#devil's nose

[guerrerense]

Climbing the Devil's Nose August 1992 por Ian Silvester

[kimzplace]

Devil's Nose Mountain, Hawkins County, Tennessee

[guerrerense]

Climbing the Devil's Nose August 1992 por Ian Silvester

[kimzplace]

The Devil's 👃 Nose

[cadmansa2015]

08-08-2015 Day 41 (Devil's Nose - Baños) Part 1 - El Nariz del Diablo Up at 7 we headed to the train station in Alausi to buy tickets for El Nariz del Diablo, apparently one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. Construction of the railway began in 1899 with the aim of connecting Guayacuil to Quito. The biggest obstacle to the construction was a sharp face of rock 130km east of Guayacuil, a rock just outside Alausi dubbed El Nariz del Diablo or the 'Devil's Nose'; this obstacle resulted in the nickname 'the most difficult railway in the world'. An American engineer came up with a series of switchbacks in order to navigate the sheer face, i.e. where the train alternates direction down the mountain through switching points. The English translation in the museum called them 'birfurcations of the track'. Apparently not long ago it was possible to ride on the roof of the train but health and safety has stepped in and banned it now. Tickets were surprisingly expensive at $30 but thankfully we bagged the last two seats on the right hand side (which features nicer views) even if we didn't get into one of the fancier carriages. The train wound it's way down the mountain, covering 800m of vertical in just 45min. The views were pretty special and the many bends in the mountainside meant we could admire the tail of the train in the foreground with grassy mountains shrouded in mist in the background. We pulled into Sibambe at the bottom where we learned we'd have to rest for an hour for no other reason than they want to try sell you stuff. $2 coffee was a rip off that we declined, and when locals started performing traditional dances I felt pretty uncomfortable so avoided watching. I feel that sort of thing is so contrived and that they can't be enjoying it when they do it four or five times a day, kinda like dancing monkeys and the photo-obsessed tourists just gawp, lapping it up. Regardless, the time passed pretty quick and an hour later the train was whizzing back up the hill to Alausi at a much faster pace than the descent.

[0-gauge]

The Devil's Nose

From Urbina the track gets even more hair-raising, as you travel towards the infamous Devil's Nose – where the track loops in a series of precipitous switchbacks on the rocky mountain face of Cóndor Puñuna (Condor Mountain). The engineering challenges in building this section earned it the nickname 'the most difficult railway in the world'.

 The line from Quito to Guayaquil in Equador was constructed in the late 19th century, a daunting task back then considering the engineering, the terrain and available technology. The line fell into neglect due to frequent landslides in in the 1990s except for small sections like the Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose) in an equally enigmatic location - the Valley of the Volcanoes. The line is considered one of the steepest in the world and passes close to the Chimborazo, the tallest peak Equador and for the amusement of trivia quizzers, the peak closest to the sun on account of its location at the equator. Of course, railfans will ignore the Chimborazo for the Devil's Nose is one of the most exquisite examples of what they term as a Zig-Zag crossing or a 'Switchback'.

PS: By the way, there is a Jamaican connection to this line

[nancyzhouu-blog]

Nariz del Diablo, Alausí, Ecuador