Road of Death" in the Bolivian Mountains

[DaveOZ]

One of the guys from the Lotus forum has been to Bolivia and posted this vid.

Excellent camera work!!

[trailgumby]

Looks like the cam is on a pole mounted to his helmet that just spins around freely - must impose a load on his neck

[Mulger bill]

Oh yeah! Time to start saving (and upgrading the life insurance. And sourcing a parachute...)

[ChainBreak]

( And sourcing a parachute...)

Yeah sourcing a parachute

[RonK]

Looks like the cam is on a pole mounted to his helmet that just spins around freely - must impose a load on his neck

Yeah - I was thinking he looked extremely stiff and nervous until I realised the camera was pivoted off his helmet.

[trailgumby]

I'd be stiff and nervous too with those vertical drops off the edge of the road Even that relatively harmless-looking stack could have ended ... well, he had to clamber back up to road level.

60km of that... we were all getting serious arm pump after just 15 minutes per lap at the Mont (including some of my fit and fast mates) ... boggles the mind to think what it would be like after a couple of hours of jamming the front in with the inside bar on the turns to keep the front tyre planted

[Mugglechops]

That would be fun.

[sparkyscott]

Phaaark!!!

[redcloud]

I did this ride a few years ago, travelled something like 50kms and didn't have to pedal once! by the end my wrists were going to fall off (can't imagine doing it on my rigid Single Speed that collects dust in the shed). On the way down past a poor Jewish headstone - presumably some poor soul went too fast around a corner.

Save up guys worth a ride down.

[clackers]

Apparently you're more likely to die on the bus ride up there.

[Jean]

Indeed its 'the most deadliest' road in the world!

Sorry, just venting my pedantry.

[clackers]

Indeed its 'the most deadliest' road in the world!

Sorry, just venting my pedantry.

I think your right, but.

[clackers]

There's a writeup in the most recent Outer Edge magazine:

The Death Road was the site of Bolivia's biggest road accident when in 1983 a bus carrying more than 100 passengers hurtled over the precipice and tumbled into oblivion. By the mid-90s it was official once it was christened The World's Most Dangerous Road following a review by the Inter-American Development Bank who estimated that 200 to 300 people careered off its edge every year and that, per mile, there were more fatalities here than any other road on earth. Not long after this unsavoury honour was bestowed on the North Yungas Road guides and backpackers arrived in force, keen for a slap of adrenaline and a photo on Facebook, complete with a boastful caption. By 2006 the riders had it almost all to themselves once the construction of a new thoroughfare to the jungle was completed, taking with it most of the traffic. Among the cyclists who have dared not all have reached the small town of Coroico near the finish. In the past 12 years, 18 "I survived the World's Most Dangerous Road" t-shirts have gone spare.

[Jean]

Indeed its 'the most deadliest' road in the world!

Sorry, just venting my pedantry.

I think your right, but.

"...you're right..."

And for me, that should have been an "it's"

[clackers]

Indeed its 'the most deadliest' road in the world!

Sorry, just venting my pedantry.

I think your right, but.

"...you're right..."

And for me, that should have been an "it's"

Jean, don't tell me you took the bait by correcting that!

I'm thinking of hosting an OCD sufferers' meeting, not because I'm one of them but because they'll clean my house.

[Jean]

P.S., that's not me

[clackers]

LOL.

The White Hat is a Melbourne activities newsletter with a hipster bent, and there's a recurring sketch called The Pedant Dating Service about the trials and tribulations of a guy going out with a girl upset by bad grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage. Inadvertent use of an Americanism can result in him suffering a case of blue cahoneys. Or should that be cahonies?

[rangersac]

Apparently you're more likely to die on the bus ride up there.

Did it back in 2006. The bus ride back up the mountain was far scarier than the ride down. It still had traffic on it then, unlike now, and you frequently overtook vehicles whilst riding. The other memorable part of the ride was the amount of dust the bikes threw up. You had to space yourself a good 50m back from the rider in front otherwise you were blinded by the rooster tail thrown up.

The road surface was pretty good, unlike another road I travelled on during the same trip. The road from Paucatambo to Rio Alto Madre de Dios for accessing the Manu region in Peru was longer, just as steep and waaaaaaay dodgier in sections.I remembered thinking at the time that it would've been an awesomely scary ride!

[clackers]

The other memorable part of the ride was the amount of dust the bikes threw up. You had to space yourself a good 50m back from the rider in front otherwise you were blinded by the rooster tail thrown up.

Soiled my chamois just reading that, Rangersac.

As I understand it where there's a 500 metre vertical drop at the edge of the dirt someone might have bothered to put in a memorial but not a railing of any kind.

[rangersac]

As I understand it where there's a 500 metre vertical drop at the edge of the dirt someone might have bothered to put in a memorial but not a railing of any kind.

That was about it. There's a stone memorial about halfway down, but bascially no railings for the entire duration. However it didn't seem that bad on a bike because the road is actually quite a wide well gravelled surface, or was back then, looking at the video it's obviously not maintained much now that there's an alternative route. There were plenty of two lane sections, and even in between those it was mostly lane and and half rather than single lane. The major factor in all the deaths were more the amount and size of traffic (everything in Boliva is basically transported by clapped out old large fixed axle trucks or buses) that it carried, and the famous impatience of Bolivian bus drivers. Hence the real terror on the ride back up the mountain when your bus driver is overtaking on a blind corner.

I'm pretty sure I've got a disc of photos somewhere at home. I'll see if I can dig them out tonight and post a few for some giggles.

[TedDancin]

I did this ride about 7 years ago too, was pretty crazy. From memory it was a descent of about 3500m over 70km.

They told us that the road was so steep, the trucks coming up weren't able to stop, or they wouldn't be able to start again. This meant that the truck drivers stopped for no one, and the rule was that if one was coming, the riders move to the cliff side to allow the truck to pass.

I had one stack going down, could have slid off the edge if I was going faster but luckily didn't do any more damage than a hole in my pants. We got to the bottom, and rather than get the bus back up the hill, we kept going onwards on a 16 hour bus ride, complete with chickens and every Van Damme movie ever back to back dubbed in Spanish. Good times.

[clackers]

I had one stack going down, could have slid off the edge if I was going faster but luckily didn't do any more damage than a hole in my pants.

Love that trucks didn't - couldn't - stop going uphill!

[ldrcycles]

"Road of death" pfft, Bella Creek Rd at Kingaham makes that look like a motorway.

[jdwynn]

Looks pretty fun, although it makes your think, lots of trails have 10m+ drops on one side and 10m or 500m it's still going to hurt.

[tcdev]

it makes your think, lots of trails have 10m+ drops on one side and 10m or 500m it's still going to hurt.

Heh, this. My wife baulked at walking up Angel's Landing in Zion a few years back because from Scott's Landing you get a perfect perspective of the sheer drop into the canyon. I pointed out that after a certain drop, it makes no difference if it's any further - you can't get any deader than dead. She didn't take much comfort in that for some reason!?!