Has anyone climbed in the Cordillera Blanca or Huascaran National Park in the last year? I've heard rumors that the Peruvian authorities have begun enforcing regulations that require all climbers to be accompanied by a licensed guide. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Thanks

This is a hot topic of discussion for sure. We spent a month in the Park last July and were very concerned about this going in as I would rather climb somewhere else if such absurd nonsense were to take place.
The general wisdom is that if you 1) seem competent 2) show membership in an alpine club (we showed our AAC cards) and 3) get the right guard that you will be fine.

As a team of 3 (2 Americans and 1 Aussie with a counterfeit AAC card) were able to gain entrance to the park, unassisted, at 3 separate times at 2 different gates. We did have Chris Benway from cafe Andino buy our initial permits with us though.
The gates used were Cashapampa (Alpamayo/Artesonraju) and Musho (Huascaran).

The CB is a truly incredible place with a high concentration of alpine climbing on big mountains. I have many, many more trips to the area in mind. I hope for the sake of climbers everywhere that we are are continued to be allowed to seek out challenges in Peru.

I man wrote: and 1 Aussie with a counterfeit AAC card)

Absolutely love the image. Hilarious..Thanks for posting.

An update: yes, the main control points in the park are more strict this year, meaning Llanganuco and Cashapampa (Santa Cruz). A week ago two friends going to Pisco without a guide had a hard time passing through and had to sign a hand written statement of responsibility. Someone I know and who´s a friend of te park director actually called him up and he said there´s no way we (me and may partner) would be getting in without a guide.

On the other hand, there are ways around it though, and on the less frequented valleys there seems to be no problem. Also, I know of unguided groups who got in without a problem. It may be a bit of a gamble but I do have the impression that indeed this year the regulations is being a bit more reinforced than last year.

As long as it's not too difficult for climbers with enough experience to get a permit to head into the mountains without a guide, I don't really mind. I like to think that having to get a permit and then the process of checking it at the control points helps to keep inexperienced people out of trouble.

But should it ever become mandatory for everyone to hire a guide when climbing anything interesting, as in Ecuador, I won't come back. And that would be a pity, for I've already got plans for next year.

Thanks to everyone for the information.

I just returned from Cordillera Blanca, yesterday.
Regarding the rumours about new regulations, this is what I did experienced on my two weeks trip in the region.
Me personally I was returned from the gate at Quebrada Llanganuco, because I did not have a guide or any kind of mountain guide certification to show. They are really implementing that, and there is no chance to bargain.
On the other hand at Quebreda Ishinca I passed two times at the control gate and there was no one to check permits. Same at Quebreda Paron. Park pass is 65 soles for non residents.
Conditions on the mountain were not as great, but I heard (week and half ago) of successful ascents on Huascaran and Alpamayo, one summit to Artesonraju from the Santa Cruz, SE face was in a bad shape with lots of snow, no summit for Chopicalqui due to the crevasse, two unfortunate fatalities on Piramide de Garcilaso. Tocllaraju was climbed successfully by many parties and Ranrapalca had some attemps, but the snow was jus not the right quality. Pisco, Urus and Ishinca are all in great conditions and been climbed by several parties.
Good luck and nice weather.

I also returned from the Cordillera Blanca this week and had a slightly different experience.

With the help of a well connected local, we were able to obtain park passes in Huaraz from the park office. We did not hire a guide.

Quebrada Ishinca- Nobody manned the control gate when we entered. However, upon reaching Ishinca basecamp the caretaker (Juan) at the Ishinca refugio did ask to check our passes, even though we were camping and not sleeping in the refugio. The caretaker also asked what outfitter we used for the burros, what peaks we intended to climb, how long we intended to stay in Quebrada Ishinca, and whether we had a guide. He didn't seem to care that we lacked a guide. Not sure what the caretaker's relationship was with the nat'l park authorities or what enforcement authority he had. My guess is that he just trying to keep track of who was in the basecamp in case something went wrong.

Quebrada Llanganuco- The control gate at the entrance to Llanganuco was manned and we were required to show our park passes by the park staff. The park authorities also asked to see alpine club membership cards. We flashed our AAC cards. We were not/not asked whether we had a guide, but were asked which peak we would be climbing. We were allowed to enter the park and go on our merry way. At Yannapacha moraine camp we encountered a few other parties climbing without guides, but I don't know whether they had alpine club cards or how they obtained park passes.

One more datapoint:

http://www.thehuaraztelegraph.com/2014/08/swiss-climber-ueli-steck-visits-cordillera-blanca-denied-entrance-national-park-huascaran/

Looks like the guards at Quebrada Llagananuco care about the alpine card above all else.