Thanks for sharing with us Cancun Tour Packages. We climbed El Castillo in the early s. The climb was very precarious coming down as the steps are very short and slippery. However, I am very happy I was able to do it. It is shocking how little respect tourist have as to desecrate this global treasure with graffiti. Well,In I started my bucket list climb and went up about 10 steps and looked in back of me and had a hard time seeing the steps and I came back down.
I lost my courage quickly and I admire the people who made it up and down. I at least had the thrill of climbing a few and I am ok with that. I was there early 90's my girlfriend fell down Chicken ltza. No severe injuries just bumps and bruises. We were told then most people did not survive the falls she was about 45 to 50 steps high.
I am so grateful that I was able to climb to the top of Chichen Itza before it closed! It was fabulous! The Maya pyramids were built to be climbed. They usually have steep stairways rising to the top, where there is often a temple or, at least, an altar. The views over the rest of the ruins and the jungle were enough to reduce grown men to tears of wonder. Millions of people, in the past, have made the pilgrimage up them.
Advice abounds on how to survive the arduous ascent - don't look down until you reach the summit; sip water frequently; try not to do it in the midst of a massive group - and even more advice for the sheerness of the descent - hold onto the guide-rope; come down on your backside, bumping from step to step; do it like a crab, sideways. Yet, increasingly, the great pyramids are being roped off. Within two or three years, it is likely that no Maya pyramid will be available for the public to climb upon.
This really is a call out that, if you wish to experience this, then you will have to visit the remaining sites now. The other sites have already banned climbing on their buildings.
Edit: Since posting this blog entry, I've since learned that Uxmal is starting to rope off more of its structures too. It's still possible to climb the Great Pyramid there, but some of the others can be seen only from ground-level.
Climbing these pyramids, especially El Castillo, usually turns up on 'things you should do before you die' lists. With this in mind, disappointed tourists often demand to know why they can't climb on them. Unfortunately, the issues have arisen from the sheer number of tourists that wanted to experience the climb and the views.
Over a million people, annually, climbed the sides of El Castillo. Within a decade, the effect was obvious. Tourists, triumphant in reaching the summit, had left their mark in the form of graffiti. The stone steps, which had survived centuries, were already showing signs of rapid erosion.
Letting people up there was severely damaging the pyramid itself. The climb was already steep, but the crowds rendered the steps shiny with wear. It was hot work getting up there, so sweat poured off them onto the stone, adding another slippery layer. As more and more people flooded into the site, the ascent was generally made with huge groups of people clambering up together, knocking into each other.
In short, it was becoming way too dangerous for those attempting the climb. For a while, the owners of these sites, not wishing to deny the experience of the climb to their visitors, opted for damage limitation. An ambulance was on permanent stand-by at the foot of El Castillo aka Castillo de Kukalcan.
It was used more often than anyone would like, as tourists slipped and fell. Most injuries were fairly minor, but there were an alarming number that were a little more serious. Then came a tragic event that was a lot more serious. By all accounts, she was a fit, healthy, inspirational woman, with a zest for life.
She spent a lot of her latter years canyoneering. She was already planning her next vacation, even while on this one. Once there, Mrs Black did not want to miss out on the experience of a lifetime, so she climbed the 91 steps of El Castillo.
All was well on the way up, but the descent is famously difficult. It was also noon, so the temperature was soaring, even for January. Around the 46th step, 18 meters 60ft above the ground, Mrs Black slipped. She tried, but failed, to grab the guide-rope. In front of a crowd of horrified, helpless staff and tourists, Mrs Black fell down the remaining steps of the pyramid.
Medical assistance was immediate. The ambulance, permanently stationed at the foot of El Castillo, was mobilized. Its crew administered aid at the scene, then rushed her to the nearby Regional de Valladolid Hospital.
Unfortunately, the lady's head and neck injuries were too severe. Despite the best efforts of the hospital personnel there, Mrs Black died four hours later. They had bowed to public pressure to keep the structures accessible to climbers for too long. An army of specialists had scrubbed or otherwise erased the graffiti; repairs had been made to eroded steps; guide-ropes had been fitted; and the ambulance installed.
But there were now simply too many people wishing to climb the pyramids. What had occurred with Mrs Black had been an accident waiting to happen; and now it had actually happened. The decision was made, for the safety of visitors and the preservation of the structures, to prohibit public climbing on the pyramids.
Meanwhile, other archaeological sites took note. As soon as news spread about Mrs Black's fall, the owners of several sites started to rope off their tallest, steepest structures too.
The more squat buildings are still accessible in all of the sites. Other places were lesser known, so didn't get the same quantities of tourists.
There had been little or no damage caused there by the crowds. Their steps might be steep, but they weren't worn by millions of feet, nor covered in the perspiration of dozens of tourists per minute clambering up them. They decided to risk leaving access open, until such time as that situation changed. However, this meant that more and more visitors arrived, en route from one of the larger sites, now wishing to climb a pyramid. As the popularity of the smaller sites grew, then more of them started roping off their structures too.
For some, this is an absolute travesty and it's ruined their vacation blah blah. For others, this is actually better. Unfortunately for visitors, no, Chichen Itza Pyramid is not allowed to climb. In this way, we contribute to preserving this sacred site. Chichen Itza, Mexico — Tourists climb the steep stairway up the Mayan pyramid of Kukulkan, ss. Years ago, the Chichen Itza Pyramid used to be claimed by tourists.
Could you imagine the view? But one day, a couple of tourists had an accident while they were climbing, one of them died. No need to wait until next weekend to score sweet sales on gadgets, gear.
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