Complete Packing List: Hiking Cordillera Huayhuash Without a Guide
Since you are reading this blog, I’m assuming you are wanting to take on this Cordillera Huayhuash without a guide!! With this being said, you have to remember that you will have to carry everything you need on your back. Our bags seemed quite heavy (especially on day 6 and 7!) so keep this in mind when you are packing!
We brought almost everything we needed with us from Canada. The only things we picked up in Lima and Huaraz before starting to hike were propane, pepperoni sticks, and small snacks.
Food and Water
Below is the list of food/water supplies we brought with us on Huayhuash. We only passed through one small town, Huayllapa on day 6, where you could restock some food supplies. We decided to bring the complete 9 days of food even though we could have bought food for the last few days along the way. All the food we brought from this trek came from Canada except the pepperoni sticks and a few extra snacks.
Most of our meals each day looked the same:
- Breakfast: oatmeal – 6:30 am
- Lunch: Clif Bars, pepperoni sticks, and other snacks – 11am
- Supper: instant noodles and a candy bag (candy bag is not necessary haha) – 4pm
Water
- Water purifier
- A water purifier is a must!! There were times when the water we were getting was from a creek filled with cows, so this is not something to skip out on. The water purifier we brought with us is SteriPEN Classic 3 UV Water Purifier. We started every day with 4L of water or 2L of water each.
- Water bottle – two 1L bottles each
- Electrolytes – we brought a couple different packs of electrolyte tablets. The ones we like are the Nunn Boost Hydrating Electrolyte Tablets. They not only helped to regulate our nerve and muscle function, but also helped to make our creek water taste better!
Food
- 16 individual bags of oatmeal (8 each) – We didn’t need any for the first day. We poured our hot water right into the oatmeal packets
- 8 packs of noodles – We didn’t need one for the last day since we finished hiking before supper. We vacuum sealed the noodles into separate bags to save space.
- 18 pepperoni sticks (9 each) (picked up in Lima)
- 7 candy bags (only if you are like us and need something sweet!)
- 8 Clif Bars
- 2 packs of peanuts (picked up in Lima)
- Variety of small packs of crackers/cookies for snacking! (picked up in Lima)
Supplies
- Collapsible pot – we use the Sea to Summit X-Pot Kettle as our pot and our shared bowl
- Sporks x2
- Small, lightweight camping stove that screws onto propane (see photo)
- Propane canister – 16 oz
- The amount of propane you will need depends on how much you will be cooking. We heated water every breakfast and supper. We still had quite a bit of propane left at the end of the trek.
- Lighter – we brought two lighters just in case
- Cloth/sponge – something to clean out the pot
Clothing!
As I mentioned in my previous blog, clothing for all types of weather is needed! Most mornings we woke up to frost on the ground and a frozen tent, so we started hiking with MANY layers on including our down jackets, hoodies, toques, and gloves. Later in the day it would get quite warm and we would be in t-shirts and applying sunscreen.
- Hiking boots
- I can’t imagine doing this hike without good hiking boots. Make sure they are broken in before taking on Huayhuash!
- The boots I wear are Merrell Women’s Moab 2 Mid Waterproof Hiking Boots
- T-shirts – x3
- Long sleeve shirt – x2
- Shorts – 1
- Hiking pants – x2
- Hiking socks – x3
- Bathing suit – 1 (for hot springs on day 5!!!)
- Underwear – whatever you need for 9 days!
- Toque (winter hat for you non-Canadians!)
- Hiking buff – great for around your neck to avoid sunburns while hiking and to keep warm at night
- Gloves/mittens
- Hoodie/sweatshirt
- Down jacket
- Waterproof/rain jacket
- My purple jacket is a North Face Venture 2
- Hat
Shelter
- Tent – with tarp for underneath, poles, and pegs (with a few extra pegs)
- Our tent is actually a 3-man tent. Even though it was a bit heavier than a 2 man, it was perfect for Brett’s long legs and storing our packs.
- Sleeping bags
- Brett and I both use the 40F/4C North Face Dolomite sleeping bag but we could have used warmer on some nights!
- Sleeping mats
- The mats we brought were both blow up and quite light
Other Essentials!
- Backpack – the one I use and love is an Osprey Kestrel 48L
- Hiking poles!!
- I love my Black Diamond Trail Trekking Poles
- Headlamps!
- Toilet paper
- Though most of the sites we stayed at had some sort of toilet or hole in the ground, there was never any toilet paper so make sure you bring some!
- Batteries
- For the water purifier and headlamps
- Med kit
- Altitude pills – our doctor prescribed us pills that we were to begin taking two days before starting to hike and every day during the hike. We ran into a few people suffering very badly from altitude sickness so maybe consider talking to your pharmacist!
- Ibuprofun (or other pain meds)
- Blister/regular Band-Aids
- Polysporin
- Cellphone – we used this for pictures and navigation
- Powerseed/wireless charger and cord
- We kept our phones on airplane and low battery mode the entire hike and only used our phones for photos and GPS
- Fanny pack/running belt
- While definitely not essential, I like to bring a running belt with me so things like my phone, hand sanitizer, and small snacks can be accessed easily without taking my pack off!
- Sunglasses (sadly, mine broke on day 1)
- Pocket knife
- Hand sanitizer!
- Laundry soap bar
- We washed a few of our socks and underwear at the hot springs on day 5
- Sunscreen!
- SPF chapstick
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Wet wipes!
- Any other toiletries you might need
Money!!!
- The total we spent on this hike including the bus to and from Huaraz was 534 soles or 267 soles each. This is about $80 USD per person
- Try to bring small bills because it is unlikely that anyone will be able to break anything big! We brought 20 and 50 sole bills and we had no troubles. If you are only paying for yourself (vs two people), I would recommend having mostly 20s.
- Wallet
- Passport
If you missed my other Huayhuash blogs about the details of each day, budgeting, how to get to the start of the trek, and more, you can find them here!
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about taking on Cordillera Huayhuash!