If We Built It Today (2019–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Legend of Machu Picchu - full transcript
[narrator] Machu Picchu,
the legendary mountain city
hidden atop the towering Peruvian Andes.
A symbol of secrets,
mysteries and the lost
knowledge of the ancients.
The Inca were the great
engineers of the Americas.
[narrator] Today, this lost city is one of
Peru's most popular tourist attractions,
opening its doors to thousands of
people a year for a chance to view
one of the world's most
majestic archaeological sites.
Yet after 600 years, experts are
still debating its original purpose.
[John] Machu Picchu was still under
construction when it was abandoned.
That's part of the mystery.
[narrator] So, now we're curious.
With today's technology, could
we outdo the original builders?
In some ways, it would be easy to
build a modern day Machu Picchu
because we have all the heavy equipment.
We could do it. But it
would be quite a task.
My guess is that it will
be billions of dollars.
[narrator] Here's the plan.
We're rounding up the best
architects, the heaviest equipment,
the latest technology
and all the money it'd take
to build the next Machu
Picchu for a new generation.
Everyday folks living at a high altitude
could live longer than
someone living at sea level.
[narrator] So it'll be a great
place for athletes to train.
Imagine,
the world's greatest wonders re-imagined.
We're wondering.
How long would it take?
How much would it cost?
How many workers would we need?
Could we even do it if we built it today?
Hidden in the heart of the Peruvian Andes,
is the site of an ancient civilization,
Machu Picchu, located in the
middle of a tropical mountain forest.
The ruins inspire equal
parts awe and enigma.
Machu Picchu is shrouded in mystery.
[narrator] A marvel of
engineering and muscle power,
an essential piece of Peruvian heritage,
a testament to the great Inca Empire.
The Inca empire was a short-lived,
highly organized state that conquered
huge territories in South America,
Machu Picchu symbolizes the height
of Inca architecture and achievement.
[narrator] Situated nearly
8,000 feet above sea level,
the site consists of
over 200 stone buildings
that can accommodate up to 1,000 people.
It also features over 700 terraces
built into the mountain,
fortified by granite walls.
The Inca broke ground on Machu Picchu
during the middle of the 15th century.
In the same century that saw
Beijing become ancient China's capital,
Joan of Arc burned at the stake,
the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition,
and Christopher Columbus
setting sail for the Americas.
But what purpose did Machu Picchu serve?
There have been a lot of different theories
about what Machu Picchu
is and why it was built.
Some people say it's a city.
It was built not with
the idea of being a city.
Other people think it's a sacred shrine.
It was a site of great
religious importance.
I say that it's less like
the Taj Mahal and more
like where the king
went to relax and party.
[narrator] Some theories
suggest that Machu Picchu
may have been a royal estate
built for the ancient Empire leader.
Pachacuti or Pachacutec,
some chronicles call him
was the most important of the Inca kings.
He took the Inca from what was
basically just another rating culture
into an empire of over ten million people.
His name means Earth
Shaker, and certainly he did.
Pachacuti had this vision
to expand, and he did it.
He conquer from almost south of Columbia
to Chile and part of Argentina,
Bolivia. So, five countries.
It was a huge place.
It was the biggest empire in South America.
[narrator] Many archaeologists
believe Pachacuti intended Machu Picchu
as a place where he could
perform religious ceremonies.
While also establishing his
ancestral claim to the land.
But we've got our own theory.
What if the mystery to this city's
greatness lies in its sky high location?
Machu Picchu is situated
just below 8,000 feet,
which makes it an ideal
place for altitude training.
[narrator] Christina Buchanan is
a cutting edge research scientist
studying the effects of
altitude on athletic performance.
[Christina] High altitude
exercise physiology
is a branch of exercise
physiology that studies
how low oxygen affects
the body during exercise.
[narrator] So could Machu Picchu
have been the first high
altitude training facility,
a place where kings, warriors, athletes
and other Inca elite could train for war?
[Christina] The research
shows that benefits from altitude
training occur around 6,800 to 8,200 feet.
So if someone were to go
to Machu Picchu and spend
some time training
there, they would certainly
get the benefits from that altitude.
[Ed] It's a beautiful place.
Now, it's also connected to
a long series of Inca roads,
and back in the past, they would run
these very well managed trails 20 miles.
So it'd probably also be a great place
if you were an athlete
to train at high altitude.
[narrator] Now we're curious.
What if we built a state of the art
high altitude athletic training facility
utilizing the latest
technology and engineering?
If the Inca could construct
it six centuries ago,
we could do it better today, right?
Not so fast.
The people who know Machu Picchu best
claim this kind of know-how,
artistry and inspiration
just doesn't exist anymore.
Architect Oscar Gonzalez Moix is concerned
our plan may veer
too far off the Inca path.
So before we go any
further, we need to understand
this ancient city's cultural significance.
[speaking Spanish]
[narrator] According to Oscar,
respecting the natural
environment is just as
important as anything we build.
So we'll make sure our athletic
facility will not only be a place to train,
but also a center to condition the mind
and the soul.
But first things first.
We'll need to figure out how we're going
to build this thing on top of a mountain.
Luckily, we know a crew
with tons of experience.
Pikes Peak Summit complex project is unlike
any other construction
project anywhere in the world.
[narrator] We're in the Colorado
Rockies with Rob Clough and his crew
to learn what it'll take
to build at high altitude.
So what do you think, Rob?
Our modern day Machu
Picchu dreams out of reach?
[Rob] The challenges are
very real, working at altitude.
With weather, altitude,
worker availability and getting
materials to the summit of Machu Picchu,
but I think it would be definitely doable.
[narrator] It's a lot of dirt
and concrete right now.
But soon this construction site will
be a world famous tourist destination.
But could we follow the example
of this epic construction crew,
or are our heads stuck in the clouds?
The human spirit is very
strong so we could do anything
we can put our mind to.
[narrator] What are we
going to build it out of?
How long will it take?
How much will it cost?
Can we even do it?
It's a tall task, lining up all the parts,
pieces and people we'd
need if we built it today.
We're imagining how we
build the next Machu Picchu.
A state of the art athletic complex
equipped to train the body mind and soul,
drawing our inspiration from the Incas.
We want our Machu Picchu to blend
in seamlessly with its environment.
But before we figure out how we build
it, we need to figure out why we built it.
When the Incas created their Machu Picchu,
it was at the height of the Inca
Empire, less than one hundred years
after its construction, it
was suddenly abandoned.
The people who were managing
Machu Picchu for the king heard
long before the Spanish ever
got there that they were upon them.
So they picked up everything.
They picked up the ancestral mummies.
Everything. So it was left
alone, and all of a sudden
hundreds of years have passed
and no one even touched it.
[narrator] That was until archaeologist
Hiram Bingham led a
team of explorers to Peru,
hoping to find a connection
between the Incas fall to the Spanish.
When he got there, he became obsessed
with finding the lost city of the Inca.
