Valle Nevado Chile

“If the mountain won’t come to me, then I go to the mountain.”

Valle Nevado, an epic climb in the city of Santiago, Chile

Valle Nevado (loosely translates to “snowy valley”) is a sky center situated in the middle of the Andes Mountains, 67 kms from downtown Santiago, Chile, it has an altitude of 3,000 masl and it is one of the epic climbs to do when the winter in the south hemisphere is over, mainly between the months of October and April. The route has total 45 kms length and it is not easy, in cycling terms it would be a Hors catégorie (beyond categorization) with gradients up to 17.5%.

Gran Fondo Portillo

The road to Portillo, (which is also the International Highway between Santiago and Mendoza, Argentina) is worldwide known because of a short section called “Los Caracoles” (the snails). Los Caracoles is a series of hard switchbacks on an extremely steep incline which includes 29 hairpin turns and it is considered, according to a Red bull article, one of the world’s hardest cycling climbs with gradients up to 14%.