See also Ken Mitchell Remembered website — May 6, 2008
See “9 more (including 1 cyclist) die on Highway of Death” — April 25, 2008
A 56-year-old U.S. tourist is the latest person to die on the Unduavi-Yolosa Highway — judged the world's most dangerous highway — in the mountains near La Paz, Bolivia.
Kenneth Mitchell was on one-day excursion with outfitter Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking when he tumbled off his rented mountain bike and fell to his death down a 200-foot cliff.
That outfitter is one of more than a dozen companies that carry customers to the high Andean plains of the La Cumbre at 15,400 feet and guide them along the winding 30-mile dirt road into the jungle 11,800 feet below.
Riding confidently
The US Embassy would not release details on Mitchell, such as his hometown, to the
Mitchell somehow tumbled from his bike and fell down the cliff. His bike was still at the cliff's edge in perfect working order. (See Orange County Register article.)
I researched and wrote about his road a couple of years ago. I learned it was built in the early 1930s with POW labor from Bolivia's war with Paraguay. It was the route used by people in northern Bolivia to reach the capital city of La Paz.
Most dangerous
Because of a high rate of accidents, including those involving buses, the Inter-American Development Bank judged this the World's Most Dangerous Road in 1995 based on the number of deaths per mile.
A newer, safer, route has been opened, but moutain bikers are flocking to the road known as the “Highway of Death.” The Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking outfitter estimates that 25,000 cyclists of all experience levels travel down the road annually.
His company was highlighted in an ABC Nightline report “The Ride of their Lives.” In it, founder Alistair Matthew explains:
“It's called bragging rights. It's all about being able to go back to work, putting our map on the water cooler and going 'There I was, mountain biking down the World's Most Dangerous Road…”
YouTube video of road
Lived to tell
A commenter over at the Go Clipless blog wrote about her experiences falling off the road. Her photo are at jennifrog at flickr.com. She wrote:
“So anyway, we decide to do the bike ride and didn't really give any thought to the fact that I have only really ridden on tarmac and have no off road experience. This road was really bumpy with lots of gravel. I was fine on the tarmac bit but once we got onto the bumpy bit my lack of experience got the better of me. I was on a steep bit of road and a truck was behind me honking and both the guides were at the front. I went around a tight corner too quickly and hit a bump in the middle of the road. I think I must have panicked and braked hard coz the back of the bike swung round and me and the bike both skidded off the edge of the cliff! I let the bike go and managed to grab hold of the side of the cliff and the bike ended up 50-60 feet down a huge crevice!”
More reports
Here's a description of the road by a Globe and Mail photographer who took the trip. He wrote:
“In parts the sun rarely shines, blocked by overhanging cliffs and the waterfalls that run off them. The omnipresent drizzle turns puddles into rivers. The only “guardrails” are crosses placed by grieving relatives.”
A writer for the travel website Liebreich.com also has taken the trip. After being delayed while authorities try to retrieve a woman who has fallen to her death on an earlier bike trip, he writes:
“Adrenalin will remain my drug of choice, but the next time I'm offered adventure, I will ask myself two questions: Is it respectful of the local community? And is the level of risk acceptable?
“Mountain-biking the Yungas Road fails both tests. It is entirely unacceptable for groups of wealthy tourists to treat a road with such a terrible death toll as a recreational experience. Some locals have no choice but to take it – the last thing they need is to be overtaken by whooping mountain-bikers.”
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