[narrator] Bingham led three
excavations at Machu Picchu
and shared his discoveries with the world.
Soon, explorers from all over the globe
flocked to Peru to follow in his footsteps.
And in 1983, Machu Picchu became
a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
and in 2007 it was named one of the
Seven Wonders of the modern world.
[John] Machu Picchu is
recognized immediately
as one of the great
landmarks of world architecture.
That's part of the mystery.
[narrator] While archaeologists are still
digging up clues about its past,
scientists like Mark Walsh are studying
the benefits places like Machu
Picchu could have on the human body.
Biomechanics is my official job.
Uh, my passion is altitude.
[narrator] For over a decade, Mark's
been leading mountain expeditions
in the Himalayas, Alps,
and the Andes Mountains in South America.
You live in altitude for a while
you, produce more red blood cells.
The idea is when you
come back down to sea level,
you still have those blood cells
and you can transport oxygen
better than you could before.
And that's where this whole
athletes at altitude comes in.
[narrator] Scientists measure
altitude as the height above sea level.
So at the top of Machu Picchu,
you're 8,000 feet above the ocean.
But over 70 percent
of the world's population
lives closer to 1,000 feet.
That's equivalent to the
height of the Eiffel Tower.
The tricky part is that if
a person isn't exposed
to higher altitudes regularly, their
body will need some time to adapt.
[Christina] The higher you
go in altitude, the less pressure
is exerted on the atmosphere
and the amount of oxygen
breathing in is less.
[narrator] Well, the science
behind how the body responds
to altitude has been known for centuries.
A more recent discovery was made
during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Sports scientists noticed
that most athletes performed
below expectation and began to study
how the amount of oxygen in the air
impacts physical performance.
[Christina] Percentage of oxygen
in the atmosphere is 21 percent.
So that's the same whether
you're a sea level or 14,000 feet.
But there's less oxygen per
volume of air at a higher altitude.
[narrator] To compensate,
the body naturally increases
red blood cell production,
carrying more oxygen
to the lungs and muscles
than it would at a lower altitude.
The main benefit for an
athlete training at high altitude
is that they will perform
better when they're at sea level,
because they have more oxygen available
or more ways to carry and
deliver oxygen available.
[narrator] The result is an all
natural form of blood doping,
the practice of boosting the
number of red blood cells in the body.
So here's the plan.
We'll build the world's greatest Health
and Wellness training
center, a state of the art facility
where athletes can acquire
the benefits of training
at 8,000 feet above sea level.
That mission will guide every decision we
make about our modern day Machu Picchu.
But before we can get started,
we've still got a few things to figure out.
From what we've heard, working at
high altitudes can be downright deadly.
Altitude sickness affects our
crews in many different ways,
and many different shapes.
[narrator] Our design needs
to be a thing of natural beauty.
So where are we going to
find suitable building materials?
Every stone is a unique stone,
and nowadays we don't require
that every stone be unique.
[narrator] Transporting
our materials and equipment
will give new meaning to the word highway.
Simply getting materials to 14,000 feet
through all of the switchbacks posed
a really big challenge
as a construction team.
[narrator] And we gotta figure
out what size workforce we need,
how long it will take and how
much this whole thing is going to cost.
Well, you know, back in
the day, it probably cost, ah,
couple billion potatoes and ears of corn.
[narrator] But before we build anything,
we need to know where
we're going to build it.
We'll need to find a peak that's
not too short, but not too tall, either.
Our mountain has to be just right
to make sure our athletes
are achieving maximum results.
[Christina] So if a person
is training and living at,
say, 10,000 feet, it's
a lot harder to recover.
And so generally, that
person will not benefit as much
as the person who's
training closer to 8,000 feet,
between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.
[narrator] Luckily, we don't
need to look any further than
Christina's home state of Colorado.
Where we are today is at
7700 feet and Machu Picchu
is around 7900 feet,
so they're pretty similar.
[narrator] The Rocky Mountains in
Colorado is an altitude lover's paradise.
Here, the average elevation is
approximately 6500 feet above sea level.
It also boasts 58 fourteeners,
the code name for mountain
peaks above 14,000 feet.
Plus, it already has a reputation
for high altitude training.
[Christina] We have a lot of
Olympians and former Olympians
and pro athletes who come here to train.
[narrator] But there
is one chilling problem.
It's really cold in the winter.
[Ed] Half of the year in the
Rockies is covered in snow.
Machu Picchu never gets that way because
even though it's up in the mountains,
it's also in the tropics,
so it never has snow.
So it's a year-round retreat, something
the Rockies or other mountains
just really couldn't replicate.
[narrator] Fair enough, but Machu
Picchu also has a brutal rainy season.
The region gets about 70 inches
of precipitation a year,
double the global average.
So if this is what our modern Machu Picchu
looks like a couple of months a year,
we're okay with that.
Plus, we know we can find the expertise
we need up here in the Rocky Mountains.
[Rob] So building Machu Picchu today,
although being very challenging,
I think it would be possible.
It would be a new challenge
similar to the challenges
that we're presented here.
[narrator] Colorado, here we come.
But how are we going to design
a mountaintop training center
to rival the crown jewel
of the Andes Mountains?
And are we going to have to hunt down
a pile of lost Inca gold to pay for it?
We're bracing for an avalanche
of expenses if we built it today.
We're trying to figure out how we build a
new Machu Picchu in the Colorado Rockies.
We're imagining a high
altitude athletic training center
to condition a new
generation of pro athletes.
But building way up in the
clouds isn't for the faint of heart.
To do it right, we need to
follow the lead of Rob Clough
and the team building the
Pikes Peak Summit complex.
We're standing currently in the
lobby, and the grand staircase items
will come down right here in the lobby.
Off to the left here we
have the retail space.
This area specifically will
have educational opportunities
for people to learn a little more
about the history of where they're at
and some of the things that
they're seeing, whether it be
the mountain views or the
animals or the plant life around here.
[narrator] Pike's Peak draws
in 750,000 people each year
and is a designated
national historic landmark.
Perched over 13,000 feet above sea level
there's no better place than Pikes Peak
to figure out how to build at altitude.
But working at higher
altitudes poses certain
unpleasant side effects for some people.
[Rob] Another challenge that we
experience on almost a daily basis
is trying to overcome the altitude.
Our crew can experience everything
from an upset stomach to
severe headache and nausea.
Uh, sometimes forcing that crew member
to need to leave the peak immediately.
[narrator] If we want to keep
everyone safe, we'd better consult
with our altitude expert on this one.
There are different
degrees of altitude sickness.
And the least serious is
called acute mountain sickness.
Typically, that occurs because
they ascend too quickly,
and it's... their body doesn't
have enough time to adjust.
More severe types of altitude sickness
include high altitude pulmonary edema
and high altitude cerebral edema.
In those cases, what happens is fluid leaks
out of the blood vessels into the lungs.
That would be pulmonary edema.
Or in the brain.
And that would be cerebral edema.
Both of those conditions
can be life threatening.
