They started their journey in Mollepata where they hired porters. The route they followed is the new “alternative” to the heavily used  traditional Inca Trail. The route traverses up through spectacular country and past the base of Salcantay a spectacular 6264 meter (20,671 feet) peak. The journey was so impressive that Gian Marco has purchased land at the takeout where the river joins the Urrubamba. Soon trekkers of the Machupichu circuit will be able to complete their last day of descent in rafts.

Diego Valsechi on Santa Teresa

The put-in for the river is where the Quebrada and Rio Tortora joins the Santa Teresa. The elevation at this point is 2750 meters above sea level. The takeout is 23 KM downstream at 1500 meter. The river drops an incredible 1250 meters in 23 KM for average of 54.5 meters per KM or 275 FPM.

The run from the upper stretch takes 2 days and starts out with a day of beautiful class 4. The second day steps up in intensity with at least two portages.

The boys estimate the flow at takeout of 800 CFS and feel the season will be June-early November.

Typical rapid on Santa Teresa

Nearby rivers include the Vilcabamba, Urrubamba, Lucomayo, and Ocobamba. The river is on the way back to Cuzco for those returning from 7 day Paucartambo trip.A road reaches the takeout from the direction of Quillabamba. From Cuzco one takes road to Ollantaytambo in Sacred Valley then up and over pass on recently paved road towards Quillabamba. When the road reaches the Urrubamba you need to cross bridge and turn upstream, cross over Vilcabamba and continue approx 20 KM upstream to town of Santa Teresa.

Most people attempting to run this river are encouraged to start from the takeout and hike upstream. Animals and/or porters should be available locally to help with gear.

Hiking in to the Santa Teresa beside the mighty Salcantay 6264 meters (20,671 feet)

Looking down the Santa Teresa Valley

Gian Marco who curently has an adventure travel company in arequipa might even be willing to guide you and/or help with logistics. For additional info see link to Cusipata.

Click here for a topo map – MACHUPICHU.PDF 1.47 MB

Topo maps are in Adobe PDF format, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
CLICK HERE to download a free copy.

For reasons I can not grasp the river was not run until August 2007. August of 2007 was a low water month with a flow of 400-600 CFS of very cold water. I would guess that the ideal time to run the river is mid May to early July and an ideal flow would be 1200 to 1600 CFS.

The Velille can be found on the Topegraphic map labeled Cuzco at 13 degrees 56′ latitude and 71 degree 53′ longitude.

There are two distinct ways to reach the river from Cuzco. We took both so will describe each one. The first way is to leave Cuzco and travel 61 KM to Paruco (1-1/2 hours). Just before reaching the plaza veer to the right and follow the Rio Paruro to the Apurimac. (note last several km of Rio Paruro look runnable).  Cross the Puente Huarancalla and climb several hundred vertical meters until you come to a “Y” in the road. The left fork follows the Apurimac and goes to Colcha but take the right fork and start climbing towards Ccochirhuey and eventually to Acha. From Acha it is a 45 minute descent to a bridge over the Velille River called Puente Jaralacho. From Paruro to this point it is 64 km  (4-5 hours) making the overall trip from Cuzco 6-1/2 hours.  The elevation of the river here is 2860 meters above sea level and there is good camping on other side of the bridge.

Our return trip was via a different route. From the river we returned to Acha then to Pilipinto then Acos, then Acomayo, Sarasaca and finally down the Pumacanchis River to cross the Chuqicahuana Bridge over the Vilcanota. From here we  followed the paved road for 86 KM back to Cuzco. The return route took 6 hours.

On my trip Piero Velutino and myself camped with our families then in morning recrossed the river and walked up road towards Occotuna. At the first major bend in the road to the right we took a trail and began boat hiking our gear up river until we reached some flatwater among the cliffs approximately 30 minutes later. We boated back to our camp at the bridge which was 2-3 km with 50 meters of drop or roughly 20 m/km. We had 2 scouts and no portages on what felt and looked like a mini Apurimac.

We need to return and run the river from the bridge to the Apurimac which is another 12 km and 260 meters of vertical drop

This classic foto was taken on the first descent of Pumacanchis on July 5, 2007

To reach the river from Cuzco follow the paved road to Urcos 47 KM away. From here it is approximately 40 km to Puente Chucicahuana. (Bridge over river on turn to Acomayo). Here the elevation is approximately 3450 meters. Follow the road for 3 km to the river’s exit at Laguna Pomacanchi. This is the put-in.

The first 1 KM is basically flatwater then the bottom falls out with the river dropping 260 meters in a little over 2 km or roughly 650 feet per mile.  The travertine ledges make the run feasible even with the extreme gradient. One particularly burly drop is at the bridge which crosses the river about 500 meters up from the Vilcanota.

You need a good rainstorm to get this river flowing. The logical takeout is the confluence with the Vilcanota River, however,  an attractive option is to continue downstream on the Vilcanota. There is a description of this river on the site as well with takeout options.

