#32 of 79 · mountain
Los Caracoles
Los Andes, Chile → Paso Libertadores
75 km · Oct – Apr · Challenging
The switchbacks to the Cristo Redentor pass. A stack of asphalt on the Chilean side, trucks, and the Andes doing the rest.
Viewpoints
Los Caracoles switchbacks
The numbered stack. Stop only in a bay.
55 km
3,000 m
Portillo
The lake and the ski hotel. The pass is just beyond.
65 km
2,880 m
- Road
- Paved, steep, often icy at the top even in spring. Closures after snow. Trucks in low gear. The old rail zigzags still sit beside the road.
- Permits
- International pass. Passport for the border. Chains in winter; the pass closes in bad weather.
Tips
- 01
Up the Chilean side
That is the drawing. Argentina is a long descent.
- 02
Not after a storm
The pass closes. There is no clever way around it.
From the road
2 notes
Field reports from people who have driven this route.
Driven this road? Join as a driver to leave a note from the road.
Camila S.
Nov 2025
Up from Los Andes at seven. The stack in sun, trucks hugging the inside. Portillo still frozen at the edge. Chains in the boot, unused. The Chilean side is the drawing.
Martín A.
May 2025
Border closed after overnight snow. Waited four hours at the control. There is no clever way around this pass — when it shuts, it shuts.
