14/01/2026
Long before accessibility became a strategy, it was already being engineered in the Andes. In 2013, our Andean expedition team, drawing on high-altitude rescue and exploration capability in the Andes since 1975, designed and executed one of the first fully accessible high-altitude Inca Trail expeditions to Machu Picchu.
It was not symbolic.
It was not experimental.
It required route engineering, logistics, medical planning, and mountain expertise built over generations.
Steve Gleason reached Machu Picchu not because of luck, but because a system was built to make it possible.
The expedition was later documented by NFL Films and presented to the United States Congress as part of Mr. Gleason’s Congressional Gold Medal recognition. But for us, the real achievement was something quieter: proving that the world’s most complex cultural and natural sites do not have to remain closed to those with physical limitations.
Accessibility is not a trend.
It is infrastructure.
And infrastructure takes time, knowledge, and continuity.
What existed here in the Andes more than a decade ago is now being rediscovered globally.
This post is simply part of the archive.
Mariela Rurush
Founder & Chair, Amazing Group
Creator of Luxury with Purpose
Founder, Amazing Accessible
Peru Tourism Ambassador
Marca Ancash Ambassador
www.amazingvoyages.com
