April, 2026
Rainbow Mountain
Our day trip to Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley was big change in elevation and a big change in scenery. Absolutely spectacular and definitely worth the 3am pick up from our hotel. We were among the first up the mountain and by the time we left, there was a steady stream of people heading up.
This is such a beautiful place that it was hard to choose which photos to share. Some I don’t have much to say but just decided you needed to see them too!
After a three-hour drive and a breakfast stop, we started our hike in snowy, sub-zero temperatures. It was 6:42 am and 4,665m. Despite several days in Cusco and all the hiking in Lares and the Sacred Valley to 4,500m, we still felt the altitude here. Breathing was a bit stressed. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a walk in the park. But we were far better off than some in our group who only had one day in Cusco to acclimatize to the altitude. They looked like they felt positively dreadful. I’m not sure they felt it was worth the 3am pick up…
This shepherdess’s outfit certainly stands out in the mountains but where is her flock?
Here they are, blending into the landscape. Llamas and alpacas are happiest at cold temperatures and high altitude. They have a dense, double-layered fleece as insulation (if you get close enough before shearing time you can’t stick your fingers into their fleece and reach their skin). Coupled with their special coats, their red blood cells are also different. They are oval-shaped and can carry oxygen far more efficiently than the rest of us mammals.
We were accompanied on our walk by this fella. His brown fleece will stand out against the snow but when the snow melts, the way to find him against the earthy terrain will be his cute, red earrings. Pretty as these tassels may be, this is one of the ways farmers can identify their flocks. And no need to worry about the tassels falling off. His ears are pierced.
Thankfully for these thirsty llamas, it’s not cold enough for their watering hole to freeze.
This lucky lady flagged down a passing motorbike to give her and her giant bag a ride. Gotta wonder where she’s going in this barren place with all that stuff.
No need for words…
Too cool for school, these llamas are getting ready for a busy day of photos with tourists.
A cool photography trick by our guide. He was remarkably good (and a little cheesy at times) at photo shoots!
As famous as Rainbow Mountain is, it was only recently discovered. Until 2013, it was just another glacial mountain. Climate change and the resulting snowmelt revealed the magic hidden beneath. The colours are thanks to the sediment and chemical transformation of the minerals in the soil. The red tones come from iron, the white from calcium carbonate, the green from copper and the mustard yellow from sulphur. You can’t see all those colours today because it’s a bit overcast.
Now to the odd way the lines are formed. Usually when mountains rise out of the ground as tectonic plates move, the layers of sediment built up over time are horizontal, stacked one on top the another. That’s how it would have been here, until the Nazca tectonic plates tilted the whole stack sideways, like taking a layered cake and rotating it 90 degrees, so you see every layer from the side.
Oddly, in 2015, a Canadian mining company submitted a petition to mine the mountain, which was actually granted in 2018. Thankfully public protests won and the company gave up its plans. Peru’s president then issued a moratorium on all mining activity in the area. Some current politicians should maybe take a page out of Peru’s environmental book…
Jumping felt a bit perilous; it’s hard to see but we are pretty close to an edge!
This llama is looking rather proud of all his colourful pompoms, that is until…
…he slipped and fell in the snow! How awkward is that for a normally sure footed animal that climbs hillsides with ease! He does look a bit ashamed in my opinion.
There is a little bit more to actually get to the highest point. It was slippery in the snow but I guess I’m more sure footed than the llama!
At the top! 5,036m! Phew. This is just shy of Mount Everest’s north base camp on the Tibet side which is 5,150m.
The highest gift shop in the world perhaps? A little lower down were a few snack shops. I guess I know where the woman who got the ride up on a motorcycle with such a big bag was going…
Cheesy? Adam is the condor, the symbol of the gods, whose wingspan is a lot bigger than Adam’s. I’m the puma, from the world of the living people. I’m not disappointed that a snake didn’t show up to be there for the underworld of the dead.
When we had our fill of the top of Rainbow Mountain, we scrambled down the slippery slope and headed to the much less popular Red Valley. There’s the gate at the top of this hill.
I have to say this blew me away more than Rainbow Mountain. The colours were so intense, coming from the same mineral-rich geology, particularly the high concentration of iron oxide in the soil and rock.
Yup, we were here with it all!
Beauty beyond words.
I don’t quite get how someone can lose a bag this size and this colourful. No gift shop over here.
Heading back to the bus 3.5 hours after we got here.
And now for something completely different along the path back to the bus. The contrasts of vegetation are amazing. Nothing at all and then this little bright spot out of nowhere!
Our guide’s creative full experience of our Rainbow Mountain experience!