index | intro | general info | route notes | narrative | links
These are not intended as general links to cycling in Chile and Argentina, but as a list of sources useful when planning the route over the Portillo Argentino and the Paso de los Piuquenes.
Much of the information we obtained was from the Tunuyán municipal website, which at the end of 2004 was very useful but no longer seems to be so. A version is obtainable from the internet archive. The missing image is of the rocks at Co. Palomares.
This site was the most useful of those we encountered. César Pechemiel’s RELATOS are useful, informative, and in most respects accurate, although he places the Río Yeso 500m too high. A map was vague but attractive, but unfortunately hasn’t been archived. The photographs of the Río Tunuyán and the Portillo Argentino illustrate both the terrain and the fact that people really did take bikes there. The schedule is similar to the one we eventually adopted, but the altitudes in it are 100-400m too low. The equipment list should be read critically – temperatures of | |||
Information here is of value as confirming the previous link, but the army turned back at the frontier. | |||
Commercial horseback expedition; link useful only for the photographs it contains. | |||
Another commercial horseback expedition, this one crossing the Piuquenes and the Alvarado Pass. | |||
The best road map you are likely to find. Large (550kB). Unlike our paper version it does not show a road from Argentina to the Paso Piuquenes. | |||
German company offering Turistel guides, Mattassi maps and other things by mail order. The site also contains useful climbing information. | |||
Longish term weather forecast based on El Niño predictions. | |||
Surprisingly useful map produced by the US Geological Survey (text). | |||
(because we forgot to take one ourselves). | |||
The hotelier and tour operator who organised our mules. | |||
Tunuyán tour operator who also (belatedly) told us that he could organise mules. (The link is to the Internet Archive ’ I have no way of knowing whether the company still operates.) | |||
Brief description of the Piuquenes pass. Don’t be misled by the photo: it’s of the Ref. Portinari some 40km from the pass. There’s also a useful list of passes between Chile and Argentina. | |||
The Piuquén | |||
The bird the pass is named after. | |||
No mention of carrying bicycles, and forbidding the use of ropes. | |||
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An online photo album. | |||
Revised and updated: 01.09.07.
index | intro | general info | route notes | narrative | links