travelphotochallenge - Mountain Views - Rainbow Mountain

I saw this competition pop up on my feed and had to enter!! I love mountains and photography, though don’t have too many of my own pictures 😔 However when i first joined Steemit I made a post about an incredible location in Peru called Rainbow mountain.

I have decided to enter one of these pictures and dive into some more details about this fantastic place - enjoy😃

Montaña Vinicunca

Motorola MotoG3 smartphone, 3.64mm - f2 - 1/2564 second - ISO 50

At 5200m above sea level Vinicunca aka Rainbow mountain is an incredible mountain in the Peruvian Andes. Its one of the few wonders that has come about due to global warming. Until recently this incredible landscape was hidden beneath a layer of snow obscuring the spectacular view.

The mountains are formed by colourful sediments in the rock, and are surrounded by huge glaciers open fields and dramatic mountains giving the location a pretty unique look… oh i forgot to mention the hundreds of alpaca which graze the landscape, I mean this is Peru of course! ;)

Another reason this mountain has a special place in my heart is its altitude. At 5200m above sea level this crazy place is higher than anywhere in North America or Europe and currently the highest location I have ever visited. I cannot stress enough the difficulty walking and climbing up the the summit - its not a technical climb by any means, however just walking becomes such a challenge, with every breath trying to grab as much oxygen as possible. Don’t worry though, if you are struggling there are plenty of locals about with horses to hire ;)

Surprisingly this location is now really accessible and possible as a day trip from Cusco. Im normally against tours, however the tours from Cusco are so cheap and cover food and transportation you couldn’t really say no. Its a long day though … be prepared for a 03:00am start and a return for 22:00 ;). It is still possible to reach this via local transportation, though often will require a multi day hike through the Andes.

If your around Cusco, I would highly recommend checking this place out :)