Punta Olimpica is a hole in the sky. At 4,736 metres it is one of the highest road crossings in the world, and the pass is marked by a tunnel, about a kilometre long, that cuts through the rock directly under the crest of the Cordillera Blanca. When you roll out of the far end of it, the whole range spreads before you in an astonishing line of glaciers and peaks, with Huascarán, the highest mountain in Peru, somewhere along the horizon. Carhuaz lies about twenty-four kilometres from here by road, and Yauya a bit further on the other side.
The ride is, quite simply, extreme. The road climbs from the valley floor in a series of hairpins, steep and tight, with big drop-offs and few barriers. It is paved for most of its length these days, but the surface can break up under the weight of trucks and weather, and landslides and fallen rock are frequent in the wet months. Weather is the real challenge: snow, hail and freezing fog can blow in within minutes, so go in the morning and be off the pass before the afternoon storms build. The best season is dry, from about May to September.
The altitude is the other thing to respect. Few places you can reach on a motorcycle sit this high, and the air holds about half the oxygen it does at sea level. Your bike will run rough and weak, you will feel dizzy and slow, and it is well worth spending a night or two at Huaraz or Chacas before you try it. Drink plenty of water, go slowly, and if you get a pounding headache, descend.
The scenery is otherworldly. Chilly lakes lie in glacial bowls, rough grassland called puna stretches across the slopes, and llamas and alpacas graze among the rocks. Stop at the tunnel mouth, put your gloves on and take a long look, because few views in the Andes repay the effort as generously as this one.