There are times in our lives when personal challenges present themselves. Crossing our paths they test our ability to find the courage and strength to overcome our fears and achieve personal greatness.

Huayna Picchu Mountain, a towering verdant and stone mountain stands at Machu Picchu. Taunting me through photos, stories, and in person, she called my name. Challenging me to climb her steep mountain sides at 8,924 feet of altitude, the task seemed unsurmountable.

Following my one-day hike in 2009 from KM 104 to Machu Picchu, I had just a day at Machu Picchu before heading down to Aguas Calientes to return to Cuzco. Such strong desire to climb up Huayna Picchu was there – after all, she was calling me. However, the strength and belief in myself to be able to summit such a mountain was completely lacking.

Promising that I would return and climb Huayna Picchu, I returned home and began my three-year long training program to hike the Inca Trail. Planning on spending two nights at Machu Picchu would allow me a rest day, so that I could achieve my life’s desire – to climb Huayna Picchu.

Upon arriving at Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail, Huayna Picchu greeted me like an old friend. She seemed much taller than I had remembered, and frankly impossible to climb.

Looking at her for two days, I repeatedly said to myself “There is no way I can climb that mountain.” Completely exhausted from the four-day trek and drained from trying to breath due to lack of oxygen, I truly doubted my ability to summit Huayna Picchu.

With the appropriate pre-purchased Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu tickets in hand, my friends and I entered into the mystical Machu Picchu citadel at dawn to begin the Huayna Picchu climb. Waiting in line at the check-point, we signed large books and personal injury waivers. If we fell off the side of the mountain, it was our problem – not theirs!

I still hadn’t fully recovered from the four-day Inca Trail trek with the early wake-up calls, cold and damp nights and the overly strenuous trail. But I knew that if I returned home without climbing Huayna Picchu, I would regret it. Regardless of how exhausted and unmotivated I was, there was no way I would not stand up to Huayna Picchu’s challenge.

Quickly realizing that nearly the entire trail climb snaked precariously along the steep edge of the mountain, filled with Inca steps throughout that this was not a climb for the faint-hearted. Add my exercise-induced asthma and it was a new morning filled with personal challenges. Both physically, spiritually, and mentally I had to dig deep and find the strength to keep placing one foot in front of another.

Such Precarious Inca Steps

Yet more steps… But thankfully there were cables throughout the trail to hold on to. Helping with footing, I stayed along the mountainside, slowing using the rest step while gradually creeping the mountain.

Throughout the four-day Inca Trail trek, I had not run across another person that had asthma and I was starting to wonder if traveling to high altitudes was really such a great idea. But then I met another fellow asthma sufferer. I quickly learned that all the tough breathing I was doing was normal for someone suffering with asthma.

Really? I’m supposed to go down that?

The grades on the trail are just insane, and many times one false step could cause you to tumble down the mountain side. But the rewards are wonderful. Just below the summit are the base of the terraces the Incas built here. Turning to look at Machu Picchu, the glorious sight was well worth the effort.

The first photo shows from left to right: the Intipunku (Sun Gate) and the Inca Trail leading to Machu Picchu. The aerial view of Machu Picchu shows how it was designed to be in the shape of a condor. The switchback road is the road used for the buses to/from Aguas Calientes.

In the second photo, the green roof-top is the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. My home-away-from-home while visiting Machu Picchu.

While many are able to climb Huayna Picchu in about an hour, it took me an hour and a half. Still a respectable climb considering the difficulty of the trail. If interested, here is a 22-minute film I made with my DRIFT helmet camera. Sped up, you can climb Huayna Picchu faster than I !

But I made a fatal mistake, while I did reach the top of Huayna Picchu, I wimped out and didn’t climb up through the ruins. Seeing the extremely steep staircase that people were crawling down on all fours, I couldn’t muster enough strength to go further. So all that means is that a return trip is due.

Huayna Picchu, my nemesis, I have overcome you and I promise that one day I will be back again to summit once more.