When you're at high
altitudes going up fast, it's, uh...
it's not a joke, it's dangerous stuff.
[narrator] No kidding.
Even scarier than that, it's
almost impossible to know
who'll be affected by altitude.
But amazingly, the latest research
into the genetics of the
ancient Andean people
reveals that the ability to handle altitude
may be coded into their DNA.
Genetic studies show that native Andeans
have a higher concentration of hemoglobin,
the protein in red blood
cells that carries oxygen,
naturally compensating for the
lack of oxygen at high altitudes.
Fortunately for those who live
closer to 5,000 feet above sea level,
the most severe effects aren't felt
until you ascend past 8,000 feet.
So we start low and we have ascend slowly,
and your body gets used to
the altitude as you're going up.
[narrator] They employ a similar principle
here at Pikes Peak construction site.
[Rob Clough] As we get new people on board,
we have to slowly acclimate them.
Instead of forcing them
directly into their area of work,
we slowly allow them
to get used to the altitude
before extending their work hours,
allowing them to work
more hours into the day.
[narrator] So, with precautions in
place, we'll make sure our workers
can slowly adjust and
adapt to the altitude.
But the real challenge
will be in the design.
Can we create a Machu Picchu
that's as breathtaking as the original?
[Magali] It blends beautifully
with the natural environment,
the way that the mountain was
formed, and they just fit there.
[narrator] Even today,
you can see right away
that the ruins' natural setting
is just as crucial to the site
as the buildings themselves.
The overall orientation of Machu Picchu
was somewhat dictated by
the mountaintop it sits upon.
There's a big wide plaza
going through the middle
and the buildings are around it.
The ones that the king and
his entourage would live in
kind of sit up over the other buildings,
so they have a view of this really
magnificent range of mountains
and a big mountain poking
out from the valley below.
Across the plaza from there is another
section of buildings that are bigger,
they have more entrances,
and they seem to be
probably servants' quarters.
[Magali] There were 500
or 700 people living there,
all to maintain the place.
[Ed] On the far end is a trail
that goes up to the top
of that beautiful mountain
you see in the background
of all the postcards.
[John Ochsendorf] Anyone
who goes to Machu Picchu today
feels this dramatic
setting in the mountains.
It's an incredibly beautiful place,
and I think the Inca knew that.
[narrator] Could our modern Machu
Picchu ever rival the natural beauty
of this ancient Inca marvel?
And can we build it strong enough
to withstand even the
most deadly natural disasters
if we built it today?
[narrator] We're imagining how we
build a Machu Picchu for the 21st century.
It'll be a modern training facility
for pro athletes and future Olympians.
We've decided to build
it in the Colorado Rockies
at an altitude of 8,000
feet above sea level,
the sweet spot for high altitude training.
But now we got to figure
out what it's going to look like.
That brings us to Lima, Peru's modern
day capital of over nine million people.
Oscar Gonzalez Moix creates
homes, cultural centers and libraries
that appear to spring up
organically from their environment.
[speaking foreign language]
[narrator] But the calm of nature
is something the 2,500 people a day
that visit Machu Picchu never experience.
Machu Picchu today is a bit
of a victim of its own success.
So many tourists go there
that it really is posing
a danger to the ruins.
And its beautiful environment.
There is a harm right now.
And we have to take care of that.
[narrator] We can't
guarantee our Machu Picchu
will fix the tourist
problem, but we can pledge
it will blend in seamlessly
with its surroundings.
So, here's what we'll do, we'll
recreate the footprint of Machu Picchu
atop the Colorado Rockies
and install the most sophisticated tech
to transform our mountain top site
into the world's greatest
high altitude training center.
Now we gotta figure out what materials
were going to build it with.
Six centuries ago, the
Inca didn't have to look far.
In the middle of Machu Picchu
is a big quarry full of
scattered giant stone.
We know that they built much
of the site from the materials
found right beneath their feet.
The granite, the earth and the stone
that they quarried right
from Machu Picchu's site.
[narrator] The stone was
cut and placed on location
using a dry, stacked stone
construction technique.
The name says it all.
Pile stacks of stone
together to build a structure.
The idea couldn't be simpler,
but the art is in the execution.
[John] The Inca, quite
simply, were master masons.
Inca stonework...
is some of the greatest
achievement in stone architecture
anywhere in the history of the world.
Inca masons were particularly
skilled at carving stones
to fit so closely together,
that even without mortar,
you can't fit a knife into the joints,
and they withstand
earthquakes for centuries.
They have earthquakes
there in South America, in Peru,
so these buildings have weathered
hundreds of years of earthquakes,
and they're still standing rock solid.
[narrator] This simple, dry,
stacked stone building technique
helped Machu Picchu survive epic disaster.
Earthquakes cause a shock
wave effect from the ground
and then up through the structure.
The more rigid that structure is,
the more likely it is to collapse.
So a pile of stones connected
with mortar responds like this.
But dry stacked structures
are built with individual stones,
which will shake,
but there's enough give to
hold the overall structure in place
until seismic conditions return to normal.
Okay, so dry stone construction
of Machu Picchu was pretty impressive.
But these buildings definitely
aren't insulated for Colorado winters.
Stone won't do it alone.
Here at Pikes Peak, they're
building with steel, glass and concrete.
We're actually doing a lot of
pre-cast and pre-fabrication.
[narrator] That means a lot of the
heavy lifting is happening off site
at this pre-cast plant.
Here liquid concrete is
poured into a mold or form
and cured in a controlled environment.
Using this technique makes for a
more robust and consistent final product.
Another advantage is the process is done
on ground level, which
helps keep workers safe.
Could constructing with pre-cast concrete
hold the solution to our most icy obstacle?
Here, up on 14,000 feet,
we experience a lot of turbulent weather,
whether it be the lightning storms
that roll through in the afternoon
or as we move closer to Fall,
the potential for snow or heavy snow
that causes us to have to
exit the site unexpectedly.
[narrator] In the construction
world, all building materials
from wood to brick to glass are graded
by their R-value, or their
ability to resist heat loss.
A piece of drywall has
in R-value of about one
built by adding insulation.
You can increase the
R-value to the appropriate level
for the climate you're building in.
For our mountain-top construction,
we can crank up the R-value
with a concrete panel sandwich.
Two slabs of concrete
surrounding a thick piece of insulation.
Once complete, the concrete
will be faced with a stone veneer
constructed from small pieces of stone
chosen to match the natural environment.
But architect Stuart Coppedge
thinks we could take
this idea one step further.
If we were to build it today
and pay tribute to Machu Picchu,
we would probably try to use
much larger pieces of stone
instead of the smaller
stone veneer that we used
on our pre-cast concrete structure here.
[narrator] Luckily for us,
the same rock that makes up
the Colorado Rockies magnificent
geological wonders can be quarried
and cut to fit our modern Machu Picchu.
So we'll build it out of pre-cast
concrete with a stone veneer.
But how are we going to transport it
to our mountaintop construction
site if we built it today?
