I just saw this AMAZING photo. I never realized that the peak commonly seen in the background pics was also terraced. That is unbelievable construction. My factual question is - Can you climb it? Have any Dopers done so? MP is on my bucket list but I doubt I’ll ever get there.
Yep, frikken amazing.
It’s like no other place.
You go to the ruins themselves. Everything you see is accessible.
The mountain behind is Huayna Picchu (young mountain - Machu Picchu old mountain) and you can climb it provided you are at least a bit fit. It’s not connected to the ruins themselves.
If you come to Peru, there are more places to visit. I can give some pointers.
Huayna Picchu is much easier to climb than it looks. There is a fairly easy and well maintained route to the top, although it requires some scrambling and climbing stone staircases. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with a fear of heights though.
When I went to Machu Picchu, I stayed nearby in the town of Aguascalientes, and went up to the ruins on the first bus at 6 AM. That way you have the ruins nearly to yourself until the tourist train from Cuzco arrives in mid morning. Once the hordes arrived, I climbed Huayna Picchu and ate my lunch at the top overlooking the ruins and valley. I came down again after the main crowds left to return to Cuzco in the mid afternoon when the ruins were nearly empty again. It was a great way to experience the site with a minimum of crowds.
Climbing Huayna Picchu. There seem to be more restrictions on it than when I climbed it in the late 1990s. Note that the ladders are on the Moon Cave section, not the route to the peak.
Is that what Karl Pilkington climbed in “An Idiot Abroad”?
I concur. Here’s a slightly larger Gigapanshot where you can zoom in and see people on top taking pictures.
Now someone needs to schlep their Gigapan rig up to the top for an all-encompassing shot!
Here’s a short videoon how it’s done for those interested…
We went to Machu Picchu about 5 years ago, and did the same thing Colibri did. They only allow 200 people to climb Huayna Picchu in the morning, and another 200 in the afternoon (and they stagger people leaving, as I recall), so it’s worth getting there relatively early to make sure you’re on the list.
The trail up to the top of Huayna Picchu winds up the left-hand face. If you zoom in far enough in your GP photo, you can see a group of people on some stairs on the trail (there’s a guy in a white hat on the “saddle” near the bottom, and a woman in a pink shirt about halfway up). It’s not that hard to climb, although it does take some effort. In addition, not too many people take the back way down through the Moon Cave section, so the whole trip is a nice way to see the area without the rest of the touristos clogging it up.
It is so worth going. Of the New 7 Wonders (+1) that I’ve been to, this was the best so far. The whole place has a very amazing vibe and pictures just can’t capture it. When I went, it was right after they re-opened due to some major flooding. The cloud level was below Machu Picchu that day and the mountains, oh, the mountains. Almost all MP pictures are taken from the same vantage point to capture all of the buildings, but the mountains are incredible facing the other way. The green teeth surrounding you is just inspiring.
Since this will mostly involve people’s personal experiences, let’s move it over to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I am a bit concerned about the disembodied head on the most distant stairs (left hand peak, just below the guy in the red plaid shirt)…
There’s another disembodied head, and also a woman who is in two places at once, with her lower body missing in both places.
Well, sometimes you’ve got to make a few sacrifices.
We came in from the Inca Trail and spent all day there, but hiking just about half way up Huayna Picchu, just enough to get some amazing photos. Believe me, we’d done enough climbing already. This was back 20 or so years though and there were no crowds whatsoever, pretty much had the place to our group of 8, plus maybe a couple of dozen other tourists. Kinda sounds like those days are long gone.
Still, MikeF, it’s a most worthy bucket item and I hope you find the wherewithall to make it some day.
Ill never get over Machu Picchu.
Me either. Peru, and in particular, Machu Picchu, was the best trip we have ever taken. I loved it there.
We did the Salkantay Trek instead of the Inca Trail. Fewer people. We also stayed in Aguascalientes the night before and after and went up first thing in the morning. Huyana Picchu is a relatively easy climb, compared to everything else done prior to that, and the view is amazing.
The making of the photo link
It’s what led to your drinking problem, isn’t it?
The page has an article explaining the presence of floating heads.