Ruta 40 & Carrettera Austral
 

Dear All

Im in the Argentinian lakes, with the intention to head south to Ushuaia and would like to get up to date information on the condition of both the above roads. Has anyone been down/up in the last few weeks and can give me an idea.

All information greatly appriciated.

Stu

in Barriloche, coming from Ushuaia
 

Hej Stu,
Started in Valparaiso 1,5 month ago, drove down through Chili, island Chiloe, then to Puertes Cisnes, Cohaique,...took the border with Chili Chico/Los Antiguos...so not much of help on that. Only thing I can say...wind, wind and again very strong winds in Argentina. From Ushuai, up untill Barriloche, forces of wind...80-120 km/hr. Had an accident, due to wind en fu... truck who passed me on a ridiculous speed, just before border with Argentina, coming from Ushuaia. You know oktober/november/december=wind months. What I do know a lot of roadworks going on everywhere which makes it much more difficult to ride the gravels.

Good Luck on your way down, hope to read how it went,
cheers,
pascale

hello
now in el bolson (near bariloche) with a toyota 4x4.
local people + tourists like us told us the RN40 is boring and in bad condition ("tole ondulee" in french) after esquel. so we cross the border there to go to chile : trevelin, fataleufu, villa santa lucia then A7 until la junta, coihaique, chile chico (you avoid this way around 500 kms of RN40) then back to argentina ... but around 500 kms left until el calafate on the RN40.
hope it helps

happy trails

i m sure there are plenty of answers to your question here on the hubb

Carreterra and Ruta
 

I have just ridden both, the Carreterra Austral all the way to Villa O Higgins, and Ruta 40 from Paseo Roubales to Puerto Natales.
The CA is pretty good, with some tough sections. The Ruta 40 is pretty tough especially because of the brutal winds. And the surface changes frequently and significantly, so you cannot relax for a moment. If you want some more info, email me.

Rode through that area in mid-November. The section from Rio Mayo to Perito Moreno was the worst. A new road is being built and a temporary road has been constructed in parallel. This was difficult, in being a mix of floury soil and uncrushed river gravels. Rental agencies in BA advised that several riders had fallen in this section. We (five of us on rented Transalps) made it through fine.

The rest is easier, although sometimes the gravel is uncrushed river gravels varying in size from marbles to apples, occasionally in deep drifts.

Having ridden back up Ruta 3, Ruta 40 although more challenging is much more rewarding, in terms of scenery and riding experience (no, I'm no masochist). I'll post a trip report soon - there's lots of amazing scenery along and near Ruta 40.

Cheers