[narrator] We're drawing up plans
for a cutting-edge, high
altitude athletic facility
built atop the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
It's our modern day take on Machu Picchu.
So far, we figured out
that we'll want our complex
to blend in seamlessly with our location.
Just like the original.
We've decided to build our
complex with pre-cast concrete
faced with pieces of stone from
the surrounding environment.
And all that concrete
will help keep our facility
nice and insulated during those
bone-chilling Colorado winters.
But now we've got to figure out
how we'll get this heavy
material up a mountain.
Let's find out how the
Pikes Peak crew did it.
[man] Simply getting
materials to 14,000 feet
posed a really big challenge.
The highway here from
the gate is 19 miles long.
It passes through several
switchbacks that are very tight.
[narrator] To get our materials
and equipment on site,
we need to build a
road, just like the Inca.
Today most people that visit
Machu Picchu do it by train.
The other way you can get to Machu Picchu
is by the old Inca trail
along the Urubamba River,
up and over... and you
enter the city from above.
By building new roads and new bridges,
the Inca Empire was able to reach
into remote areas in the Andes Mountains
and connect them to a centralized state.
[narrator] The world-famous
Inca road system
is more than just a path to Machu Picchu.
It's a nearly 25,000-mile track
stretching from Colombia to Chile.
The extensive reach of the road network
allowed Incas to move
armies across territories
and trade and transport goods.
But the Inca road system
controlled and organized the state.
It was said that the Inca himself
could enjoy fresh fish in the mountains
that was caught at to
sea that same morning.
[narrator] It was also a race
track for the chasqui runners.
These pro-athletes were part courier,
part long-distance marathon runners.
They would operate in relays,
passing messages to other chasqui
runners stationed along the road.
[Ed] Machu Picchu was built by
thousands and thousands of laborers.
They were not slaves.
They were people from all around the empire
who were brought in for the construction
of that beautiful palatial residence.
The key to Inca construction
was a form of organized labor
paid as a tax to the Inca state.
Local villagers had to work
a certain number of hours
or complete a certain
number of projects each year
as a way of paying taxes.
And with a empire of ten million people,
a lot of things got done.
[narrator] But how many people will we need
to build a long and winding
road to the top of our mountain?
Constructing this massive
network took a lot of brute force.
Back at Pikes peak,
modern machinery makes
the job more manageable.
It's not alien technology, but it
cuts the workforce way down.
The Pikes Peak construction team
is made up of just 100 people.
So we'll put our figure at 100 workers too.
But how long is it going to take?
Hopefully not as long
as it took the first time.
It would have taken decades
to shape the landscape,
to build the terracing, to move the earth,
to carve the stones, to
transport the raw materials
just to clear the jungle
in that mountain saddle.
Machu Picchu was still under
construction when it was abandoned,
so the site may never have been finished.
[narrator] The Pikes Peak Summit
crew is still building the complex,
but at least the end is in sight.
If they stick to schedule, they'll have
wrapped the job in just three years.
But they could have built
it even faster at sea level.
Up here, the construction
season is roughly six months,
and the days are shorter too.
But if this crew can build it in
three years on top of a fourteener,
we can build our Machu
Picchu in three years too.
We're ready to mount the greatest
construction mission in six centuries.
But just how mountainous
will the final bill be
if we built it today?
[narrator] So you want to build
a modern day Machu Picchu?
What would it take?
We're imagining our
mountaintop Machu Picchu
as the world's top high
altitude training center,
built for the world's greatest athletes.
We're going to build it in
the remote Colorado Rockies
at 8,000 feet above sea level.
And we know it'll take 100 people
and three years to pull it off.
To build a modern day Machu Picchu,
the first thing we have to do is plan it.
Have to plan, plan, plan.
[narrator] But will our
plan hold up to the original?
The construction plan for the first
Machu Picchu was pretty organic.
It's unlikely that Machu Picchu
started with a unified principle
of what the architecture would become.
It likely built up slowly over time
and expanded through the decades.
It was constantly evolving and
expanding until its abrupt abandonment.
[narrator] But the first thing the Inca did
was transform the landscape.
[John] One of the greatest
achievements in Inca architecture
is the terracing.
Terracing is the first step
to turning the inhospitable
building site of Machu Picchu into a city.
[narrator] In landscaping terms,
terracing refers to a series
of flat areas made on a slope,
almost like gigantic steps.
[John] Terracing uses dry, stacked
stonework to form the landscape.
It creates level surfaces for people
to live, for domestic architecture,
for houses, for agriculture, for planting.
[narrator] These nine-foot-deep
mountainside steps or slopes
consisted of three layers.
Rock, gravel...
and rich topsoil.
The platforms were used for growing crops
and protection from land erosion.
[Mark] If you have a
mountain and there's water,
it flows down the mountain and
drags everything down with it.
If you have terracing, that
water sits on each terrace
and sinks in and it becomes
nourishment for the plants.
The terracing turns the
landscape from a natural landscape
into a built landscape.
The Inca built with the landscape.
[narrator] We like the sound of that.
So how can we incorporate this
technique into our construction project?
We could use drilling and blasting
to get down to the foundation
level of a modern day Machu Picchu.
In fact, that's what
we did on this building.
We actually drilled down, put dynamite in
and then blast it to take us down
to that solid granite
bedrock of the mountain.
[narrator] Drilling and blasting is
our way of creating a modern terrace,
a level surface upon which we can build.
Once we blast our way to flat ground,
our pre-cast concrete pieces
can be shipped up to the mountain.
Once they arrive, we'll erect our crane
and get to work assembling it all.
In some ways, it would be easy to
build a modern day Machu Picchu
because we have all the
heavy equipment and everything.
Build a foundation, build a
structure, then enclose that building
in the final materials and then
finish the interiors of the building.
[narrator] Our buildings will be clad
with Colorado Stone on the outside,
and inside, the latest
athletic training technology,
and a research lab to study the
effects of high altitude on the body.
Imagine that...
a Machu Picchu-inspired
athletic training center
for the greatest athletes in the world
built in the Colorado Rockies.
Our pre-cast concrete
structures would be finished
with pieces of Colorado stone.
And our roads and trails are just waiting
for the Olympic marathon runners to arrive.
So how much is this all going to cost?
It's got to be at least an
excess of a billion dollars.
My guess, it would be billions of dollars
run over cost and be
finished three years late
because of all the work that it would take.
[narrator] The budget for the
Pikes Peak Summit complex
is a cool 60 million.
But what we're imagining is more
like the kind of athletic training facility
you might find at a major university.
And even when built at sea level,
those can cost upwards
of 100 million dollars.
Include the cost of a
marathon-length trail system
and a residence for our super athletes,
we'll put our price tag
at 200 million dollars.
From the ancient Inca's epic
empire expansion six centuries ago
to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City,
altitude training has
helped inspire a new theory
about Machu Picchu's great purpose...
echoing down through the centuries,
pushing the boundaries of mind,
body and ambition.
