Huayhuash, Peru

                                           

The Cordillera Huayhuash (Waywash Hanka in Ancash Quechua, waywash weasel,^[1] hispanicized spellings Huaihuash, Huayhuash. Debated also as huaywa + sh in Ancash Quechua, huaywa = icewind + sh = place, or place of the icy winds^{[citation needed]}) lies in the Andes of Peru. It is located in the boundaries of the Ancash Region, Lima Region and Huanuco Region.

The range is 30 km long and has Himalayan characteristics and its peaks are, morphologically speaking, much more hilly and have more difficult access than those from the Cordillera Blanca. Aligned north to south, the main range of some twenty peaks stretches for approximately 25 km, with a subsidiary range of smaller peaks stretching out to the west for approximately 15 km. Six of the peaks exceed 6,000 m. Included among them are Yerupajá (6617 m), the second highest mountain in Peru (behindHuascarán at 6,768 m), and Siula (6,344 m), made famous by Joe Simpson in Touching the Void.

There are many lesser peaks surrounding those covered by ice, and several passes exceeding 5,000 m. It is necessary to travel a considerable distance from the central range to find ground lower than 3,000 m, even on valley floors, and the range is often taken to include this much larger area. The vegetated areas of the range are part of the Central Andean wet puna ecoregion^[2]

The area is barely populated at all, with what hamlets there are being very small and generally only found below 4000 m (the snowline is found at approximately 4,800 m). The nearest villages are Chiquián (3,400 m) and Cajatambo (3,375 m). Some mining takes place in the area, so to the north of the mountains there is an unsurfaced road leading up to as high as 4750 m. In 2002 the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture declared the Huayhuash mountain range a "reserved zone" and prohibited certain economic activities, including any future mining.