Lake Parón

Lake Parón is the largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca, on the Peruvian Andes, 32 km E from the city Caraz, at 4185 m asl.

It is nested and surrounded by several snow peaks such as Aguja I 5,840 m, Aguja II 5m888 m, Aguja III 5,775 m, Caraz I 6,025 m, Qaras II 6,020 m, Qaras III 5,720 m, Artesonraju 6,025 m, Parón 5,600 m, Pirámide 5,885 m, Chacraraju W 6,112 m, Chacraraju E 6,001 m, Pisco 5,772 m, Huandoy E 6000 m, Huandoy N 6395 m and Huandoy W 6,356 m. It is one of the most popular areas for climbing in Peru, including the so famous The Sphinx 5325m, a granite monolith, offering at least 13 big wall routes.

The lake, formed as a natural moraine reservoir, has a catchment area of 44.3 km², it is 3.7 km long and average of 700 m width, the original depth was about 75 m, but today the level was lowered ca. 15 m to prevent the collapse of the moraine.