Overview
Quelccaya is an ice cap. That word matters, because an ice cap is not what most people picture when they hear the word glacier.
A valley glacier hangs between two ridges and you look up at it. Quelccaya does something else. It lies flat across the top of a plateau, topping out near 5,700 metres, and runs out of sight in both directions. It covers tens of square kilometres. In places the ice is 200 metres thick.
It is the largest body of tropical ice anywhere on earth. It sits four hours beyond the last tarmac, southeast of Cusco.
You will also see the name written as Qelqaya, Q’elqaya or Quelcaya. Same place. The spelling shifts depending on whether the writer starts from Quechua or from Spanish.
Scientists have been drilling ice cores here since the 1970s, and those cores hold a record of Andean climate going back roughly 1,800 years. It is among the most studied glaciers in the world and among the least visited.
It is also going. Quelccaya lost close to a third of its area between 1979 and 2014, and the retreat has not slowed since. Add Sibinacocha on the way out, thirty square kilometres of turquoise water at 4,869 metres, and you have the reason people set an alarm for half past two.
What This Day Actually Involves
That is the case for going. Here is the case against, and you should have it before you book rather than afterwards.
You are collected at three in the morning. You reach the ice around nine. You are there for roughly ninety minutes. Then you stop at Sibinacocha, eat lunch back down the valley, and reach Cusco somewhere between half past five and six.
That is around eleven hours in a vehicle for about two hours on the ground. If that trade sounds wrong to you, it is worth knowing now rather than at four in the morning near Cusipata.
Plenty of people make that trade happily. Quelccaya is extraordinary and there is no shorter way to reach it. What spoils the day is almost never the hours themselves. It is arriving without having been told about them.
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Tour Highlights
- ✓ Not a valley glacier. A white sheet laid over the plateau, running out of sight in both directions.
- ✓ Quelccaya lost close to a third of its area between 1979 and 2014, and the retreat has not slowed.
- ✓ Thirty square kilometres of turquoise water at 4,869 metres, and almost nobody in Cusco has heard of it.
- ✓ Twenty minutes on foot. If you want high Andes scenery without a trek, this is the shortest route to it.
- ✓ Rainbow Mountain takes hundreds of people a day. Quelccaya takes a handful of vehicles.
- ✓ Our drivers run this road weekly in season. That matters more than it sounds when weather turns on the plateau.
What to Expect
We grade this trek hard. Some operators grade the same ground moderate. We think that is a mistake, and it is the reason people turn back on day three. Here is what hard means in practice. You walk five days in a row. Most of that walking happens between 4,500 and 5,000 metres. You cross passes above 5,000 metres. You sleep six nights in a tent, and the temperature inside that tent goes below zero every night. There is no road out of the middle section, and no mobile signal for most of it. You do not need technical skills. There is no rope work and no ice climbing. What you need is time spent at altitude, a body that has done multi day walking before, and the honesty to say so if it is not going well.
Who Should and Should Not Book This
This tour suits some travellers very well and others not at all. It is worth two minutes of honesty before you book.
Best Time to Go to Quelccaya
The Vilcanota has two seasons and they behave very differently at this altitude.
One thing that catches people out. The clearest months are also the coldest. At the viewpoint in July it can sit around minus 5 with wind on top of that. Dress for winter even though you are two degrees from the equator.
Tour Itinerary
Pickup in Cusco
Your driver arrives at your hotel at three in the morning. It is an unkind hour and there is no way around it. The plateau clouds over by early afternoon, so the whole day is built backwards from one requirement. You need to be standing at the ice while the sky is still open.
Sleep in the vehicle. Most people do. The first two hours run on tarmac and the road is smooth enough to make that easy.
Bring your passport, cash in soles and every warm layer you own. The van is heated. The viewpoint is not.
Breakfast at Cusipata
The climb onto the plateau
Arrival at Puerto Caliz
The Quelccaya ice cap
Laguna Sibinacocha
The return leg
Lunch at Cusipata
Back in Cusco
Inclusions
- ✓ Hotel pickup and return in central Cusco
- ✓ Private transport for the whole day
- ✓ Professional bilingual guide, Spanish and English
- ✓ Breakfast in Cusipata
- ✓ Lunch on the return leg
- ✓ First aid kit and emergency oxygen
Not Included
- X Community entrance fee of 15 soles, paid in cash on the day
- X Drinking water and snacks
- X Travel insurance
- X Dinner on return to Cusco
- X Tips for your guide and driver
- X Anything personal
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 9 people
Start Time: 3:00 AM
Pickup: Your Hotel in Cusco
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you really see Quelccaya in one day from Cusco?
Which months work best to visit Quelccaya?
Can I walk on the Quelccaya glacier?
How long am I actually at the glacier Quelccaya?
Is Quelccaya harder than Rainbow Mountain?
Can I do this the day after arriving in Cusco?
Gallery