The river can be run starting high at the Inca ruins of Vilcabamba elevation 2850 meters. From here the upper stretch runs to the swinging bridge above the town of Oyara (KM 28). Per Juanito Ugarte this low volume stretch is a definite two day minimum stretch.

Day 1 on the upper stretch begins in town of Huancacalle and soon enters the fits canyon they named “Canyon de la Sirena”. The second canyon is harder, pool-drop class 5 and reminds Juanito of the Palguin in Chile with several waterfalls and channelized rapids.

As the canyon opens the character of the river becomes continuous class 4-5 until the next village below Lucume. (possibly called Yupanca). From this point the river gets ultra continuous class five with boulder strewn rapids and some nasty sieves and portages. It reminds Juanito of the Puesco run in Chile at high flows. At the swinging bridge of Oyara is an easy takeout and cold beer up in town. October 22, 2005

The town of Oyara (estimated elevation 1650 meters)  is also the put in for the middle stretch of river. On October 26 we put on at this point and had approximately 450 CFS of crystal clear water. Within 1/2 KM two tributaries simultaneously bumped up the flow to 700 CFS. We boated to KM 22 and took out a side creek and hiked up to the road. The boating in this stretch was mostly read and run class 4+ and unlike most rivers was actually smalled than it appeared from the road.

In mid November of same year Damen Millar and Nate Elliot put in around KM 22 and ran the Lower section of the river to its confluence with the Urrubamba (estimated elevation at takeout 1100 meters). Nate describes the run as follows:

Km 22-km 15 was good continuous class V. Its bigger than it looks from the road. Around km14, where the giant wall rises from river right, the river  drops into some more serious stuff. The entry rapid is a 20 foot waterfall off the wall over a huge hole. Directly below  the falls there are 5-6 more class V-V+  rapids before you hit the box canyon.

There are two unportagable, scout from the road 500′ above  rapids in the box. Luckily they went. You can see the box from the road. It is 1-2km above the bridge at km 12 or so. I think we left most of the really serious stuff around KM8-9. There are more good rapids after that but your through the hard stuff.

We portaged only once on the whole lower stretch and it was after the box and after seeing it from below I confirm it can be run

Lower Vilcabamba Canyon around km 13

Click here for a topo map – MACHUPICCHU.PDF 1.72 MB Topo maps are in Adobe PDF format, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. CLICK HERE to download a free copy.

Dogs going for swim Ocobamba put-in

To reach the river you can come from the Sacred Valley and town of Calca or from below from Quillabamba. KM markers along the road are measured in distance from Calca.

We ran the river on October 25, 2005. We camped the night ebfore on a beach on river right below Quebrada Honda. We reached the campsite by taking a side road towards Puente Tinchuay (km 146).

To reach the Ocobamba take out and put in continue downstream to village of Quesquento and follow a side road to a new bridge over the Yantile River. this is the takeout of the lower stretch of river.

To reach put in continue upstream until the confluence with Ocobamba and then drive up the Ocobamba valley. We were short on time and put in at town of Toldeo which is at 1000 meters elevation. the 10 km stretch of river we ran to takeout (875 meters) drop 125 meters in 10 km or averaged 12.5 m/km. It was a class 3 run with 5 km on Ocobamba that had around 600 CFS and then 5 km of bigger water boating on Yanatile with some 3000 CFS.

The road continued above Toledo to town of Ocobamba 24 km upstream at 1500 m of elevation. although I did not see this section of river I assume it was good class 4-5 boating with average of 21 m/km or 105 FPM.

Map Quebrada Honda 2445 series J631

Put in for the Lucumayo River

First drop on Lucumayo River

The easiest way to access the river is from the North via Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley or from the South via Quillabamba. There is regular bus service between Cuzco and Quillabamba but you will need to be paying attention so that you can jump out at the proper place to start your trip.

The road from Ollantaytambo to Abra de Malaga is paved 40 km stretch. From here the descent via switchbacks into Lucomayo drainage is unpaved and slow travel. I do not have the exact km but would guess it was approx 50 km from the pass to Inkatambo where the river was large enough to boat.

We ran the upper stretches of the river on October 26, 2005. The river had started to rise from initial rains at the beginning of the rainy season but was not “high”.

To reach the put in we stopped in the small village of Inkatambo and hiked down a trail to the river beside a church. At the river we crossed Puente Kur-Kur and put in on the opposite bank. At this point the river had a small flow of around 200 CFS (20 CUMECS). Within 100 meters a tributary entered the river and doubled the flow to 400 CFS.

The run was basically an ultra-continuous class 4+ run with volume steadily increasing as we went downstream. As the river reaches the foot bridge of Santa Rosa the action increases with some class 5 rapids. Soon after a concrete bridge called Puente Chilca Chilca the river enters a canyon with a distinct change in the character. Within the canyon it is at times impossible to scout and/or portage. A clear flowing tributary from the village of Huamanmarca enters the canyon on river right and provides an escape in case of an accident. (on our trip we had a broken kayak and this was the bail out point for one unfortunate boater).

