Travel Guide

Also known as Salkantay, the snowy peak of Peru located in the department of Cuzco; It constitutes one of the main elevations of the Vilcabamba mountain range, an extension of the eastern mountain range, a mountainous branch of the Peruvian Andes. It reaches an altitude of 6,271 meters. It comprises two snowy peaks, known as China Salkantay and Salkantay Hembra, separated by a pass that flows into the Santa Ana Valley in the province of Urubamba. The mountain pass and the course of the river that starts from it are called Salkantay. This river empties its waters into the Urubamba on its left bank.

Our travel agency has the Salkantay Trek, a trek that will take you to Machu Picchu

Where does the name Nevado Salkantay come from?

The name of this mountain is a contraction coming from Salga = sullen or wild and Antay to produce celaggi or allusions. It is usually preceded by the name of Apu, which in the Quechua language means lord, which is why it is defined as the great mountains that mean something sacred above the valleys. For example Apu Salkantay in the Vilcabamba mountain range.

Salkantay snow cover ( 6,271) Source : Puits Jesus Ma Rodriguez (San Sebastián – Guipúzcoa)

The great white lord. A bit of history between ropes and crampons:

The Salkantay is one of the highest mountains in the Qosco region ( Cusco ), the highest mountain is the Gran Agusánate with 65 meters more in the Vilcanota mountain range located further south. However, without hesitation , it is the largest due to its splendid isolation and the greatness of its two-headed mass, as well as being one of the mountains in this magnificent Andean region that presents major technical problems on all sides. The six routes opened to date through the different facets of this white giant attest to this.

Swiss consortium made up of Bronimann and Marx.

This first ascent, like so many others in the history of mountaineering, is surrounded by various contradictions, since a few days later it was reopened by a Franco-American expedition that included the well-known and relevant mountaineer of the time, Claude Kogan. . .

Modern statistics attribute the merit of being the first woman to the summit to the Italian Consuelo Bonaldi who, on August 4, 1978, climbed the East Crest accompanied by G.Marconi , A.Mangononi , F.Nodari , S.Castellani , Augusto Zanotti and Mr. Four-Year- Olds is obviously wrong, as was Claude Kogan 26 years earlier.

The Salkantay peak has two peaks, the East and the West, in ancient times the West, more slender and attractive than the East, was a little higher as it was crowned by a serac . After the passing of the years and the collapse of this serac, as the prestigious Pyrenean Louis Audoubert points out , the height is practically identical in the two summits.

What happened during these two consecutive «first ascents» has led to controversy over the actual first.

The Swiss climbed in the middle of the fog to the East peak (the lowest at that time), the Americans climbed rather to the West, which was a little higher with what the statistics, always implacable, want to deny Bronimman and Marx his very first ascent.

To crown its well-deserved fame as a difficult summit, in 1953 it was climbed for the third time by the prestigious mountain guide Lionel Terray , who together with the Dutchman T.de Booy and Swiss Raymond Jenny reached the top by following a path along the North Spur, now known as the Terray Spur .

German expedition attempted the summit by following the dangerous NE ridge which, with its ledges, is not conducive to transit…a relevant ridge made up of Tony Mazenauer and Fritz Kasparrek (the last conqueror of the Eiger North Face ) disappears on this ridge and the expedition must withdraw.

Today there is a plaque commemorating this unfortunate event under the Col de Palcay (normal base camp for the mountain) and on a visible block of rock.

August 23, 1975, it was the turn of the long and jagged SE Ridge led by an Australian-New Zealand expedition composed of Peter Jennings, Wayne Barton and Michael Andrews. This climb was the ninth to the summit.

Note: There is, in my opinion, some controversy about the authorship of the first ascent of this SE ridge, since there is the previous action of a powerful group of Japanese who achieved the ascent by this route. Unfortunately, the only reference found on this Japanese ascent dates back to an Iwa to Yuki magazine, obviously written in Japanese , so without a translation of the text there is no concrete data.

The western ridge of Salkantay is a route that has remained intact over the years due to the complexity of its route and the distance from traditional boarding points, which requires additional transportation pulling a backpack.

According to the prestigious Pyrenean Louis Audoubert , who climbed to the summit on the northern slope in 1977, the western ridge is feasible, but it will undoubtedly be a good problem to solve at the Andean level.

