Hear
The action lasts less than 30 seconds. It’s 50 meters of furious racing along the beach and then up the vertical wall of the dune, the gear in low gear, the firm arms on the steering wheel, the lead foot on the accelerator, the traction making a mark in the sand, the nerves of steel. So if everything was done right, The prize will be to reach the top of the dune, see the world from above, and receive the cold blow of the sea wind.
Médano Blanco, located 40 kilometers south of Necochea, is 110 meters high and is the highest sand peak on the Argentine Atlantic Coast. In recent years it has been transformed into a authentic challenge for adventure lovers in 4×4 vehicles. Although there are some brave people who, less prepared for the occasion, still dare to do so.
There are two ways to climb the colossus of southeastern Buenos Aires with a vehicle. One is by walking a slightly steep path that borders it and leads to the top without any major surprises. It is the one usually used by vans that carry out excursions for tourists. The other is to face it head-on, luck or truth. And for this you need temper and technique.
The first time that Denis Angelakis, president of the Necochense 4×4 Group, climbed it, was as a passenger in a 2018 Dodge RAM truck, owned by a member of the sister group from Mar del Plata. “It had a couple more HP, they had chipped it. It wasn’t original. Taking the clean and jerk, he climbed it calmly,” he remembers.
He promised himself then that he would do it again, but this time with him at the wheel. Last year he fulfilled his dream, which he reiterated on several more occasions. Angelakis has a ’61 model Jeep with 4×4 traction and a Chevrolet Silverado engine prepared to run in the Mar y Sierras category. It also has a two-mouth carburetor and an improved camshaft.
The dune has these two faces, but the front one is only for the bold. “Not just anyone climbs,” says Angelakis, who at 23 years old is already an expert. “We like to face the dune,” he insists.
To embark on the adventure of climbing the Médano Blanco, it is not a necessary condition to have a 4×4 vehicle. “It can be a 4×2, what happens is that you need to have a lot of engine,” he emphasizes. Some are brave, they are encouraged by any original jeep. You can face anything, the issue is that they are not going to upload it. What happens when you don’t go up? You have to go down. That is when things must be done well because any slightest detail in the maneuver can cause an accident.”.
Concentration, temper and technique are the three conditions that are needed to be able to climb in a vehicle to the tip of the Médano Blanco. “Particularly in my vehicle I don’t have to take much running to get it up. I calculate that with 50 meters along the beach, putting on shoes, I can go up –Angelakis assures-. But my Jeep is four-wheel drive. Simple Jeeps need more distance. There is only one who climbs it from the foot of the Médano.”
“Having four-wheel drive and plenty of engine, I particularly drive it high. I put it in first gear, second gear and go into second gear all the way to the top – adds the expert. There are friends of the group who dedicate themselves to crossings that go up in third gear. That is, they start in first, second, third and there they go hard until the top. In low gear there is more traction and not as many revolutions are lost. At high speed the engine starts to break down. You have to have a good engine to solve those turns”.
Are 110 meters of vertical climb in a fraction of seconds. What should not be done in that stretch? “The ideal is to try not to make sudden maneuvers. My Jeep has a track that is quite original. Currently these vehicles are not very tall. As you go up, stability is lost. The Jeeps with the changed track and wider tread beat gravity. The ideal, as a beginner, is not to do crazy things. You should not face the dune and start surfing it. You should not play above the dune because the blow is very hard and it does not end until you reach the bottom. You have to go up and down straight.”
On the way “You feel a lot of adrenaline,” confesses the president of the Necochense 4×4 Group, an entity that has 130 members and three decades of life.. El Médano Blanco has been transformed into a place of worship, although there was a time when no one could tame it. They say that, years ago, one of the few who managed to climb it was Gerónimo Momo Venegas, the former general secretary of the Uatre (Argentine Union of rural workers and dockworkers).
There are those who stay trying. However, this does not represent a difficulty. “It is very normal, especially in trucks. There are many groups that come from outside and have the goal of climbing the dune. They reach halfway and stay there. Then they have to go back. The good thing is that she goes down alone. Gravity itself pulls it down.”
Everything that goes up must come down, and for this you also need a wrist. “Those of us who have four-wheel drive descend in first low, regulating,” says Angelakis. Then there are many who turn off the engine, put it in reverse and with the brake and the gear it goes down slowly. Going down the dune is not crazy but it has its technique, especially for those who are beginners and do not understand. You should not go down lightly. If they go down quickly, any slightest maneuver ends up being dangerous, the vehicle can be crossed. You have to try to carry it straight.”
Does the box suffer? “The idea is not to go down with reverse gear engaged but simply to go with the brake pressed and with reverse gear engaged and taken out. The box should not be forced one hundred percent because it may break. But the difference that sand has, and especially going down a dune, is that the vehicle slips, blocks and slides. It is not like in the earth or in the stone, which is stuck. Anything can break there. The sand, on the other hand, gives us room to do other things without the box suffering a lot.”
Countless myths surround the Médano Blanco. One of them maintains that it was a sacred site for the native peoples who lived in the region. For now, it is now for the adventurers of the 4×4 group, who erected a Virgin on the side of the road, where they have deposited the ashes of some of their deceased members. The dune attracts the bold. You just have to dare to upload it.
