Salcantay Trek

• 6 days hiking/4 nights camping/1 night hotel
• Permit required for Inca Trail portion; book 6 months in advance
• In/Out Cuzco
• Remote hiking beneath majestic Nevado Salcantay (6,271 m/ 20,600′)
• Enjoy unspoiled Inca Trails and tranquil Andean valleys
• Explore the magnificent ridge-top city of Machu Picchu

Climate Cuzco has well-defined seasons.  From June to  August, while Andean winter days are typically sunny and warm, the temperature can drop to below freezing (27°F/-3°C) at night in our high camps.  Rain seldom falls during winter.  From January to March, the Andean summer months offer daytime temperatures to 85°F/30°C, milder nights (typically to 45°F/8°C) and plenty of rain. Despite some rain, December and April are among our favorite months for trekking, since the mountains are lush with summer flowers and you enjoy plenty of sunshine.  Departures during Andean spring and autumn offer weather patterns intermediate between these seasonal extremes.

Clothing Expect a wide range of tem¬perature and precipitation on your program.  In high mountain environments, you must be prepared for inclement weather at any time.  Even at mid-day, if clouds obscure the sun, the apparent temperature cools dramatically. By packing a system of thin, independent layers of clothing, you can easily add or remove layers to remain comfortable as conditions change throughout the day.

Most trekkers leave camp in the morning wearing a cold-weather layer over T-shirt and shorts.  At the first rest stop, after you have warmed up a bit, remove a layer and continue in hot-weather clothing until the temperature cools off later in the day.  At all times, carry rain-gear in your day-pack.

Basic clothing list:  underwear, thermal underwear (tops and bottoms), socks, light hiking boots, sneakers for around camp, loose-fitting long pants or wind-pants, shorts, T-shirts, long-sleeved shirt, Polarfleece jacket, full rain gear, sun hat, bathing suit, gloves and ski-type hat.

Other Gear Essential: Day pack, sleeping bag, water bottle, iodine-type water purification pills, flashlight, sunglasses, sunscreen, toilet kit, insect repellent.  Optional:  pocket knife, sewing kit, camera and film, binoculars, paperback book, snacks and/or energy bars.

Your outfitter provides: a heavy-duty, 4,100-cubic-inch trail duffel, Thermarest sleeping pad, tents and communal camping gear.  The guide carries a hand-pump water filter.

Vaccinations While no vaccinations are mandatory for entering Peru, and no official is likely to demand to see proof of your vaccination against any disease, some protection is prudent.  Consult your physician or local travelers’ clinic for the latest recommendations. For general travel, the most common recommended vaccina¬tions or boosters are against tetanus, typhoid/diphtheria, Hepatitis A, and polio.  The World Health Organization does not recommend vaccination against cho¬lera.  If you’re visiting the Amazon before or after your trek, ask about yellow fever and chloroquine-resistant malaria.  Some countries (notably Brazil) require travelers to show proof of a valid Yellow fever vaccination when arriving from Peru.

Important Notice for Vegetarians, Passengers with Allergies and Other Restricted Diets

In the cities, you will find sufficient vegetarian choices in most restaurants.  We serve a variety of freshly-prepared foods in our camps.  While our trek meals are designed for omnivores, we are able to satisfy most restricted-diet passengers.   Strict vegetarians will have to bring many food supplements from home, as specialty items are unavailable in South America.

If you have food allergies you must detail these on your trip application when you register for your trek.  Review these with our guide and operations staff during the trek orientation meeting.

Our approach in meeting the needs of restricted-diet passengers is the same: while our cooks concentrate on providing the main meal, they can heat and serve food supplied by the passengers that the passengers deem safe.

If you have a restricted diet, please ask for our memo detailing our approach to food service on the trek.

