Sacred Valley Via Ferrata zipline

Sacred Valley Via Ferrata zipline

This week, Andean Trails’ Maria lives like a condor – flying atop mountains and sleeping while hanging over a precipice in Peru.

Check her fantastic photos on Facebook.

She writes:

“On the zipline, we were literally flying over and between mountains, stifling those little whimpers that both calm and excite at the same time.

This is Via Ferrata zipline in the Sacred Valley, Peru.

We started early in the Inca highland capital of Cusco, and drove through the incredible scenery of the Sacred Valley to Pachar. Looking up, we saw a huge rock wall and atop our room for the night – a transparent tent, hanging off a mountain.

Have faith

It was scary at first, but once I started scaling the big wall, it made for fascinating climbing. It’s easy to put your faith in the safety of the Via Ferrata system used here.

Via Ferrata is a permanent structure of metal ladders, bridges and a steel cable that run along the entire route. You are always attached to the frame by double-hook.

This mechanism provides people with no climbing experience the opportunity to move through spectacular mountain scenery and feel like a true mountain climber.

The ascent of about 400 metres lasted three hours, climbing gently. During the climb we enjoyed great laughs within the group, and impossibly serene moments when we were alone, like condors perched on a rock, admiring the scenery over the Urubamba river.

Luxury lodging

Once we reached the peak – luxury! Our Adventure Suite is a transparent and insulated capsule, which hides you from the wind while you gaze over the magical valley.

I lay for a while on the comfortable bed, full of pillows and soft blankets, and then the staff brought a cup of tea to the room.

Day turns to night, and after relaxing with the peace offered by this wonderful place and feeling totally satisfied and exhausted by the effort that has been made to climb up, we had a high quality dinner, lit by the shine of the Milky Way overhead.

In the morning, a delicious breakfast was waiting for us, while we watched the sunrise between the slopes of the Sacred Valley, overlooking Ollantaytambo.

Ollantaytambo street, Peru

Flying fox

Bellies full, we prepared to return to the valley floor as authentic mountain climbers – we were ready to face the FIVE ziplines downhill.

The longest one was about 500 metres and I watched wonderful scenery that flew past -between each shriek – exhilarating.

The last descent was a rappel. I reached the valley floor, turned, and looked at the mountain, and felt the energy of having done something challenging and exciting.

Such a fascinating experience, I am ready for another adventure.”

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