Motorcycle Explorer September 2016 Issue 13 | Page 68

INFO
The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru which is part of the larger
Andes range and extends between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in NW direction. It
includes 33 major peaks over 5,500 metres (18,040 ft) high and 722 individual glaciers[1] in an area
21 kilometres (13 mi) wide and about 200 kilometres (124 mi) long. The highest mountain in Peru,
Huascarán of 6,768 metres (22,205 ft), is located here.
The Cordillera Blanca lies entirely inside the region of Ancash, and runs parallel to the Santa River
valley (also called Callejón de Huaylas on its upper and mid-sections) on the west. Huascarán National
Park, established in 1975, encompasses almost the entire range of the Cordillera Blanca.[2]
Snow melt from the Cordillera Blanca has provided part of Northern Peru with its year-round water
supplies, while 5% of Peru's power comes from an hydro-electrical plant located in the Santa river
valley. The area of permanent ice pack shrank by about a third between the 1970s and 2006.[3]