Balzas-Celendín Road: Hair raising stuff
Located in the region of Cajamarca, in northern Peru, the road from Balzas towards Celendín tests the skill, and courage, of any driver. Hair raising stuff. There is absolutely no room for mistakes.
The road, part of the 8B Road, was recently paved. The surface of the road is in really good condition. It’s 56.2 km long and includes 34 hairpin turns (with more than 200 turns). This road tests the skill, and courage, of any driver. It’s definitely not for anyone suffering from vertigo or a fear of landslides. At times the road is so narrow, with a 1000m drop off on one side and a sheer cliff rising the other, that at the corners the back wheel will be half off the edge.
The road is very steep. It starts at Balzas, in the province of Chachapoyas, at an elevation of 854m above the sea level and ends at Celendín, capital of the province Celendín, at 2.643m above the sea level. It’s incredibly disorienting to look over the edge, or even just to see the valleys a couple thousand feet below you. The elevation gain of the road is 1.789m and the average gradient is 3,19 %, with some sections up to 7%. There are sheer drops virtually along the entire route and enough hairpins to make a whirling dervish dizzy.
Road suggested by: Hugh Wilson