It’s the world’s largest tropical glacier, and according to local legend, it has a protector. Legend has it that there’s a “Machu Runa,” an old man dressed in a white poncho who guards the surroundings of the peak so no one can come close enough to destroy it.
The world’s largest tropical glacier is located in Peru and is facing the threat of disappearing soon. This white giant, considered a global thermometer for measuring global warming and glacial melting, is part of the proposed Ausangate Regional Conservation Area, which desperately seeks to preserve its accelerated death.
How to Get to Quelccaya?
Quelccaya is the world’s largest tropical glacier, a giant plain of ice. The nearest town, Phinaya, is about 200 kilometers from Cusco, about a six-and-a-half-hour drive by truck along a difficult road. From there, it’s 20 kilometers to the glacier over even more difficult terrain.
Located within the Vilcanota mountain range, half of the glacier belongs to the Puno department and half to Cusco. Its original name, Qoyllor Puñuna, in Quechua, means “where the stars rest.”
Near Quelccaya is Vilcanota’s highest peak, Nevado Ausangate (6,384 m). The Sibinacocha lagoon and other 6,000-meter peaks such as Jatunriti, Yayamari, and small lakes create the idyllic landscape of a site that is home to a culture dating back more than 4,000 years, and where the Inca Empire has only intervened in the last 100 years.
It covers an area of about 50 square kilometers. But it was much larger. In the last 50 years, it has lost practically half of its mass. Ancient inhabitants of the area—some nearly 100 years old—remember when it snowed there “40 days and 40 nights in a row.”
