Up the Salkantay valley, slowly, with arrieros and their mules.

Three days on foot, two nights in tents: up from Collpapampa at 2,950 m, over the Abra Salkantay at 4,630 m, down to Soraypampa, with a last morning at Laguna Humantay. The mules carry the camp; you carry a day pack.

We walk the valley upstream, against the usual direction, so the pass comes on the second day and the glacier stays on your right the whole way up.

A stony valley at the pass, boulders in the foreground and everything beyond them lost in fog — Abra Salkantay, 12:07

One route, walked uphill

The Salkantay valley runs from the cloud forest above Santa Teresa up to the glaciers of Salkantay and Humantay, in the district of Mollepata, Cusco. An old mule track follows the river; the road only reaches the lower end. Most groups walk the valley downhill from Mollepata in five days. We walk its upper half uphill, in three, and the mules set the pace.

Where: Salkantay valley, Mollepata district, Cusco, Peru
How long: Three days on foot, two nights in tents
How high: From 2,950 m to 4,630 m at the pass
How far: About 29 km, most of it on the mule track
Who carries: The mules: the camp and one 7 kg duffel per person
Group: Up to eight walkers, two arrieros, six to eight mules

Santa Teresa Where we meet; by road up the valley
Collpapampa 2,950 m Day 1, where the road ends, first camp
Wayramachay 3,853 m Day 2, lunch
Abra Salkantay 4,630 m Day 2, the pass
Soraypampa 3,900 m Day 2, second camp
Laguna Humantay 4,200 m Day 3, the last climb
Mollepata By road, 26 km from Soraypampa; then Cusco

The snow peak of Salkantay showing through a gap in the clouds, above a wide brown valley — Salkantay, 6,271 m, from the Soraypampa road, 08:04.

A blue metal trail sign covered in graffiti that reads Wayramachay, altitud 3,853 m s.n.m., with a cloudy mountainside behind it — The trail sign at Wayramachay. The altitudes on this page come from it, from the municipal sign at Soraypampa and from published itineraries.

Collpapampa Altitud 2,950 mDay 1, first camp

Day 1. Up the valley by road, to where it ends

A car picks you up in Santa Teresa after breakfast and climbs the valley on a dirt road, past coffee plots, then through cloud forest with waterfalls on the far side. The road ends at Collpapampa, where the mule track begins and the arrieros are waiting with the animals.

The afternoon is for loosening the legs: down to the Chaullay bridge and back, about 3 km, and a look at how the loads are tied. Dinner is early. The valley is narrow here and the sun leaves it by five.

Small tents with pitched roofs between broad-leaved plants, on a terrace held by a dry stone wall — The first camp, 15:44.

Tin-roofed houses at Collpapampa at dawn, the ridge above them lit by the first sun — Collpapampa, 06:08 the next morning. First light on the ridge.

Abra Salkantay Altitud 4,630 mDay 2, the pass

Day 2. The long one, over the pass to Soraypampa

We leave at seven, in the cold. The track follows the river upstream, first under trees, then through bushes, then through nothing taller than the ichu grass. The mules pass you mid-morning. By half past nine you are at the sign at Wayramachay, 3,853 m, where the valley opens and lunch is cooked while you look at the glacier.

Then the climb to the pass: 7 km, steady, with the ice of Salkantay on your right and, most days, fog coming up the valley behind you. At the top there is a cairn and wind. The trail drops 730 m along the moraine, past the small lake under the ice, to the camp at Soraypampa, by three in the afternoon.

23.5 km and 1,730 m of ascent. It is the hard day, and the reason the other two are gentle.

An arriero on horseback, seen from behind, leads loaded mules up a track between trees, with cloud and sun above — Below Wayramachay, 08:44. An arriero rides ahead of the loads.

The glaciated face of Salkantay under cloud, above a slope of brown grass — The glacier from Wayramachay, 10:13.

The tongue of the Salkantay glacier coming down over dark rock into a brown moraine, under low cloud — The ice on your right, 10:34.

A muddy trail with puddles going down a valley of ochre grass, peaks with snow ahead — Down the moraine to Soraypampa, 14:10.

Laguna Humantay Altitud 4,200 mDay 3, the last climb

Day 3. The lake, then the road down

Dawn at Soraypampa is cold and clear, and the clouds are below you, filling the valley you came up. From the camp it is 1.5 km up to Laguna Humantay, under the glacier of the same name. We are there before the day groups arrive from the road, and the water has the light to itself.

Back at the camp by mid-morning, the arrieros unload for the last time and the animals go to the pasture. A car takes the 26 km of road down to Mollepata, and on to Cusco by the afternoon.

A sea of cloud filling the valley below the camp at dawn, with the first sun on a rocky peak — Soraypampa, 06:06. The valley you came up, under cloud.

Laguna Humantay, green water under a wall of rock and cloud, a rope fence along the stony shore — Laguna Humantay, 09:10.

The turquoise water of Laguna Humantay seen from above, with bushes in the foreground and a scree slope behind — From the ridge above the lake, 10:51, with the sun out.

Wayramachay Altitud 3,853 mWhere the mules rest

Who walks with you

Loaded mules on a stony track under a steep green mountainside, the top of it in cloud — Wayramachay, 09:30. The loads going up ahead of the group.

Two arrieros from the Mollepata district and six to eight mules walk with each group. The animals are theirs, and so is the pace. They load the camp before you finish breakfast, pass you somewhere below Wayramachay and have everything off the mules by the time you arrive.

We don't print their names here: who comes depends on the season and on the fields at home. You'll have them on the first evening, over tea, at Collpapampa.

Walkers walk. The arrieros ride when they need to get ahead of the group. If the altitude stops you, they know where the road is, and we walk you down to it.

Horses and mules grazing on the flat, dusty pampa at Soraypampa, the valley rising behind them — Soraypampa, 11:40. Unloaded; the animals graze until the next group.

What the mules carry

The tents and the mats
The kitchen and three days of food
One duffel per person, up to 7 kg
The first-aid kit and the oxygen

What you carry

Water for the day, two litres
A warm layer and a rain shell
Sun hat and sunscreen
Whatever you want at hand

Soraypampa Altitud 3,900 mSecond camp

What to bring, and what to expect

Cold

At Soraypampa the straw is white with frost at dawn and the tents stand at 3,900 m. The duffel we lend you has a sleeping bag rated to minus ten; bring your own if you sleep cold.

Altitude

Sleep two nights in Cusco, at 3,400 m, before we start. The pass is at 4,630 m. A headache is normal; vomiting is not, and we turn back for it. Nobody has to reach the top to have had a good walk.

Weather

May to October is the dry season: sun in the morning, fog or a short rain by mid-afternoon. Nights are clear and cold. Nothing is cancelled for fog. The route closes in the rains, from December to March.

Food

Three meals a day cooked at camp by the arrieros with what the mules carry up, and tea whenever the kettle is on. Tell us about allergies when you write.

Camp

Two to a tent, or one if you ask. A toilet tent at both camps. Water from the stream, boiled for drinking. No signal after Collpapampa.

In your duffel, up to 7 kg

Warm sleeping bag, or ours
Down jacket
Dry clothes for camp
Wool socks, two pairs
Wool hat and gloves
Headlamp
Small towel and toiletries

In your day pack

Two litres of water
Rain shell
Warm layer for the pass
Sun hat and sunscreen
Walking poles, if you use them
Your own snacks

A small stone hut with a thatched roof on a frosty slope of pale straw and rocks — Soraypampa, 07:09. Frost on the straw.

White bell tents at the camp in a wide valley, with cloud sitting on the slopes above — The second camp, 15:15, with the cloud coming down.