Adventure Sports

Adventure-lovers will find the Andes to be ideal for trekking, camping, and mountain-climbing. The highlands are riddled with more than 15,000 lakes, snow-capped peaks soaring over 6,000 meters, the world's deepest canyons, bucolic valleys, and picturesque villages. The entire Andean chain offers unparalleled opportunities for whitewater rafting, superb trails for mountain biking, and gusting winds for fans of hang-gliding and parapente.   The beaches of Paracas (south of Lima) and along the north coast are ideal for sports such as surfing, windsurfing, sandboard, fishing, and scuba diving. There is also good fishing to be had in the Amazon jungle, where birdwatchers will also have a field day. Whether basking in the noonday sun or watching the star-studded night skies, Peru is the ideal place to enjoy a unique and unforgettable stay.

MOUNTAINEERING	The Peruvian Andes provide an incomparable spot for mountaineering and make Peru a magnet for lovers of South American mountains. There are many reasons: a unique concentration of mountains and relatively few mountain climbers; mild weather almost all year-long, and relatively easy access to sites that are nevertheless cut off from hectic city life. It is an ideal combination that makes Peru one of the most attractive destinations for mountaineers worldwide. Although the lowest summit of the Huascarán massif, the world's highest tropical mountain, was first climbed in 1908 by US climbers Annie Peck and two Swiss guides, mountain climbing in the Andes only took off in Peru in the early 1930s thanks to the pioneering European expeditions that launched the great Andean travel adventure in search of new climbing challenges. Since the 1932 expedition led by Austrian climbers Borchers, Schneider and Kinzl reached the southern summit of Mount Huascarán (6 768 masl) -Peru's highest- Peru's peaks have been the scene of many more spectacular ascents.
ROCK CLIMBING Rock Climbing, Ancash Arturo Bullard / PromPerú	Peru features places with superb conditions for practicing open-air rock climbing. Just east of Lima lies Vichuya, in the Lurín Valley. The Rímac Valley, meanwhile, features Canchacalla, at Kilometer 46 of the Central Highway, a center that has been running rock climbing courses for several years now. Infiernillo, at Kilometer 67 of the same highway, is possibly one of the most accessible and difficult climbing spots in the country.   Following the south coast down the South Pan-American Highway, one finds the sedimentary rock formations of Bikini (Kilometer 45), La Tiza (Kilometer 60) and Paracas (Kilometer 250), all of them facing the Pacific Ocean and overlooking breaking waves which add a touch of adventure to a sport that is risky at the best of times.   The Andes also feature ideal rock formations such as Cumbemayo, outside Cajamarca; the Tinajani stone formations, in Ayaviri, Puno; the walls of the glacial canyon of Llanganuco, in Ancash; and the stone formations of the Huayllay Sanctuary, in Pasco.
HOT AIR BALLOONING	Since 1988, a company based in Cusco, Globos de los Andes, has been running tourist hot air balloon flights over the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The one-hour flights cost US$300 per person. Setting off in the morning from the community of Maras, 55 km from the city of Cusco, balloonists take to the air and enjoy an unusual view of the Cusco countryside, its snow-capped peaks, several archaeological sites and main towns.