And redefining the brave
new heights we could reach
if we built it today.
the legendary mountain city
hidden atop the towering Peruvian Andes.
A symbol of secrets,
mysteries and the lost
knowledge of the ancients.
The Inca were the great
engineers of the Americas.
[narrator] Today, this lost city is one of
Peru's most popular tourist attractions,
opening its doors to thousands of
people a year for a chance to view
one of the world's most
majestic archaeological sites.
Yet after 600 years, experts are
still debating its original purpose.
[John] Machu Picchu was still under
construction when it was abandoned.
That's part of the mystery.
[narrator] So, now we're curious.
With today's technology, could
we outdo the original builders?
In some ways, it would be easy to
build a modern day Machu Picchu
because we have all the heavy equipment.
We could do it. But it
would be quite a task.
My guess is that it will
be billions of dollars.
[narrator] Here's the plan.
We're rounding up the best
architects, the heaviest equipment,
the latest technology
and all the money it'd take
to build the next Machu
Picchu for a new generation.
Everyday folks living at a high altitude
could live longer than
someone living at sea level.
[narrator] So it'll be a great
place for athletes to train.
Imagine,
the world's greatest wonders re-imagined.
We're wondering.
How long would it take?
How much would it cost?
How many workers would we need?
Could we even do it if we built it today?
Hidden in the heart of the Peruvian Andes,
is the site of an ancient civilization,
Machu Picchu, located in the
middle of a tropical mountain forest.
The ruins inspire equal
parts awe and enigma.
Machu Picchu is shrouded in mystery.
[narrator] A marvel of
engineering and muscle power,
an essential piece of Peruvian heritage,
a testament to the great Inca Empire.
The Inca empire was a short-lived,
highly organized state that conquered
huge territories in South America,
Machu Picchu symbolizes the height
of Inca architecture and achievement.
[narrator] Situated nearly
8,000 feet above sea level,
the site consists of
over 200 stone buildings
that can accommodate up to 1,000 people.
It also features over 700 terraces
built into the mountain,
fortified by granite walls.
The Inca broke ground on Machu Picchu
during the middle of the 15th century.
In the same century that saw
Beijing become ancient China's capital,
Joan of Arc burned at the stake,
the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition,
and Christopher Columbus
setting sail for the Americas.
But what purpose did Machu Picchu serve?
There have been a lot of different theories
about what Machu Picchu
is and why it was built.
Some people say it's a city.
It was built not with
the idea of being a city.
Other people think it's a sacred shrine.
It was a site of great
religious importance.
I say that it's less like
the Taj Mahal and more
like where the king
went to relax and party.
[narrator] Some theories
suggest that Machu Picchu
may have been a royal estate
built for the ancient Empire leader.
Pachacuti or Pachacutec,
some chronicles call him
was the most important of the Inca kings.
He took the Inca from what was
basically just another rating culture
into an empire of over ten million people.
His name means Earth
Shaker, and certainly he did.
Pachacuti had this vision
to expand, and he did it.
He conquer from almost south of Columbia
to Chile and part of Argentina,
Bolivia. So, five countries.
It was a huge place.
It was the biggest empire in South America.
[narrator] Many archaeologists
believe Pachacuti intended Machu Picchu
as a place where he could
perform religious ceremonies.
While also establishing his
ancestral claim to the land.
But we've got our own theory.
What if the mystery to this city's
greatness lies in its sky high location?
Machu Picchu is situated
just below 8,000 feet,
which makes it an ideal
place for altitude training.
[narrator] Christina Buchanan is
a cutting edge research scientist
studying the effects of
altitude on athletic performance.
[Christina] High altitude
exercise physiology
is a branch of exercise
physiology that studies
how low oxygen affects
the body during exercise.
[narrator] So could Machu Picchu
have been the first high
altitude training facility,
a place where kings, warriors, athletes
and other Inca elite could train for war?
[Christina] The research
shows that benefits from altitude
training occur around 6,800 to 8,200 feet.
So if someone were to go
to Machu Picchu and spend
some time training
there, they would certainly
get the benefits from that altitude.
[Ed] It's a beautiful place.
Now, it's also connected to
a long series of Inca roads,
and back in the past, they would run
these very well managed trails 20 miles.
So it'd probably also be a great place
if you were an athlete
to train at high altitude.
[narrator] Now we're curious.
What if we built a state of the art
high altitude athletic training facility
utilizing the latest
technology and engineering?
If the Inca could construct
it six centuries ago,
we could do it better today, right?
Not so fast.
The people who know Machu Picchu best
claim this kind of know-how,
artistry and inspiration
just doesn't exist anymore.
Architect Oscar Gonzalez Moix is concerned
our plan may veer
too far off the Inca path.
So before we go any
further, we need to understand
this ancient city's cultural significance.
[speaking Spanish]
[narrator] According to Oscar,
respecting the natural
environment is just as
important as anything we build.
So we'll make sure our athletic
facility will not only be a place to train,
but also a center to condition the mind
and the soul.
But first things first.
We'll need to figure out how we're going
to build this thing on top of a mountain.
Luckily, we know a crew
with tons of experience.
Pikes Peak Summit complex project is unlike
any other construction
project anywhere in the world.
[narrator] We're in the Colorado
Rockies with Rob Clough and his crew
to learn what it'll take
to build at high altitude.
So what do you think, Rob?
Our modern day Machu
Picchu dreams out of reach?
[Rob] The challenges are
very real, working at altitude.
With weather, altitude,
worker availability and getting
materials to the summit of Machu Picchu,
but I think it would be definitely doable.
[narrator] It's a lot of dirt
and concrete right now.
But soon this construction site will
be a world famous tourist destination.
But could we follow the example
of this epic construction crew,
or are our heads stuck in the clouds?
The human spirit is very
strong so we could do anything
we can put our mind to.
[narrator] What are we
going to build it out of?
How long will it take?
How much will it cost?
Can we even do it?
It's a tall task, lining up all the parts,
pieces and people we'd
need if we built it today.
We're imagining how we
build the next Machu Picchu.
A state of the art athletic complex
equipped to train the body mind and soul,
drawing our inspiration from the Incas.
We want our Machu Picchu to blend
in seamlessly with its environment.
But before we figure out how we build
it, we need to figure out why we built it.
When the Incas created their Machu Picchu,
it was at the height of the Inca
Empire, less than one hundred years
after its construction, it
was suddenly abandoned.
The people who were managing
Machu Picchu for the king heard
long before the Spanish ever
got there that they were upon them.
So they picked up everything.
They picked up the ancestral mummies.
Everything. So it was left
alone, and all of a sudden
hundreds of years have passed
and no one even touched it.
[narrator] That was until archaeologist
Hiram Bingham led a
team of explorers to Peru,
hoping to find a connection
between the Incas fall to the Spanish.
When he got there, he became obsessed
with finding the lost city of the Inca.
[narrator] Bingham led three
excavations at Machu Picchu
and shared his discoveries with the world.
