Humantay Mountain - Salkantay Route To Machu Picchu
The western edge of the Salkantay is a route that remains virgin after years given the complexity of its layout and the distance from the traditional approach points, which requires additional porting based on the dragging of backpacks.
According to the prestigious Pyrenean Louis Audoubert, who ascended to the top by the northern slope in 1977, the west edge is feasible, but it will certainly be a good problem to solve at the Andean level.
This crest was attempted in 1975 by a group of Catalan climbers from Mataró formed by Manuel Punsola and Mitjans, Miquel Sala and Roy, Xavier Varela and Pinart, Ramón Armengol and Carbó, Antoni Sors and Farre, Antoni Rosa and Olivera and Vicente Aris and Julta .
On August 5, 1975, three members of this expedition approached the edge by an additional buttress of the northern slope that had been previously recognized. They go up for a good part of the day until they reach a point with two possibilities that seem unattainable. The logic was to tackle the ice ridge, something impossible given the lack of material means. The other option would be to flank the slopes of the ridge to look for the hill between the two Salkantay peaks.
At a certain point of this great flanking, which they calculate, it will take them a whole day, they decide to leave due to the large number of avalanches that leave the ridge and that are obviously a first order objective danger. Catalan climbers believe that the difficulties so far have not been important or dangerous, but moving away from the obvious route of the ridge, which would require more human and material equipment, greatly increases the risk.
Coming from Mollepata the first vision we will have of Salkantay is in 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 a little their lives for pure personal satisfaction, so in 1970 a powerful group of Germans from the Munich DAV composed of Walter Welsh, J.Vogt, H.Koebrich, H.Haver and M.Olzowy made a meritorious attempt on the left side of the wall, leaving quite high on the crest that descends to the western summit of Salkantay.
In 1986 an English group led by J.Lowe broke through this hillside attacking the rocky base to the right of the German attempt of the 1970s. The snow zone continued a slight diagonal to the right until it reached the eastern peak of the mountain.
On June 15, 1978, a powerful Slovenian expedition of the Planinska Zveza, composed of Libor Anderle, Zoran Breslin, Marjan Brisar, Edi Torkar, Jure Zvan and Jure Ulcar, accompanied by Dr. Borut Pirc and Matjaz Derzaj as coordinator, opened in a week Exploring and climbing an intelligent route along the eastern slope of the mountain, the Slovenian route, which without detracting from the difficulty, is the most feasible option of trying to reach the top.
The second ascent to this route was made by the Mexican Roberto Morales Puebla and companion on June 17, 1978 and the third by Los Vascos de San Sebastián, Iñígo and Jesús Mª Barandiarán, José Luís Conde and Jesús Mª Rodríguez accompanied by Alberto Cabezón and José Antonio Fernández de Aranguiz on July 3 of the same year, which makes it the first ascent of mountaineers in the Spanish State.
The Salkantay has been visited by mountaineers from around the world, French, Swiss, North American, New Zealander, Polish, Austrian, German, Mexican, Slovenian, Slovenian, Spanish (Asturian, Basque, Andalusian, Catalan)…. that have crossed its steep slopes… some lived the light of the reward from the top ... others, a great majority, had to withdraw when the chance of triumph among the cornices escaped.
SALKANTAY TREK TO MACHU PICCHU INFORMATION
