Inca Trail Closed August 2026
The Inca Trail has three high passes which received unseasonal snow on August 17, 2026.
First, what is the Inca Trail?
The Inca Trail is a 39km/24mile trail that goes through the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, which functions like a national park, to the archeological site of Machu Picchu. Due to the delicate nature of the historic trail, permits are limited to 500 people per day and mules and horses are prohibited. That means about 200 clients, plus 300 porters, cooks and guides, start the trail daily. Read more about the Inca Trail on my blog.
Why are people protesting Alpaca Expeditions?
You can see how many people in Cusco and around Peru are angry about this by the numbers of comments and reposts. In one day my comment about warning tourists Alpaca Expeditions overloads porters got 249 likes.
A Porter Died on the Inca Trail
Inca Trail porter Gabriel Ríos died on Monday, August 17 after allegedly being abandoned during a storm with heavy rain and snow.
He worked for Alpaca Expeditions, which routinely overworks and underpays their porters, according to the dozens of people I’ve interviewed over the years I’ve been reporting on the Inca Trail. When I ask porters and guides which company has the worst reputation as a bad employer among porters and guides, every time they tell me Alpaca Expeditions. I have been asking the same question for five years and it is always the same answer.
If you hike the Inca Trail, this is what you’ll see. Porters are clearly given more than 20 kilos, the legal limit.
The same day, muleteer Alipio Quiñones Pérez died after helping stranded tourists on the Salkantay trail.
The heavy rain and snow is unusual in August and many blame it on the El Niño phenomenon that is starting to affect South America. Usually, El Niño begins to change weather patterns between April and June, with effects intensifying and being strongest November to January. The unusual weather can last until April, making it a full 12 months of disrupted weather patterns. Often, El Niño causes the Peruvian mountains to experience drought and the coast to experience heavy rains and flooding. However, climate change is also changing El Niño.
Climate experts and weather services have been warning Peru of a “Super El Niño” for the past 5 months. So, why were so many people caught off guard on the Inca Trail and Salkantay? Why were they not prepared for heavy rain and snow?
Why did two people die?
Alpaca Expeditions porters are poorly equipped and routinely required to carry more than the legal allowed weight.
Interview with Porters’ Association Rep
On August 19, I called Juan Ccama Arias, vice president of the Porters’ Association, which advocates for the porters. He explained that while an investigation is ongoing, there are three things he knows that likely contributed to Gabriel’s death.
First, he said that Gabriel was carrying more than the legal limit of 20 kilos. (This does not surprise me because porters and guides routinely tell me that Alpaca Expeditions gives porters around 40kg, and sometimes more). Second, he was alone. (That part makes no sense to me because it’s a crowded trail). Third, people reported seeing him drunk. (If he had been drinking, his colleagues should have kept a close eye on him).
This is Gabriel Ríos Mamani’s body. He was found on the Inca Trail, before Dead Woman’s Pass, wrapped in a plastic sheet.
Signs That he Needed Help
Anybody who observed Gabriel Ríos Mamani looking drunk should have tried to help him. It’s important to note that symptoms of hypothermia mirror signs of drinking: difficulty speaking and walking. I have not seen a report about the final autopsy, so I don’t know if there was alcohol in his system. I don’t know if people saw him drinking or if they just saw him speaking or moving as if he were drunk. Again, hypothermia causes people to slur their words and be clumsy, with trouble walking normally. However, regardless of if he was drunk, there is no reason he should have died on the Inca Trail.
Protestors put these signs on the door of the Alpaca Expeditions office. Translation is below.
Protesting Alpaca Expeditions
On August 22, I went to a protest in front of the Alpaca Expeditions’ office in Cusco. They had taken down the sign above the door that identified it as Alpaca Expeditions and some protestors had put photos of Gabriel Ríos Mamani on the door. The sign (above) reads “We ask Alpaca Expeditions to take responsibility for the death of their employee and to investigate the treatment of porters on tours around Cusco. All workers deserve dignity, fair pay, to sleep in adequate places and to carry the legal weight (20kg).”
I spoke with some of the protestors, with an Alpaca Expeditions employee and with a guide. Here’s what I learned.
Though social media is full of people agreeing that Gabriel Ríos Mamani deserves justice, only a dozen people were at the protest.
The Protestors
They had megaphones and were calling for Alpaca Expeditions to take responsibility for their employee’s death. So far, there has been no official statement from the company owner Raúl Ccolque Ccolque and he is not in Cusco. I’ve asked several people where he is and they say he won’t tell people where he is, only that he’s not in Cusco.
The Employee
She told me that Alpaca Expeditions isn’t the only company that has problems and she doesn’t understand why people are protesting in front of the office and not asking the government to do something about it. She pointed out that Alipio Quiñones Pérez died, allegedly working for Salkantay Trekking, but that nobody is protesting in front of the Salkantay office.
The Guide
Karina Evedove was the only person at the protest who gave me her name. She has been a guide in Cusco for 10 years but told me that she hasn’t worked on the Inca Trail since 2019 because she was disgusted with how porters were treated. She said she saw porters carrying 60kg (133lbs), which sounds impossible but she’s not the first person to tell me that. She also said that over the past 10 years, the company that consistently has the worst reputation for treating porters badly has always been Alpaca Expeditions.
How could this happen at such a popular tourist destination?
Peru does not have adequate workers’ rights, compensation or protection.
The Peruvian government does not adequately enforce the few workers’ rights laws on the books and Peruvian companies get away with treating their employees horribly.
International travelers visiting Peru must understand that the Peruvian government does not enforce regulations. There is no guarantee that tour companies treat employees ethically. There is also no guarantee that tour companies have adequate safety procedures for their employees or clients.
Companies that I frequently hear complaints about from guides and travelers are: Alpaca Expeditions, SAM Travel, Salkantay Trekking, Tourbulencia and TreXperience. As a resident of Cusco, I don’t go on tours with these companies and am only reporting information from reliable sources that I have interviewed.
This is an ongoing crisis and the blog will be updated.
This was the original title of my article published in BBC Travel but was later changed to “An Ethical Guide to the Inca Trail” which I argued with the editors about because currently it is almost impossible to do the Inca Trail completely ethically. The entire system must be changed.
Read more that I wrote about the Inca Trail:
An ethical guide to the Inca Trail article in BBC Travel, published March 2025
Workers’ Rights on the Inca Trail article in Resonate Travel, published October 2025
Problems Afoot on the Inca Trail article in Horizon Guides, published June 2024
Don’t Do the Inca Trail post on my Peru blog, published March 2025
