Judging from these last couple of days, it looks like I’ll be lingering a little longer in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca than I first thought.
Special thanks to Charlie, of the idyllic Llanganuco Lodge, for showing me both his local backyard trails, and for concocting our next ride: bikepacking the classic Santa Cruz trek.
More pictures and words coming soon.
Charlie, Deano, Shackleton and the 6395m Huandoy peak, on the fringes of the Huascaran National Park.
In hot pursuit. (photo Charlie Good)
This would be the back way to Yungay, then.
Traffic…
Let the big wheels roll! (photo Charlie Good)
Sometimes, the best singletrack takes a bit of work to get to…
But it’s worth it when you do.
Too much goodness…
And boulderyness.
The descent from Laguna 69, 4600m.
More please.
Tight, rock-strewn switchbacks. (photo Charlie Good)
Endless. Fun.
Before it’s time to head home…
The need to know bit:
An expanded post on riding Laguna 69 can be found here.
Thanks for this Cass, Looking forward to the follow up. Great to see this part of the world from a riders perspective as, although always very welcome, most reports I have seen are from a hikers viewpoint. Great pics as always!
Some of the terrain is definitely a challenge on a mountain bike – and for most people, would probably make more sense to hike (-; Charlie had already ridden the Laguna 69 route, so we knew how much of it would be do-able beforehand. It ranks as one of the best descents I’ve ever ridden – as long as you don’t mind big rock gardens in places.
But there’s plenty more dirt roads in the area that climb higher still, criss crossing the Cordillera, and don’t involve shouldering the bike. I’ll be exploring some of those next…
Not jealous AT ALL! (-; Enjoy! Sarah
GREAT photos as always… (I’m jealous too) Looks idyllic. Give love to Mum if she’s still there and get her on a bike too! X
Amazing pics, and not a speck of mud to be seen, I’m very jealous. Some of that singletrack look almost purpose built for mountain bikes – what are they? Mule trails?
Perhaps mule trails originally, but now hiking trails. There were some pretty intense rocky chutes! Probably 90 per cent rideable though – on the way down!
Ah, that would explain the punctured knee….
Cass, these photos are just stunning! Are you able to send or upload higher res copies of the set from this blog entry? I’d just like to cobble together a tribute desktop background for myself.
Thanks Michael.
Not sure about that, but I can send you a couple of larger files if you let me know the required pixel size. There’s a bunch more pics to come…
The taller photos are the ones I’m most interested in (was going to tile them four-across my two screens), don’t need super resolution, as long as they are 1080 tall should be fine.
Thanks so much! Keep riding!
looks awesome, seeing those pics makes one want to drop everything and go there now!
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