Photo Story: Big Vertical with Brett Tippie & Jordie Lunn in Peru
Peru is one of the most majestic places on earth and within the last years, mountain biking here has really advanced. The best and most popular mountain biking opportunities exist in the area around Cusco, where plenty of mountains offer a bunch of single trails or paved tracks for any level of experience. It’s the perfect place to travel, if you are seeking a unique twist on a traditional mountain bike trip. YT family members and pro riders Brett Tippie and Jordie Lunn traveled to Peru to experience an adventure of a lifetime and tell us below if this was a trip to remember.
To make sure they have a once in a lifetime experience in Peru, Tippie and Jordie teamed up with Haku Expeditions. As they have been guiding guests on mountain bike vacations and trekking adventures in Peru for years, there’s no trail they don’t know in the Cusco area and they can show you all the hidden gems, too.
 | Bill and Nicole from Haku Expeditions are super cool, have the Peruvian scene dialed and are very avid and skilled MTB people. They get the goods shredding big mountains regularly and share the goods with any guests that sign up for long trails, big vertical and a perfectly balanced mix of tech and flow on mountain bikes! |
Last year, Brett Tippie guest guided a ten-day freeride high altitude, big vertical shuttle trip in Peru with Haku Expeditions on his YT CAPRA. This year, he was invited to return for another trip but was asked to recommend another pro rider to join him and guest guide with.
| I recommended my bud and YT teammate Jordie Lunn because he's fun to hang out with, a sick rider and great with people. Even though we were shuttling mostly we brought our CAPRAs to be able to descend anything we wanted but be able to pedal around and be fully mobile in the mountains. |
Jordie and Tippie started their trip with some local Cusco downhill trails to warm up and acclimatize to the elevation with a van full of rad mountain bikers from around the world:
| We shredded some 3000, 4000, and 5000-foot descents that had us hooting and hollering, despite the high altitude, from the sheer fun of ripping down mountains for km after km of awesome trails for almost a week. |
| The Peruvian people are so friendly and nice and there is a happy vibe amongst almost everyone you meet there. I love it. |
After days of hammering trails and replacing brake pads outside of Cusco Jordie and Tippie prepared to embark on a backcountry mission to shred some big mountain lines down some red scree slopes buried deep in the Andes.
Then, they went for a multi-day camping adventure complete with guests, a cook, porters, tents, food, and supplies carried by horses.
| Our cook was a badass man named Rocky, who has successfully climbed many 22,000 foot+ mountains and was a very talented chef to boot! We ate well because our adventure had us working hard riding and hike-a-biking up to 16,4000 feet elevation. |
Steve Shannon, photographer extraordinaire and Andrew Young, video maestro joined our YT family members to record the adventure and despite having no time to acclimatize to the elevation, absolutely killed it.
For Jordie Lunn and Brett Tippie, this trip definitely is one to always remember.
| We rode, shot, joked and enjoyed the views from the Andes alpine during the day and feasted and enjoyed no wifi and the clearest, most amazing stars you can imagine for 4 nights! Jordie and I rode some challenging first descents and some open line choice freeriding with our fellow adventurers in these huge mountains and had the time of our lives enjoying the Andes mountain lifestyle and culture. |
| Our bikes worked perfectly and got us in and out of the deep backcountry adventure. I recommend you take a trail bike and join Haku for a trip of your own to Peru because it is truly an epic bucket list item you need to cross off before you get old! |
Photos: Steve Shannon
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welcome to the YT family