This peak was attempted in 1975 by a group of Catalan mountaineers from Mataró composed of Manuel Punsola y Mitjans, Miquel Sala y Roy, Xavier Varela y Pinart , Ramón Armengol y Carbó, Antoni Sors y Farre , Antoni Rosa y Olivera and Vicente Aris and Julta. _

August 5 , 1975, three members of this expedition approached the hill through another buttress on the north side that had been previously recognized. They climb most of the day until they reach a point with two possibilities that seem impossible to them. The logic was to tackle the ice ridge, which was impossible due to lack of material means. The other option would be to follow the slopes of the hill to find the passage between the two Salkantay peaks.

At a certain point of this great detour, which they believe will take a whole day, they decide to abandon it due to the large number of avalanches that come off the ridge and that obviously constitute a first-order objective danger. Catalan mountaineers believe that the difficulties so far have not been great or dangerous, but deviating from the obvious path of the ridge, which would require greater human and material equipment, markedly increases the risk.

Coming from Mollepata, the first view we will have of Salkantay is on its overwhelming south face a huge wall that closes the bottom of the valley with its vertical seracs hanging from huge rocky spurs, this wall could not fail to attract the attention of those who try to complicate life a little for pure personal satisfaction, that is why in 1970 a powerful group of Germans from the DAV in Munich formed by Walter Welsh , J. Vogt , H. Koebrich , H. Haver and Mr. Olzowy made a meritorious Attempt on the left side of the wall that rises quite high on the descending edge of Salkantay’s western peak.

In 1986, a British group led by J. Lowe opened a new route on this side by attacking the rocky base to the right of the German attempt in 1970. Having gained the snow zone, they continued slightly diagonally to the right until they reached the part East. top. of the mountain.

Although it was a little visited mountain in 1978, it was visited by five expeditions in the short period of two months. On June 15, 1978, a powerful Slovenian expedition from Planinska Zveza , composed by Libor Anderle , Zoran Breslin, Marjan Brisar, Edi Torkar , Jure Zvan and Jure Ulcar , accompanied by Doctor Borut Pirc and Matjaz Derzaj as coordinator opened in a week of exploration and climbing an intelligent route on the east face of the mountain, the Slovenian route, which without giving up difficulty is the most feasible option to try to reach the summit successfully.

The second ascent of this route was made by the Mexican Roberto Morales Puebla and his companion on June 17, 1978 and the third was made by Los Bascos de San Sebastián, Íñigo and Jesús Ma Barandiaran José Antonio Fernández de Aranguiz on July 3 of the same year. .

The Salkantay has been visited by mountaineers from all over the world, French, Swiss, North Americans, New Zealanders, Poles, Austrians, Germans, Mexicans, Slovenians, Spanish (Asturians, Basques, Andalusians, Catalans)… who have always crossed its steep slopes … some lived in the light of the reward of the summit … others, the vast majority, had to withdraw because the possibility of success already eluded the protruding ledges.

Location of the snowy Salkantay:

The Salkantay route, also known as the «New Inca Trail», is located north of the city of Cusco, following the Cusco – Limatambo – Abancay – Lima highway, deviating through Limatambo to Mollepata.

Salkantay snowy weather:

It is very sunny during the day, but very cold at night. The temperature drops below 0°C at night during the months of June to September. In the season from December to March it rains a lot, so it is not highly recommended to go on these dates.

The best time for the weather to do this walk is during the months of March to September.

Height of the trek to the snowy Salkantay

This walk reaches a height of 4,600 meters above sea level at its highest point, this on the slopes of the Salkantay mountain itself. Meeting point at the 5D Nevado Ausangate Walk to do this walk .

How to get to the snowy Salkantay

The buses from Cusco to Mollepata leave very early between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. and pass through Limatambo, from Mollepata the trek begins towards the snowy Salkantay, after climbing a high pass you can have an impressive pyramidal view of the Salkantay, one of the most beautiful snow-capped mountains in Cusco.

From Mollepata itself, it takes two days to descend to Huayllabamba and connect with the second day of the Inca Trail .

To get to the snowy Salkantay it is recommended to use the services of our KUSKANDES TREK travel agency since we have the necessary capacity to carry out your vacation.

What will you see on the way?

Along the way you can see herds of cattle and sheep, orchids , spectacled bears, medicinal plants from the Inca era, a small variety of birds, fruit trees such as oranges, papayas, bananas, etc.

Nota: Se necesita un poco de suerte para ver el ojo de las gafas.

Recomendaciones:

Es muy importante para el viajero. Lleve consigo su pasaporte original para los respectivos controles.

MESES RECOMENDADOS PARA VIAJAR

• Marzo: (un poco de lluvia)
• Abril a Octubre: (un viaje óptimo)
• Octubre a noviembre: (un poco de lluvia)
• Diciembre a febrero: (mucha lluvia)