Abra Blanca, the world's highest road in 1915

Abra Blanca is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 4.102m (13,458ft) above the sea level, located in Salta Province, in northwestern Argentina.

Abra Blanca

The road to the summit is paved. It’s called Ruta Nacional 51 (RN51). It’s 48 km (29 miles) long running west-east and links the villages of Munano and Santa Rosa de Tastil. Open to traffic year-round, may be closed for short periods in winter when the weather is bad. The road was paved in the 1990’s to bypass a former gravel road, called R12, which climbs the challenging Abra Muñano, with a dizzying switchback of 18 hairpin bends.

At the summit are a few souvenir shops. Abra Blanca is the highest point on the Ruta Nacional 51 (RN51), the road from Salta to San Antonio de los Cobres. Remember this is a mountainous area, climbing up a high mountain, with a notorius absence of oxygen. The pass set up a record in 1915: it was the world’s highest drivable road at that time.

 

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