Rainbow mountain Peru facts

The popularity of Rainbow Mountain has increased astoundingly in the last few years, and day after day, travelers from everywhere do the hikes on a day tour from Cusco. Although the nearby Ausangate trek was already known, seemingly, Montaña de 7 Colores and Red Valleys stayed a bit ignored, but now it has gained fame so quickly. Here we have compiled a few Rainbow Mountain Peru facts as information that has to be shared for everyone interested in the Rainbow Mountain hike.

Vinicunca facts

• It is also known as “Vinicunca” as it is its Quechuan denomination, or “Montaña de 7 colores”, also “Montaña de colores”.
• There are two trailheads, one on the east side and the other on the west side. The most frequented is the west side through the Cusipata route.
• Temperatures drop below 0°C at night, good to know for anyone visiting Rainbow Mountain on a multi-day Ausangate trek.
• Weather up in the Rainbow Mountain can change from windy, icy cold, and overcast to sun lightened days.
• The villages of Cusipata, Checacupe, and Pitumarca are the only settlements near Rainbow Mountain.
• You can get horse rentals at any point on the way if you begin to find the trek difficult. It doesn’t need to be always from the beginning.
• Approximately 1,500 people hike to summit Rainbow Mountain daily in the high season.
• The Rainbow Mountain may lay under thick layers of snow, but it tends to occur more in the rainy season.
• Almost all hikers succeed in reaching the saddle of the mountain and see the colored stripes and colors eroded for years.
• Photoshoots with llamas and alpacas are available on the Rainbow Mountain for a few coins.
• Locals sell coca tea, hot drinks, beers, and woolen gloves up in the Rainbow Mountain.
• Altitude-related problems are the most common reason climbers grapple on the way up to the main viewpoint.
• Rainbow Mountain sits at an altitude of more than half of Mount Everest.

In March 2018, the Peruvian government protected the area from mining concessions, ensuring that the “Mountain of Seven Colors” will be preserved as an important nature conservation area for the benefit of tourism and local communities.