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Peru 2011 (Cordillera Blanca regulations) 26-Jul-2011 At 6:37:41 PM vwills

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Unfortunately bureaucracy is creeping into the Blanca. The worst part is that noone is certain as to what is required and confusion reigns. As far as my several trips to the Park office and discussions with a couple of people who seemed to be in the loop this is what is happening this year:

there are more checking stations. You have always required a Parque Nacional Huascaran Pass for the Llanguco valley but now there are 10 checking stations. A day visit is 5 soles. Overnight passes are 65 soles. These tickets say valid for a week on them but 2 people in the Park office assured us they were valid for a month and to just tell this to the locals if questioned. We were checked at the Llaca valley and the trail head at Pitec for Laguna Churup. The people in the Paron valley still took 5 soles each from us for entry (on 3 separate visits) and were not interested in the Park pass. These are the only valleys we went to this time so I'm not sure what the other valleys are like.

For climbing independently you need to get a permit otherwise you might be told you need a Peruvian guide. This is best if you show an official letter of good standing or membership to an alpine association. Several agencies suggested we just cobble together something on the internet and make it look official. We were able to show them one of our teams guiding qualifications on a website fortunately. This permit also has to be obtained from the Park office in Huaraz and is free. They want information as to insurance policies, team members and planned climbs. Again this was checked in the Llaca valley for an acclimatisation climb of Vallanraju but was never looked at in the Paron valley for Artesonraju or the Sphinx.

No doubt things will change next year. Apparently all this was instituted in May with no advance notice.