Port d'Envalira
Port d'Envalira | |||
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View from the top of the pass to the east on Pas de la Casa |
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Compass direction | north | west | |
Pass height | 2407 m | ||
region | department Ariège | Andorra | |
Watershed | Ariège | Valira | |
Valley locations | Ax-les-Thermes | Andorra la Vella | |
expansion | Pass road / road tunnel | ||
Winter closure | No | ||
Mountains | Pyrenees | ||
profile | |||
Mountain scoring | 1 | ||
Ø pitch | 4.8% (1685 m / 35.0 km) | 5.1% (1396 m / 23.2 km) | |
Max. Incline | 8.0% | 9.0% | |
Map (Ariège) | |||
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Coordinates | 42 ° 32 '24 " N , 1 ° 43' 18" E |
The Port d'Envalira (also Col d'Envalira ) is the highest road mountain pass in the Pyrenees . The pass is at an altitude of 2407 meters in Andorra . The pass is not closed in winter and is therefore the highest pass road in Europe that can be driven all year round.
route
There are three different ways to get to the top of the pass. From the north of Ax-les-Thermes ( 720 m ) in France, the national road 20 leads towards the pass. Below the top of the pass, however, it turns east to the Col de Puymorens , so that the top of the pass can be reached via the N22. From Ax-les-Thermes, the route is 35 kilometers long with an average gradient of a little less than five percent.
The junction of the N 20 and N22 can also be reached from the south via the N 20. The starting point of the route is Latour-de-Carol ( 1245 m ) and it is 31 kilometers long with an average gradient of 3.7 percent.
From the west, road CG 2 comes up from Andorra la Vella ( 1011 m ). The route on this side has a length of 23.2 kilometers with an average gradient of just over five percent.
The pass can be reached through the 2860 m long toll road Tùnel d'Envalìra at the height of Pas de la Casa (at approx. 2060 m).
A dirt road leads from the top of the pass to the Pic Blanc .
history
At the beginning of the 20th century there was a simple farm road for transporting loads with donkeys and horses between France and Andorra.
In 1931 the pass was opened as a road. With the installation of the first ski lift in Pas de la Casa in the winter of 1957/58, the snow was regularly cleared from the pass and kept open all year round. In the sixties the road was paved throughout.
Construction of the Tunnel d'Envalira began in the summer of 1999 and was opened to traffic in 2002.
Cycling
The pass was in use in cycling - stage race Tour de France and Vuelta a España reached.
Tour de France
The following riders were the first to reach the top of the pass each year.
- 1964 : Julio Jimenez
- 1964 : Federico Bahamontes
- 1968 : Aurelio Gonzalez
- 1974 : Raymond Delisle
- 1997 : Richard virusesque (2 times: 10th & 11th stage)
- 2009 : Sandy Casar
- 2016 : Rui Costa
Vuelta a España
The following driver reached the top of the pass first:
swell
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Numerical Analysis of a Tunnel in an Anisotropy Rock Mass. Envalira Tunnel (Principality of Andorra) Dídac Plana, Carlos López, Josep Cornelles and Pere Muñoz
Web links
- Le Dico du Tour: Port d'Envalira (French)
- Port d'Envalira at quaeldich.de