Incredible Chile–Argentina Andes Border Crossing

Incredible Chile–Argentina Andes Border Crossing

Fronterizo Los Libertadores

Chile and Argentina are two very long countries located in the southern half of South America. They border each other for an astounding 5000 miles / 8000 km, with Argentina on the eastern Atlantic Ocean side of the continent and Chile on the western, Pacific side.

The rugged Andes Mountains run down the center of the continent, and for much of the two countries’ long, long borders, the Andes mark the boundary between them. A whopping 40 border crossings run between the two countries, most of them crossing over high Andes mountain passes. Exceptions include border crossings in the far north and far south, which pass through considerably flatter and/or lower land.

Recently while researching for my upcoming travels through Chile, I checked out the border crossing options. It was most likely that my Chile visa would run out while I was halfway down Chile’s long, long central and southern regions.

As a result, I discovered perhaps the most spectacular border crossing I’ve ever seen in all my 25 years of world travels. Fronterizo Los Libertadores is the closest crossing to Chile’s capital city, Santiago. On the Argentinian side, the highway connects most closely to Argentina’s famous wine country at Mendoza city.

This stupendous border crossing is quite notable for several news worthy reasons.

First of all, the border pass is situated in extremely high and dramatic Andes mountains at an altitude of over 10,000 ft / 3000 M. That’s incredibly high for any mountain pass in the world, let alone a border crossing between two countries.

As if that’s not spectacular enough, the road on the Argentinian side rolls right past the world’s second highest mountain, Mt. Aconcagua. The hulking, mounded, snow-covered peak stands at 22,838 ft / 6961 M, making it the second highest mountain on Earth after Mt. Everest in the Asian Himalayas.

So while crossing between these two countries, you get to view the world’s second highest mountain!

The third spectacular point about this border crossing is the super steep serpentine road on the Chilean side, leading up the final stretch to the mountain pass. It consists of 20 hairpin curves looping up an incredibly steep mountainside. It is actually acredited as one of the world’s most winding roads. In Chile it’s called ‘Los Carcoles’, ‘the snails’. Check out this road…

Then, just before the mountain pass and border check-point, there’s a huge ski resort! In fact,Portillo Ski Resort is one of the most popular ski resorts to access from Santiago. It’s a 2.5 hour drive to get there from the city.

At the top of the mountain pass, just after immigration check-points, at an elevation of 10,417 ft / 3175 M, the road enters a 2 mile / 3 km long tunnel. The actual border between Chile and Argentina is located exactly in the middle of this tunnel! That gives us yet another very unusual fact about Los Libertadores border crossing.

One other interesting fact about this border crossing is that it’s also called ‘Paso del Cristo Redentor’, ‘Pass of Christ the Redemer’. It was so-named after a huge statue of Christ that’s situated on the Argentinian side of the mountain pass. It was constructed way back in 1908 at an elevation of 3832 M / 12,572 ft.

Conclusions

I hope you’re as impressed by this unique border crossing as I was when I discovered it. I have to wonder why it’s not more famous?

In any event, ever since I discovered it I’ve been wanting to take that hairpin road up, up, up to the high mountain pass, then down through the super-long tunnel and past Mt. Aconcagua, the world’s second-highest mountain.

So I am thrilled to announce that I’m heading over that border crossing next week, en route to Mendoza! Yippie! I can hardly wait.

I’ll certainly have my camera ready to take plenty of photos during the epic journey. I’ll be sharing them soon here on FB. So stay tuned.

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Meanwhile, you might also like:

The 10 Most Spectacular Natural Places in Chile

Introduction to Valparaiso, Chile

12 Interesting Facts about Chile

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