I’m not completely sure, but I think that this is the highest point that I’ve ever crossed in my life. It’s around 4600 metres above sea level, or 15,000 feet. Maybe it was my imagination exagerating things, but the air felt so much thinner at this elevation. It was hard to catch your breath and every step seemed to make you feel tired.

Once we were at the pass, we sat around for a while to see if the clouds would clear enough to be able to see the Salkantay Mountain. Unfortunately, besides a few glimpses through the clouds, we were never actually able to see the mountain up close. The warm moist air from the jungles far down below seemed to push up the valley and as they crossed over the pass they turned into a thick cover of cloud. As we sat at the pass you could see the clouds swirling and twisting as they came up and over the valley in an endless stream.

After an hour or so, our guide decided that it was time to move on and we headed down the other side towards lower elevation. I turned around at one point for a last look back to see if there was any break in the clouds and saw my friend Matt standing on a rock and looking in the same direction from the top of the pass.