Canchacanchajasa, Mountain summit in Calca Province, Peru
Canchacanchajasa is a mountain summit in the Urubamba range of the Andes located in Calca Province, rising to about 4,987 meters high. The peak sits above the Cancha Cancha valley and features the steep slopes characteristic of high Andean summits.
Canchacanchajasa is a 4,987-metre summit in the Urubamba range, in Calca District, Calca Province, Cusco Region, north of the Urubamba River. It stands southeast of Sirihuani, north of Cóndorhuachana and Huamanchoque, and southwest of Sahuasiray, in the upper Cancha Cancha valley on the Lares trek route.
The name is Quechua: kancha means an enclosure, yard or walled frame, and q'asa a mountain pass; the repeated kancha kancha signals a group of enclosures, giving "Cancha Cancha pass". The peak stands in the upper Cancha Cancha valley, on the Lares trek route, so walkers pass through terrain named for the stone-walled corrals of Andean herding families.
Canchacanchajasa lies in the upper Cancha Cancha valley, reached on foot via the Lares trek, which brings hikers through the valley below the peak. The summit stands at 4,987 metres, so plan the walk with time to adjust to the altitude. The mountain sits north of the Urubamba River in Calca District, with Sirihuani to the northwest and Sahuasiray to the northeast.
Canchacanchajasa stands at the head of the upper Cancha Cancha valley, on the route of the Lares trek. The Quechua reduplication in its name, kancha kancha, marks the spot as a complex of enclosures rather than a single one, a mountain pass named for the walled plots below it.
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