Soon, explorers from all over the globe
flocked to Peru to follow in his footsteps.
And in 1983, Machu Picchu became
a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
and in 2007 it was named one of the
Seven Wonders of the modern world.
[John] Machu Picchu is
recognized immediately
as one of the great
landmarks of world architecture.
That's part of the mystery.
[narrator] While archaeologists are still
digging up clues about its past,
scientists like Mark Walsh are studying
the benefits places like Machu
Picchu could have on the human body.
Biomechanics is my official job.
Uh, my passion is altitude.
[narrator] For over a decade, Mark's
been leading mountain expeditions
in the Himalayas, Alps,
and the Andes Mountains in South America.
You live in altitude for a while
you, produce more red blood cells.
The idea is when you
come back down to sea level,
you still have those blood cells
and you can transport oxygen
better than you could before.
And that's where this whole
athletes at altitude comes in.
[narrator] Scientists measure
altitude as the height above sea level.
So at the top of Machu Picchu,
you're 8,000 feet above the ocean.
But over 70 percent
of the world's population
lives closer to 1,000 feet.
That's equivalent to the
height of the Eiffel Tower.
The tricky part is that if
a person isn't exposed
to higher altitudes regularly, their
body will need some time to adapt.
[Christina] The higher you
go in altitude, the less pressure
is exerted on the atmosphere
and the amount of oxygen
breathing in is less.
[narrator] Well, the science
behind how the body responds
to altitude has been known for centuries.
A more recent discovery was made
during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Sports scientists noticed
that most athletes performed
below expectation and began to study
how the amount of oxygen in the air
impacts physical performance.
[Christina] Percentage of oxygen
in the atmosphere is 21 percent.
So that's the same whether
you're a sea level or 14,000 feet.
But there's less oxygen per
volume of air at a higher altitude.
[narrator] To compensate,
the body naturally increases
red blood cell production,
carrying more oxygen
to the lungs and muscles
than it would at a lower altitude.
The main benefit for an
athlete training at high altitude
is that they will perform
better when they're at sea level,
because they have more oxygen available
or more ways to carry and
deliver oxygen available.
[narrator] The result is an all
natural form of blood doping,
the practice of boosting the
number of red blood cells in the body.
So here's the plan.
We'll build the world's greatest Health
and Wellness training
center, a state of the art facility
where athletes can acquire
the benefits of training
at 8,000 feet above sea level.
That mission will guide every decision we
make about our modern day Machu Picchu.
But before we can get started,
we've still got a few things to figure out.
From what we've heard, working at
high altitudes can be downright deadly.
Altitude sickness affects our
crews in many different ways,
and many different shapes.
[narrator] Our design needs
to be a thing of natural beauty.
So where are we going to
find suitable building materials?
Every stone is a unique stone,
and nowadays we don't require
that every stone be unique.
[narrator] Transporting
our materials and equipment
will give new meaning to the word highway.
Simply getting materials to 14,000 feet
through all of the switchbacks posed
a really big challenge
as a construction team.
[narrator] And we gotta figure
out what size workforce we need,
how long it will take and how
much this whole thing is going to cost.
Well, you know, back in
the day, it probably cost, ah,
couple billion potatoes and ears of corn.
[narrator] But before we build anything,
we need to know where
we're going to build it.
We'll need to find a peak that's
not too short, but not too tall, either.
Our mountain has to be just right
to make sure our athletes
are achieving maximum results.
[Christina] So if a person
is training and living at,
say, 10,000 feet, it's
a lot harder to recover.
And so generally, that
person will not benefit as much
as the person who's
training closer to 8,000 feet,
between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.
[narrator] Luckily, we don't
need to look any further than
Christina's home state of Colorado.
Where we are today is at
7700 feet and Machu Picchu
is around 7900 feet,
so they're pretty similar.
[narrator] The Rocky Mountains in
Colorado is an altitude lover's paradise.
Here, the average elevation is
approximately 6500 feet above sea level.
It also boasts 58 fourteeners,
the code name for mountain
peaks above 14,000 feet.
Plus, it already has a reputation
for high altitude training.
[Christina] We have a lot of
Olympians and former Olympians
and pro athletes who come here to train.
[narrator] But there
is one chilling problem.
It's really cold in the winter.
[Ed] Half of the year in the
Rockies is covered in snow.
Machu Picchu never gets that way because
even though it's up in the mountains,
it's also in the tropics,
so it never has snow.
So it's a year-round retreat, something
the Rockies or other mountains
just really couldn't replicate.
[narrator] Fair enough, but Machu
Picchu also has a brutal rainy season.
The region gets about 70 inches
of precipitation a year,
double the global average.
So if this is what our modern Machu Picchu
looks like a couple of months a year,
we're okay with that.
Plus, we know we can find the expertise
we need up here in the Rocky Mountains.
[Rob] So building Machu Picchu today,
although being very challenging,
I think it would be possible.
It would be a new challenge
similar to the challenges
that we're presented here.
[narrator] Colorado, here we come.
But how are we going to design
a mountaintop training center
to rival the crown jewel
of the Andes Mountains?
And are we going to have to hunt down
a pile of lost Inca gold to pay for it?
We're bracing for an avalanche
of expenses if we built it today.
We're trying to figure out how we build a
new Machu Picchu in the Colorado Rockies.
We're imagining a high
altitude athletic training center
to condition a new
generation of pro athletes.
But building way up in the
clouds isn't for the faint of heart.
To do it right, we need to
follow the lead of Rob Clough
and the team building the
Pikes Peak Summit complex.
We're standing currently in the
lobby, and the grand staircase items
will come down right here in the lobby.
Off to the left here we
have the retail space.
This area specifically will
have educational opportunities
for people to learn a little more
about the history of where they're at
and some of the things that
they're seeing, whether it be
the mountain views or the
animals or the plant life around here.
[narrator] Pike's Peak draws
in 750,000 people each year
and is a designated
national historic landmark.
Perched over 13,000 feet above sea level
there's no better place than Pikes Peak
to figure out how to build at altitude.
But working at higher
altitudes poses certain
unpleasant side effects for some people.
[Rob] Another challenge that we
experience on almost a daily basis
is trying to overcome the altitude.
Our crew can experience everything
from an upset stomach to
severe headache and nausea.
Uh, sometimes forcing that crew member
to need to leave the peak immediately.
[narrator] If we want to keep
everyone safe, we'd better consult
with our altitude expert on this one.
There are different
degrees of altitude sickness.
And the least serious is
called acute mountain sickness.
Typically, that occurs because
they ascend too quickly,
and it's... their body doesn't
have enough time to adjust.
More severe types of altitude sickness
include high altitude pulmonary edema
and high altitude cerebral edema.
In those cases, what happens is fluid leaks
out of the blood vessels into the lungs.
That would be pulmonary edema.
Or in the brain.
And that would be cerebral edema.
Both of those conditions
can be life threatening.
When you're at high
altitudes going up fast, it's, uh...
it's not a joke, it's dangerous stuff.
