Why this ride
A named mountain-road corridor with sustained elevation change and pass scenery. It links naturally to Huascaran National Park.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Punta Olimpica Pass
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 111 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Editorial context
Coordinates are curated start-via-end route seeds. They are not a surveyed centreline or navigation geometry. Run road snapping, topology checks, access checks and a live-status review before publication.
Access context
Do not auto-publish. Snap to a routable road network, verify current closures, legal motorcycle access, surface, permits, border controls and local safety information.
Seasonal context
May-Sep
Scenic road chapters
Peru Huascaran Circuit
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Peru Huascaran Circuit, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Peru Huascaran Circuit
- Pass
- Punta Olimpica
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Huaraz
Huaraz sits at about three thousand metres in the Callejon de Huaylas, a long, high valley between the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra in the Peruvian Andes. The Cordillera Blanca rises along the east side, white with glaciers, and holds the highest tropical mountains in the world, including Huascaran, which at 6,768 metres is the highest peak in Peru. On a clear morning the whole range shows over the roofs of the town, an almost unreal wall of ice. Huaraz was largely destroyed in the great earthquake of 1970, which killed tens of thousands across the region and buried the nearby town of Yungay under an avalanche from Huascaran. The modern town is mostly new, a busy, practical place for trekkers and climbers.
Read the complete Huaraz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Huaraz sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Punta Olimpica.
2. Punta Olimpica
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.
Read the complete Punta Olimpica write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Punta Olimpica comes up 30 km in. Next is Chacas.
3. Chacas
Chacas is a mountain town that carves its own doors. Wooden balconies, panelled doorways, carved window frames and religious statues are everywhere, and the work is not tourist craft but a living tradition taught in a school of woodwork started here by an Italian priest, Ugo de Censi, who arrived in the Andes in the 1970s and decided that young people needed a trade as much as a prayer. The result is an unusually handsome little town on a high Andean slope, with a church well worth stepping into. Yauya is the nearest larger place, about twenty kilometres off, and Carhuaz about thirty-three.
Read the complete Chacas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
111 km in you reach Chacas.