Port d'Envalira

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Port d'Envalira
View from the top of the pass to the east on Pas de la Casa

View from the top of the pass to the east on Pas de la Casa

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)
Port d'Envalira (Occitania)
Port d'Envalira
Coordinates 42 ° 32 '24 "  N , 1 ° 43' 18"  E 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.

Vuelta a España

The following driver reached the top of the pass first:

swell

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