[narrator] No kidding.
Even scarier than that, it's
almost impossible to know
who'll be affected by altitude.
But amazingly, the latest research
into the genetics of the
ancient Andean people
reveals that the ability to handle altitude
may be coded into their DNA.
Genetic studies show that native Andeans
have a higher concentration of hemoglobin,
the protein in red blood
cells that carries oxygen,
naturally compensating for the
lack of oxygen at high altitudes.
Fortunately for those who live
closer to 5,000 feet above sea level,
the most severe effects aren't felt
until you ascend past 8,000 feet.
So we start low and we have ascend slowly,
and your body gets used to
the altitude as you're going up.
[narrator] They employ a similar principle
here at Pikes Peak construction site.
[Rob Clough] As we get new people on board,
we have to slowly acclimate them.
Instead of forcing them
directly into their area of work,
we slowly allow them
to get used to the altitude
before extending their work hours,
allowing them to work
more hours into the day.
[narrator] So, with precautions in
place, we'll make sure our workers
can slowly adjust and
adapt to the altitude.
But the real challenge
will be in the design.
Can we create a Machu Picchu
that's as breathtaking as the original?
[Magali] It blends beautifully
with the natural environment,
the way that the mountain was
formed, and they just fit there.
[narrator] Even today,
you can see right away
that the ruins' natural setting
is just as crucial to the site
as the buildings themselves.
The overall orientation of Machu Picchu
was somewhat dictated by
the mountaintop it sits upon.
There's a big wide plaza
going through the middle
and the buildings are around it.
The ones that the king and
his entourage would live in
kind of sit up over the other buildings,
so they have a view of this really
magnificent range of mountains
and a big mountain poking
out from the valley below.
Across the plaza from there is another
section of buildings that are bigger,
they have more entrances,
and they seem to be
probably servants' quarters.
[Magali] There were 500
or 700 people living there,
all to maintain the place.
[Ed] On the far end is a trail
that goes up to the top
of that beautiful mountain
you see in the background
of all the postcards.
[John Ochsendorf] Anyone
who goes to Machu Picchu today
feels this dramatic
setting in the mountains.
It's an incredibly beautiful place,
and I think the Inca knew that.
[narrator] Could our modern Machu
Picchu ever rival the natural beauty
of this ancient Inca marvel?
And can we build it strong enough
to withstand even the
most deadly natural disasters
if we built it today?
[narrator] We're imagining how we
build a Machu Picchu for the 21st century.
It'll be a modern training facility
for pro athletes and future Olympians.
We've decided to build
it in the Colorado Rockies
at an altitude of 8,000
feet above sea level,
the sweet spot for high altitude training.
But now we got to figure
out what it's going to look like.
That brings us to Lima, Peru's modern
day capital of over nine million people.
Oscar Gonzalez Moix creates
homes, cultural centers and libraries
that appear to spring up
organically from their environment.
[speaking foreign language]
[narrator] But the calm of nature
is something the 2,500 people a day
that visit Machu Picchu never experience.
Machu Picchu today is a bit
of a victim of its own success.
So many tourists go there
that it really is posing
a danger to the ruins.
And its beautiful environment.
There is a harm right now.
And we have to take care of that.
[narrator] We can't
guarantee our Machu Picchu
will fix the tourist
problem, but we can pledge
it will blend in seamlessly
with its surroundings.
So, here's what we'll do, we'll
recreate the footprint of Machu Picchu
atop the Colorado Rockies
and install the most sophisticated tech
to transform our mountain top site
into the world's greatest
high altitude training center.
Now we gotta figure out what materials
were going to build it with.
Six centuries ago, the
Inca didn't have to look far.
In the middle of Machu Picchu
is a big quarry full of
scattered giant stone.
We know that they built much
of the site from the materials
found right beneath their feet.
The granite, the earth and the stone
that they quarried right
from Machu Picchu's site.
[narrator] The stone was
cut and placed on location
using a dry, stacked stone
construction technique.
The name says it all.
Pile stacks of stone
together to build a structure.
The idea couldn't be simpler,
but the art is in the execution.
[John] The Inca, quite
simply, were master masons.
Inca stonework...
is some of the greatest
achievement in stone architecture
anywhere in the history of the world.
Inca masons were particularly
skilled at carving stones
to fit so closely together,
that even without mortar,
you can't fit a knife into the joints,
and they withstand
earthquakes for centuries.
They have earthquakes
there in South America, in Peru,
so these buildings have weathered
hundreds of years of earthquakes,
and they're still standing rock solid.
[narrator] This simple, dry,
stacked stone building technique
helped Machu Picchu survive epic disaster.
Earthquakes cause a shock
wave effect from the ground
and then up through the structure.
The more rigid that structure is,
the more likely it is to collapse.
So a pile of stones connected
with mortar responds like this.
But dry stacked structures
are built with individual stones,
which will shake,
but there's enough give to
hold the overall structure in place
until seismic conditions return to normal.
Okay, so dry stone construction
of Machu Picchu was pretty impressive.
But these buildings definitely
aren't insulated for Colorado winters.
Stone won't do it alone.
Here at Pikes Peak, they're
building with steel, glass and concrete.
We're actually doing a lot of
pre-cast and pre-fabrication.
[narrator] That means a lot of the
heavy lifting is happening off site
at this pre-cast plant.
Here liquid concrete is
poured into a mold or form
and cured in a controlled environment.
Using this technique makes for a
more robust and consistent final product.
Another advantage is the process is done
on ground level, which
helps keep workers safe.
Could constructing with pre-cast concrete
hold the solution to our most icy obstacle?
Here, up on 14,000 feet,
we experience a lot of turbulent weather,
whether it be the lightning storms
that roll through in the afternoon
or as we move closer to Fall,
the potential for snow or heavy snow
that causes us to have to
exit the site unexpectedly.
[narrator] In the construction
world, all building materials
from wood to brick to glass are graded
by their R-value, or their
ability to resist heat loss.
A piece of drywall has
in R-value of about one
built by adding insulation.
You can increase the
R-value to the appropriate level
for the climate you're building in.
For our mountain-top construction,
we can crank up the R-value
with a concrete panel sandwich.
Two slabs of concrete
surrounding a thick piece of insulation.
Once complete, the concrete
will be faced with a stone veneer
constructed from small pieces of stone
chosen to match the natural environment.
But architect Stuart Coppedge
thinks we could take
this idea one step further.
If we were to build it today
and pay tribute to Machu Picchu,
we would probably try to use
much larger pieces of stone
instead of the smaller
stone veneer that we used
on our pre-cast concrete structure here.
[narrator] Luckily for us,
the same rock that makes up
the Colorado Rockies magnificent
geological wonders can be quarried
and cut to fit our modern Machu Picchu.
So we'll build it out of pre-cast
concrete with a stone veneer.
But how are we going to transport it
to our mountaintop construction
site if we built it today?
[narrator] We're drawing up plans
for a cutting-edge, high
altitude athletic facility
built atop the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
It's our modern day take on Machu Picchu.
So far, we figured out
that we'll want our complex
to blend in seamlessly with our location.
Just like the original.
We've decided to build our
complex with pre-cast concrete
faced with pieces of stone from
the surrounding environment.
And all that concrete
will help keep our facility
nice and insulated during those
bone-chilling Colorado winters.
But now we've got to figure out
how we'll get this heavy
material up a mountain.
Let's find out how the
Pikes Peak crew did it.
[man] Simply getting
materials to 14,000 feet
posed a really big challenge.
The highway here from
the gate is 19 miles long.
It passes through several
switchbacks that are very tight.
[narrator] To get our materials
and equipment on site,
we need to build a
road, just like the Inca.
Today most people that visit
Machu Picchu do it by train.
The other way you can get to Machu Picchu
is by the old Inca trail
along the Urubamba River,
up and over... and you
enter the city from above.
By building new roads and new bridges,
the Inca Empire was able to reach
into remote areas in the Andes Mountains
and connect them to a centralized state.
[narrator] The world-famous
Inca road system
is more than just a path to Machu Picchu.
It's a nearly 25,000-mile track
stretching from Colombia to Chile.
The extensive reach of the road network
allowed Incas to move
armies across territories
and trade and transport goods.
But the Inca road system
controlled and organized the state.
It was said that the Inca himself
could enjoy fresh fish in the mountains
that was caught at to
sea that same morning.
[narrator] It was also a race
track for the chasqui runners.
These pro-athletes were part courier,
part long-distance marathon runners.
They would operate in relays,
passing messages to other chasqui
runners stationed along the road.
[Ed] Machu Picchu was built by
thousands and thousands of laborers.
They were not slaves.
They were people from all around the empire
who were brought in for the construction
of that beautiful palatial residence.
The key to Inca construction
was a form of organized labor
paid as a tax to the Inca state.
Local villagers had to work
a certain number of hours
or complete a certain
number of projects each year
as a way of paying taxes.
And with a empire of ten million people,
a lot of things got done.
[narrator] But how many people will we need
to build a long and winding
road to the top of our mountain?
Constructing this massive
network took a lot of brute force.
Back at Pikes peak,
modern machinery makes
the job more manageable.
It's not alien technology, but it
cuts the workforce way down.
The Pikes Peak construction team
is made up of just 100 people.
So we'll put our figure at 100 workers too.
But how long is it going to take?
Hopefully not as long
as it took the first time.
It would have taken decades
to shape the landscape,
to build the terracing, to move the earth,
to carve the stones, to
transport the raw materials
just to clear the jungle
in that mountain saddle.
Machu Picchu was still under
construction when it was abandoned,
so the site may never have been finished.
[narrator] The Pikes Peak Summit
crew is still building the complex,
but at least the end is in sight.
If they stick to schedule, they'll have
wrapped the job in just three years.
But they could have built
it even faster at sea level.
Up here, the construction
season is roughly six months,
and the days are shorter too.
But if this crew can build it in
three years on top of a fourteener,
we can build our Machu
Picchu in three years too.
We're ready to mount the greatest
construction mission in six centuries.
But just how mountainous
will the final bill be
if we built it today?
[narrator] So you want to build
a modern day Machu Picchu?
What would it take?
We're imagining our
mountaintop Machu Picchu
as the world's top high
altitude training center,
built for the world's greatest athletes.
We're going to build it in
the remote Colorado Rockies
at 8,000 feet above sea level.
And we know it'll take 100 people
and three years to pull it off.
To build a modern day Machu Picchu,
the first thing we have to do is plan it.
Have to plan, plan, plan.
[narrator] But will our
plan hold up to the original?
The construction plan for the first
Machu Picchu was pretty organic.
It's unlikely that Machu Picchu
started with a unified principle
of what the architecture would become.
It likely built up slowly over time
and expanded through the decades.
It was constantly evolving and
expanding until its abrupt abandonment.
[narrator] But the first thing the Inca did
was transform the landscape.
[John] One of the greatest
achievements in Inca architecture
is the terracing.
Terracing is the first step
to turning the inhospitable
building site of Machu Picchu into a city.
[narrator] In landscaping terms,
terracing refers to a series
of flat areas made on a slope,
almost like gigantic steps.
[John] Terracing uses dry, stacked
stonework to form the landscape.
It creates level surfaces for people
to live, for domestic architecture,
for houses, for agriculture, for planting.
[narrator] These nine-foot-deep
mountainside steps or slopes
consisted of three layers.
Rock, gravel...
and rich topsoil.
The platforms were used for growing crops
and protection from land erosion.
[Mark] If you have a
mountain and there's water,
it flows down the mountain and
drags everything down with it.
If you have terracing, that
water sits on each terrace
and sinks in and it becomes
nourishment for the plants.
The terracing turns the
landscape from a natural landscape
into a built landscape.
The Inca built with the landscape.
[narrator] We like the sound of that.
So how can we incorporate this
technique into our construction project?
We could use drilling and blasting
to get down to the foundation
level of a modern day Machu Picchu.
In fact, that's what
we did on this building.
We actually drilled down, put dynamite in
and then blast it to take us down
to that solid granite
bedrock of the mountain.
[narrator] Drilling and blasting is
our way of creating a modern terrace,
a level surface upon which we can build.
Once we blast our way to flat ground,
our pre-cast concrete pieces
can be shipped up to the mountain.
Once they arrive, we'll erect our crane
and get to work assembling it all.
In some ways, it would be easy to
build a modern day Machu Picchu
because we have all the
heavy equipment and everything.
Build a foundation, build a
structure, then enclose that building
in the final materials and then
finish the interiors of the building.
[narrator] Our buildings will be clad
with Colorado Stone on the outside,
and inside, the latest
athletic training technology,
and a research lab to study the
effects of high altitude on the body.
Imagine that...
a Machu Picchu-inspired
athletic training center
for the greatest athletes in the world
built in the Colorado Rockies.
Our pre-cast concrete
structures would be finished
with pieces of Colorado stone.
And our roads and trails are just waiting
for the Olympic marathon runners to arrive.
So how much is this all going to cost?
It's got to be at least an
excess of a billion dollars.
My guess, it would be billions of dollars
run over cost and be
finished three years late
because of all the work that it would take.
[narrator] The budget for the
Pikes Peak Summit complex
is a cool 60 million.
But what we're imagining is more
like the kind of athletic training facility
you might find at a major university.
And even when built at sea level,
those can cost upwards
of 100 million dollars.
Include the cost of a
marathon-length trail system
and a residence for our super athletes,
we'll put our price tag
at 200 million dollars.
From the ancient Inca's epic
empire expansion six centuries ago
to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City,
altitude training has
helped inspire a new theory
about Machu Picchu's great purpose...
echoing down through the centuries,
pushing the boundaries of mind,
body and ambition.
And redefining the brave
new heights we could reach
if we built it today.