As the canyon opens the river quickly returns to its former gravel bar character and within 2 km Puente Lauramarca comes into view. This was out takeout and was 10 KM downstream from put in. The run had taken us  2-1/2 hours. We were lucky enough to have a vehicle and a shuttle driver that drove down a secondary road and met us at the river. Puente Lauramarca is below the town of Amaybamba.

In the town of Amyaybamba is a restaurant called “El Chalan”. The owners are Betty Pinedo Giron and her husband Eliseo Sulca Becerra. Betty and Eliseo were our hosts for the evening. Not only did they serve us dinner and breakfast, but they also let us sleep on the floor of their restaurant which with the heavy rains in the evening was a welcome alternative to camping without a tent. Eliseo is the local Police officer and ran our shuttle for us. Eliseo can be reached via phone at 204086 (Ollantaytambo Comisaria) and encourages anyone visiting the area to contact him for help with logistics.

With higher flows this section would become dangerous and the section from Amaybamba down to the confluence with Urrubamba River would be become a great class 4-5 alternative.

I do not yet have a map of the river but would guess the 10 km stretch we ran dropped an average of 30 m/km or some 300 km in altitude

Click here for a topo map – URUBAMBA.PDF 1.69 MB

Topo maps are in Adobe PDF format, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
CLICK HERE to download a free copy.

I think we estimated our section to be about 40 km, and ran it in two relatively long days, characterized by excellent class IV, V, and VI whitewater, numerous portages, and a very scenic and remote gorge. We maintained a fast pace and were not able (only being two of us) to set up extensive safety—larger groups should plan on an extra day. We estimated the flow to be about 500 , and probably should recommend that the run be done at low water only. If you’ve got a few days the is well worth it for a change of character from most of the other east-slope rivers. Keep an eye out for the torrent ducks—they ran a number of rapids we didn’t even consider.

The details of the run are somewhat like what follows. Immediately after our put in, several rapids cut through a hard bedrock gorge. After a few km of flat, meandering current, the signs of civilization on the hillside give way to an increasingly dramatic gorge, gradient picks up for numerous read and run boulder rapids. Look out for a newer landslide rapid in this section that is likely to change year to year, and which backs up a considerable amount of gradient. The rest of the first day consisted of very fun class IV and V boulder rapids, with the occasional class VI death-sieve rapid lurking out there to keep you scouting. Throughout this first day camping was ample; we did stop for the evening, however, at a particularly un-runnabledeath-sieve rapid that the morning after turned out to be a difficult portage and the last decent sleeping for a couple of hours.

DAY 2

The run passes through a number of short gorges, ranging in character from granite boulder drops (yippee) to funky, sieve-laden bedrock gorge drops . Many of the latter rapids are difficult to scout and have major safety hazards in the middle of otherwise clean lines due to the enormity of the boulders relative to the size of the river. As the river nears the confluence with the Apurimac, sparse vegetation and then jungle appear on the hillsides. Here, the Pachachaca cuts through a couple of short, though generally class VI gorges that at higher water might be very difficult to portage.

A few kilometers after the confluence is Puente Pasaje which is where most groups will take out. You can beat the heat waiting on the bridge, or enjoy some fresh cuy (not much else is served) at the hacienda. In the fall of 2004, combis came by every day Monday through Thursday, and charged around 20 soles (I think?) for a long hot passage to Andahuaylas. These schedules aren’t especially precise, and we would especially not recommend trying to get a ride on a Friday, when locals come out of the jungle woodwork to bring goods to market. On the way out, try to peer into the Rio Pampas, which begins near Ayacucho and runs into the Apurimac just a few km downstream of Pasaje

Henry Munter

It is now commercially rafted in an enjoyable 9 km, class 3-4 stretch. Trips start in Cuzco and usually encompass several days of multi-sport activities such as mountain biking, bird watching, and whitewater. If interested in commercial trip contact Pepe Lopez of Apumayou Expediciones of Cuzco http://www.apumayo.com

Trips normally start at or above the town of Patria elevation approximately 650 meters and takeout 9 or more km downstream at Pillcopata elevation 527 meters.  3 Km below town of Patria the river join the Pilcomayo then another 2 km downstream the Rio Queros enters and from this point the river is called Madre de Dios.

One can take out in Pillcopata, but if well planned, a logistically more challenging option is to continue downstream at least two more days to the Manu National park. Here one can visit the park and possibly return by small plane to Cuzco or put all gear in a pecky pecky motorized river boat and begin long trek downstream to Puerto Maldonado.

To reach put in or takeout from Cuzco take main road south towards Sicuani 15 km and turn east on gravel road for 17 km to Huancarani then another 49 km to Paucartambo. From here it is an arduous 25 km climb up to Tres Cruces which at sunrise offers spectacular colors in the sky due to refractions of light coming off the jungle canopy thousands of meters below.