Hi Susan,

I might be a bit late but for what it's worth:

When I crossed the San Francisco Pass on may 3rd I did not have any problems, neither with the route nor with the bike (R1200GSA). No really steep sections, good ripio (gravel) from Copiapo to the border post, then a good 100km a bit worse. The Chileans are rebuilding the road. On the Argentine side beautiful new pavement. No petrol station between Copiapo and Fiambala and the latter was out of gas. Next town had petrol (470 + 45 km!) I made it with 3 litres (out of 33) to spare. If you're lucky, they sell fuel at the Arg. border post 20km after the pass. They have two barrels in a shack, price is 6 Pesos per litre as opposed to the usual 4.7 Pesos.
Fiambala is a small and dusty place. Try Hostal San Jorge, one block from the plaza, 50 P single room.

While I'm talking about San Francisco Pass: I crossed Agua Negra Pass further south around April 20, more ripio and steeper, 220km between petrol stations (2km from the Arg. border post and in Vicuna, nothing in between). Augua Negra Pass closes in winter. No exact dates, they close it with the first snow, usually in mid-May, it's reopened when the snow melts sometime in November. San F. should be open all year, just like the 3200m pass between Mendoza and Santiago. The latter is all paved, snow can be expected in mid-winter.

Both passes are just under 4800m, at around 14h I had 2°C on Agua Negra and 10°C on San F. Breathing is difficult above 3500m, make sure you're acclimatized if you want to spend a night higher than that. Read up on AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness).

I'll cross the Paso de Jama this Sunday and I expect it to be just as great riding as the other three :-)

Find my photos of the S.F. Pass here:
http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/c...20and%20Chile/

Cheers
Frank

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