Know What You Are Buying There are many trek outfitters in Cuzco, offering Inca Trail packages in a considerable range in quality,  reliability, and price.  As one of the pioneers of commercial adventure travel in Peru, we are very proud of our record of environmental and social leadership.  We set the standard of quality among full-service outfitters.  Machu Picchu Climb/ITTA has been awarded Best Adventure Travel Agency by the Peruvian Ministry of Tourism every year since 1997.  The award recognizes the high standards that our guides, cooks, porters and other employees consistently attain.  When purchasing your Inca Trail services from overseas agents, be certain you are buying the services operated by Machu Picchu Climb.  Accept no substitutes!

We receive frequent inquiries from travelers desperately seeking Inca Trail trips at the last minute after the companies with which they originally booked “cancelled” their treks.  This appears to be yet another example of lowball trek operators attempting to capture market share without backing it up with reliable trail permit management.  Unfortunately, in these last-minute circumstances we can do little since the supply of trail permits is strictly limited.  We invest substantial manpower toward ensuring that our rosters and permits are in good standing.

Conditions of Employment for Porters Minimum Age: No porters under the age of 18 should be employed.

Trek Leader Behavior:  The local trek leaders, chief porters, and other staff, should not exploit their positions and in particular must not ask for or accept any form of bribes from porters. Any person found to be doing this should be dismissed. Porters are able to report problems in absolute confidence to the Inca Tours & Travel Adventures (ITTA) management. A field supervisor, who reports only to the office, will randomly check on activities in the field.

Wages:  All staff will receive a fair wage and payment should not be left solely to the local leader but should be supervised by ITTA. Tips will be distributed openly and fairly. Stoves, fuel, pots and pans for food preparation as well as food will be supplied.  Transport to where the trek begins, and from the point it ends to their homes is paid for or provided.

Loads:  No one shall ever be asked to carry more than 20 kg of trek load, and no more than 27 kg including their own personal items. Clients will be told the maximum luggage they can take with them which is to be carried by porters is 10 kg.

Sleeping:  Sleeping tents will be provided. Porters will not sleep outside.

Medical Care:  Staff will have access to first aid equipment sent out on the trek. If a porter becomes ill during the trek he will be paid full wages for the trip and he will be given assistance reaching the health care center. Life insurance with medical care coverage will be provided.

Responsibility on the trek:  The local leader will be responsi¬ble for the welfare of his staff.

Tipping:  Clients should be given advice on how much to tip and the procedure for tipping.

Availability:  These guidelines will be made available to local trek leaders, porters and to clients.

Environmental Policy Machu Picchu Climb supports the efforts of the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary Authority (UGM) to protect the environment within the park by measures which include limiting the daily capacity of the route, and enforcing a policy of 100% carry in/carry out.  We were the first to introduce a system whereby all the camp waste is hauled out of the park.  Our system includes portable chemical (biodegradable) toilets, with no holes in the ground and no solid waste left within the park boundaries.

Q:  Do I need to buy a trail permit to hike on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu? A:  Yes.  All who use the hiking trails in the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary are required to purchase a trail permit.  Companies which claim to offer you a trek that does not require a permit are offering a trek which does not enter the Machu Picchu Sanctuary.

Q:  How do I buy the permit?  A:  As part of confirming you on one of our treks, we purchase permits not only for you but for the porters and other trek crew who haul your gear and look after trek operations.  In the following discussion, we use “permit” in both the singular sense (“you need a permit to trek in the park”) and in the collective sense (“we purchase a permit for 8 passengers plus trek crew”).  Before we can purchase your permit, we need: your full name as it appears on your valid passport (IMPORTANT: check the passport expiry date!), your passport number, your date of birth, and gender. This information appears in the official trail documents and is checked carefully against your passport when you are on the trail.  If the information does not match, you may be refused access to the park and lose your trek.

Q:  I need to renew my passport.  How can I get a permit without a valid passport? A:  We can purchase the permit using your expired passport number.  You then must bring both the expired passport and your new passport with you on the trail, and present both documents at the checkpoints.   If you have no passport at all, then you cannot join a trek until you obtain a passport.   If your name or passport number varies from what you supplied to us for the permit application, then the park authority may deny you access to the trail.  Therefore, it is essential that you supply accurate passport data, and bring this passport with you to the trek.

