Salkantay Pass - Day 2

Day 2 starts at the ass crack of dawn. Actually you cant even see dawns crack yet, but it will be showing soon. Its early, 5am. We are woken up by the assistant chef's offering of hot coca tea or coffee. I don't get that kind of service at the apartment i pay way to much for. Or frankly at any place i have ever STAYED before. Only under Gods roof surrounded by picturesque scenery could you receive this kind of service. After a mug of coca tea (coca as in the leaf of drug in which the Motley Crue song "kick start my heart" was written about) we are all quick to our feet, packed up and ready to eat a hefty breakfast. The usual, pan, Jam, Granola, fruit, eggs, and another mug of coca tea so fight that "I'm so full i want to go back to sleep" feeling.

Today's destination: a 5 mile trek to the summit of the Salkantay Pass and another 7 miles down through the sub-tropic region of the Ande's. First up, about a 3 hour moderately level (some hard elevation changes) trek toward Salkantay. Salkantay is not your ordinary snow capped mountain. This bitch is HUGE! Topping out at a staggering 6,271 meters (20,574 feet), it is only the 12th highest peak in Peru. Salkantay is one of the more historically significant mountains of the Peruvian Ande's. Many believe the Incas associated the mountain's alignment with Machu Picchu's sundial directly with the regions climate. They looked at Salkantay as a deity, controlling the rainy season in the Sacred Valley and Cusco.

We are approaching the mountain from the southwest side where its glaciers runoff cuts right through the middle. It was cloudy most of the morning, so our view of the mountain wasnt so great, but as we got closer the sun began to burn off the clouds. We were coming right up on the beast. As we got closer, we realized just how hard the hike was about to get. We were currently around 12,500 feet above sea level. Or summit point for the day was 16,000 feet. I ask Hubert how long it would be before the summit..... "hehe about 1.5 hours until summit" he mutters. Doesnt sound too bad. Until i do the math. Thats about 39 vertical feet per minute. Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you are that high above sea level, climbing 5 feet in a minute will get you winded. We had an extra horse with us that day in case someone could not make it.

We begin the trek up. Cut back after cut back, it is the most exhausting hike i have ever done, hands down. Its hard to look up and enjoy the scenery for fear you may trip over a rock, tumble all the way down and have to start all over again. We moved at our own pace, no rush to the top. I would stop and rest about every 10 minutes and just soak it all in. Its almost funny to watch the others as the seem to struggle up the mountain, hunched over their trekking poles, one foot after another very slowly, breathing very hard. This picture above is a bad example, but really no picture would capture the real struggles. It doesn't look like it, but thats about at a 45-50 degree angle. The horses had a hard time. But once you make it to the top, it is all worth it. The views are amazing. Something so surreal I literally had to keep reminding myself where I actually was. For an hour we sat at the summit and soaked it all in. I didn't speak much up there, just sat there and kept thinking "this my very well be the most beautiful place i will ever be"