As many of you know, the Colca Canyon is considered as the second deepest canyon on earth with around 3,500m deep from top to bottom. The deepest canyon on earth is the Cotahuasi Canyon, next to the Colca Canyon with 3,600m deep. This tells clearly that Peru has one of the biggest mountains on earth and one of the most impressive landscapes too.
If you add that Peru has a millenary culture of thousands of years that developed thousands of kilometers of trails everywhere, you can clearly see that here is one of the best places on earth for mountain biking.
We went first to Cusco for a downhill race and meet our friend Chris Van Dine. After the race, we went to some cool new trails in Cusco and then we went to the Colca Canyon to shoot some pictures and ride some epic trails. January is not the best time of the year to ride but we were lucky again and we found a great weather to ride and the trails were just on perfect conditions!
The first trail we rode was an already known trail by us and it is a nice Inca trail that goes following the Colca Canyon on one of its sides. The views of the canyon, the little towns and the trail are simply amazing. We followed this trail all the way until we reached the hot springs near the town of Chivay, the main town on the Colca Canyon. On the pictures you can see how impressive this trail is.
Chris Van Dine wanted to do an epic trail and something that is new for me. I had the trail, I said. On my last trip I was looking for a trail that starts at 5,048m (16,561 ft.) and ends in Chivay. He said perfect, lets do it! The next day we went to the top of the mountains, near the glaciers, to start this amazing trail. At the beginning, the trail is almost lost and there are no traces to follow but we start making our way down the mountain. This is because during the cold season, the ice covers this part of the mountain and rarely you will find a marked and wide trail. We descended some meters and it start to appear some narrow trails. We were riding on goat trails trying to keep the line. We passed Vicunas at 5,000m and then we passed Alpacas and Llamas at 4,800m until we reached a little farm with nobody inside. The farmers were in the mountains with their animals.
Sometimes at this altitude your brain doesnt work properly and your ideas can be wrong. Once we saw this little farm, we knew we were riding a trail that goes down to the Colca Canyon. Following almost no trail, we descended fast and we reached a wider trail that gets into Chivay. At this time, we were riding for about 3 hours with some occasional bike and hike sections. At the end of the ride, we reached Chivay and we finished one of the most amazing trails we have ever rode on our mountain bikes.
If you add that Peru has a millenary culture of thousands of years that developed thousands of kilometers of trails everywhere, you can clearly see that here is one of the best places on earth for mountain biking.
We went first to Cusco for a downhill race and meet our friend Chris Van Dine. After the race, we went to some cool new trails in Cusco and then we went to the Colca Canyon to shoot some pictures and ride some epic trails. January is not the best time of the year to ride but we were lucky again and we found a great weather to ride and the trails were just on perfect conditions!
The first trail we rode was an already known trail by us and it is a nice Inca trail that goes following the Colca Canyon on one of its sides. The views of the canyon, the little towns and the trail are simply amazing. We followed this trail all the way until we reached the hot springs near the town of Chivay, the main town on the Colca Canyon. On the pictures you can see how impressive this trail is.
Chris Van Dine wanted to do an epic trail and something that is new for me. I had the trail, I said. On my last trip I was looking for a trail that starts at 5,048m (16,561 ft.) and ends in Chivay. He said perfect, lets do it! The next day we went to the top of the mountains, near the glaciers, to start this amazing trail. At the beginning, the trail is almost lost and there are no traces to follow but we start making our way down the mountain. This is because during the cold season, the ice covers this part of the mountain and rarely you will find a marked and wide trail. We descended some meters and it start to appear some narrow trails. We were riding on goat trails trying to keep the line. We passed Vicunas at 5,000m and then we passed Alpacas and Llamas at 4,800m until we reached a little farm with nobody inside. The farmers were in the mountains with their animals.
Sometimes at this altitude your brain doesnt work properly and your ideas can be wrong. Once we saw this little farm, we knew we were riding a trail that goes down to the Colca Canyon. Following almost no trail, we descended fast and we reached a wider trail that gets into Chivay. At this time, we were riding for about 3 hours with some occasional bike and hike sections. At the end of the ride, we reached Chivay and we finished one of the most amazing trails we have ever rode on our mountain bikes.