Q:  I noticed that I gave you an incorrect passport number when I applied to join the trek.  Can you fix that? A:  So long as permits are available for your trek date, we can purchase a new permit with the new passport number to allow you to participate in the trek.  The cost of the original permit is non-refundable.  At the trek orientation you will have to pay for both the old permit and the new permit.  If no more permits are available, then park authorities may refuse to grant you access to the Inca Trail if your passport number does not match that listed on the permit.

Q:  I lost my passport which I gave you to purchase the permit.  I’m applying for a new one.  What happens now?  A:  So long as permits are available for your trek date, we can purchase a new permit with the new passport number to allow you to participate in the trek.  The cost of the original permit is non-refundable.  At the trek orientation you will have to pay for both the old permit and the new permit.  If no more permits are available, then park authorities may refuse to grant you access to the Inca Trail if your passport number does not match that listed on the permit.

Q:  What does the individual trail permit cost? A:  A four-day trek permit costs 248 New Soles, approximately US$84 at current rate of exchange.  While most low-budget treks are offered in this four-day format, we operate a five day/four night trek.  This allows our passengers an additional day on the trail and a full tour at Machu Picchu.  We have been operating at this pace for 25 years, and it remains the best way to see all that the trail offers.  Park permit costs are subject to change without prior notice.

Q:  Is it possible to join a trekking group close to the trek departure date? A:   For all dates but those very early and very late in the trekking season, the answer is a resounding NO.  Trekking permits sell out typically two months or more ahead of the trek date.  The park authorities allow only 500 people to enter the park for any given day, including guides, cooks, porters, and paying customers.  Each person who enters that day needs to be listed on a permit.  From the end of March through the end of October, if you’re not on a roster two months prior to your trek, you’ll likely find that no permits are left.  When that happens, you have two options – change your holiday dates, or trek outside the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary.  For an excellent alternate route, we suggest our Moonstone to Sun Temple Trek.

Q:  Do other companies have allocations of permits that I can purchase after your supply is sold out? A:  No.  The park authority sells the permits on a first-come, first-served basis.  The permit must specify for each trekker the full name, nationality, passport number, date of birth, and gender.   Permits are not transferable, and the only change allowed on the permit is a full cancellation of one or more passengers. The result is that outfitters can buy permits only for passengers actually on their rosters;  and once the 500 permits are issued, no more are available from any source.

Q:  What about late cancellations?  A:  Current regulations do not allow us to replace cancelled passengers with new passengers.   Trek permits are non-refundable and non-transferable.

Q:  If I give you my deposit now, do you buy my permit immediately? A:  Not necessarily immediately, but we customarily purchase the permits within a few days of receiving your deposit.

Q:  Can I enter Machu Picchu ruins at night on my trek permit?  A:  No.  Night-time entry to the Machu Picchu ruins is currently prohibited by the INC.

Q:  Are there student discounts for the trail permit? A:   For students 16 years and older, we must receive a digital version of your International Student Card (ISIC), showing the institution, student status, and date of validity.  A .JPG file sent to us as an email attachment is the best format to achieve this.  For those who will be younger than 16 years at the time of trekking, send a .JPG of the passport ID page.  We submit the documentation when we purchase the permit.  If the park authority accepts the documentation, then they will issue the permit at the student rate of 50% of the adult rate.  If the park authority rejects the documentation, their decision stands and we purchase the adult-rate ticket.   Either way, we charge you the actual amount we pay for the permit.  The June 18, 2005 regulation specifies that ONLY an ISIC will be accepted; and that the original ISIC must be brought on the trek.  Trekkers on student rate tickets who cannot produce ISIC at the trailhead will be charged the difference between student rate and adult rate tickets.

Q:  When do I pay for the trail permit? A: You pay the 4-day trek fee at the trek orientation meeting in Cuzco.  We bill you in advance for our trek outfitting services, from Cuzco to Cuzco, except for the local payment of the trail fee.

Q:  If I change trek dates can I transfer my permit? A:  Both your trail permit and your trek deposit are non-refundable and non-transferable.  To join a new trek date, we have to start the permit process all over again.