Pha Din Pass is one of the four great peaks of the Northwest region along with 3 passes of legendary O Quy Ho, Khau Pha and Ma Pi Leng. It’s one of the most highlight tour to Dien Bien Phu Vietnam. In the local language, Pha Din means “heaven and earth”, also a reference to the height of this pass.
How Pha Din Pass is Unique?
The highest point of the pass is 1648m above sea level. The terrain of the mountain is very dangerous, uneven, one side is steep and one is deep. The contiguous place between the land and sky, according to the language of the Thai people. It’s also the beginning of the journey of dragging high-level artillery with the strength of the Vietnamese soldiers in the campaign that led to the victory of Dien Bien Phu history. 7-5-1954.
Pha Din Pass has a total length of 32km. It’s located on Highway 6, which is divided between Son La and Dien Bien provinces. The old Lai Chau (now Dien Bien) and Son La also handed down a story about dividing the two provinces by a horse race over Pha Din.
People and horses, the same strength come from two pass ramps, where the meeting place on the pass is also the boundary line. And the pass belongs to Lai Chau which is a bit longer. But it does not matter, because this pass is the pride of the two provinces. Because it is challenging the adventurous people to get the beauty that is hard to resist on the top of the pass.
Challenging is because, Pha Din is also a pass with a great slope from 12% to 19%. The mountain pass is meandering in figure 8. There are many sleeves with high slope and curve radius of less than 15m. Geology here is also very weak in the rainy season often occurs sliding, blooming, slipping and landslides.
Today, the National Highway 6 renovation and renovation project, Son La – Tuan Giao section. It has been completed. Pha Din Pass by pass is built along the mountain side of the old Highway 6 with the height of 1000m. It’s lower than the old Pha Din Pass about 100-400m. Currently all major traffic activities are carried out on the new pass road so traffic through Pha Din Pass seems insignificant and the pass is now only a place for Vietnam tour adventure travelers.
