Travelling through Pista 5, the road to Santa Victoria
Pista 5 is a gravel road with lots of hairpins, climbing up to Santa Victoria Oeste, a small town in the Santa Victoria Department, at the northwest corner of the province of Salta, Argentina, at an elevation of 2,400m (7,874ft) above the sea level.
The road to the town is extreme, with hairpins and terrible weather. The town located between mountains and valleys on the border with the Republic of Bolivia, at the intersection of rivers Acoyte and La Huerta. The trail to the town, nestled between the mountains, climbs up to Abra del Lizoite, a high mountain pass at an elevation of 4.536m (14,882ft) above the sea level. This track can get very muddy and slippery after rain making it challenging to get through. During and after a storm the road may be impassable, even with a four-wheel-drive vehicle. This is a maintained road where a high clearance 2WD vehicle is able to travel safely at low speeds on long dry straight-of-ways, without losing control due to wash boarding, ruts, or dips.
Pic: richard desomme