Reply to Minimum reasonable age for kids to travel to Machu Picchu

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "Minimum reasonable age for kids to travel to Machu Picchu"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Piggybacking, but I am considering a trip for next year, kids are 10 and 12 and decent hikers. OK to do the hike at those ages?[/quote]

Michu Picchu is 8,000 feet with a lot of climbing. Denver is like 5,200. The only place in the states that is close is Mammoth Lakes, California 7,800 feet. Remember you do not go down at night so it can be very uncomfortable for a lot of people. Cusco is at 11,100 feet. That is really high. [/quote]

We did hike to Gaylor lakes in Yosemite when the kids were 7 and 9, and they did great. That was without acclimatization - we came up for the day from Yosemite Valley. I think that trailhead is around 10,000 feet, but I could be remembering wrong... But yes, there is still a difference between 10 and 12K. And if we do the Salkantay trek, which is the one I would like to do, that is almost 15K at the highest point... Still debating. May have to leave the kids at home for this :)[/quote]

Keep in mind the elevation gain to Lower Gaylor Lake is maybe 750 feet.  The highest point on the four-day trek is nearly 14,000 feet at Dead Woman's Pass -- which was hard but doable.  And the typical camp sites are much lower elevation.  But when I did the Santa Cruz-Llaganuco circuit in the Cordillera Blanca, where you usually camp above 12,000 feet and cross a pass at more than 15,000 feet, I really felt it.  Headaches, dizziness.  (Fortunately no vomiting.)  And we spent four or five days in Huaraz acclimating ourselves to the elevation.   Had some of the same issues a week later in the Cordillera Huayhuash.  I would not take kids on treks at high altitude, including Salkantay, unless your camp sites are at considerably lower elevation than your highest point each day.  The only thing you can really do to address altitude sickness is descend.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics