Passing in the shadow of a beast

Mar 26

Mar 26 Passing in the shadow of a beast

Argentina, Chile, Outdoor, South America

So here we are. Heading to Argentina for the final time on our years' adventure and to get there we have to cross what must be one of the greatest navigable mountain passes, The Paso Internacional Los Libertadores.

Cutting through Los Andes, the world's longest and second highest mountain range, this road makes words such as breathtaking and eye popping seem utterly worthless when describing the scenes that unfolded before us.

Not for the faint hearted, thanks in part to this being the main supply route between Chile and Argentina means big-rigs, oil tankers and double decker coaches with nutcase drivers just waiting to overtake our beloved, if underpowered Wicked Camper Van. One trucker even diverted around a tunnel on to an emergency service road running along the cliff edge just to get past us and a fellow road user 😬

Made memorable through its length (up to 110km depending on start points), number of switchbacks (26), endless tunnels (longest is over 3km), random ghosttown-like ski resorts, huge (and sometimes disorganised) customs stations, scarily easy-to-access crumbling old roads, but most importantly the vistas. This is where it scores 11 out of 10. You're constantly surrounded by towering peaks, landslides, endless colours of rock and sediment and most importantly Aconcagua, the tallest non-Himalayan mountain on this planet! This was one highlight I refused to miss and thankfully the view point's only a short hike off the road.

Standing proud over the entire continent, Aconcagua which might mean (locals can't decide) 'White Sentinel' according to the Quechua Anco Cahuac is a climbers dream; not the most technical but with a permanent snow covered peak, 10-15 day circuit and numerous glaciers one of which sits on the South Face and is at one point 300m high, this is one of the world's 7 summits

The pass, which for cars tops out at 3,200m takes at least 3-4 hours to cross and is worth every second. The road surface might in places not be the greatest but who cares when you spend most of the time marvelling at the Martian like landscapes surrounding your every side.

If you're passing between the Santiago region and Mendoza this is a daytime must.