the start of the hike. Huascaran peak (the highest peak in peru) was looming high above us. Glacier and snow capped, it was a sight to behold.
We started the hike and were excited to see what the lake looked like in person as pictures often don't do justice. The trail lead up through a pristine valley lined with huge peaks and strange plants. Once at the end of the valley the effort kicked up as the trail did the same. Hiking at 15000 ft isn't easy but it certainly is rewarding. Up to the first shelf we climbed. A large rushing waterfall, a few hundred feet long, crashed down the granite hillside to our left. The sound was awesome and the light dancing off of the aerosolized water glistened with rainbow light.
There was a beautiful flat bright green grassland with a meandering stream running through it atop the first shelf. Off in the distance even more peaks and towering granite walls greeted us. On to the second shelf. We could see the second shelf where we needed to go to get to the lake.
Looking forward to the lung burning, thigh pumping grind up the second shelf I took off. 16000ft now and the breaks were becoming more frequent. The trees were long gone at this altitude and only small grasses and high altitude plants existed here. We topped out on the second shelf and it was strewn with immense granite boulders. As we rounded the corner the first glimpse of Lake 69 revealed bright turquoise water nestled below (peak name). What a cool lake. Huge waterfalls poured off of the glacier above and splashed down into the lake. On the eroding hillside small granite slides were frequent. Hot and tired from the hike we decided to take a dip in the lake.Read more