Avenc Antistiana

Avenc d'uns 15 m. de fondària a la Plana de la Torre (el Montmell)

Montmell, El • Baix Penedès40m15m

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Avenc Antistiana

Avenc d'uns 15 m. de fondària a la Plana de la Torre (el Montmell)

Montmell, El · Baix Penedès

Length: 40 m · Depth: 15 m

Updated record

https://espeleoworld.com/en/c/avenc-antistiana

Information can change. Always verify coordinates, access, weather, and cave conditions before setting out.

Topographic map of the main entrance — Main entrance · ICGC topographic map

A pit about 15 m deep at the Plana de la Torre (el Montmell), with a narrow vertical conduit, a shaft that widens, and a side gallery with stalactitic formations.

Characteristics

Type: Pothole
Municipality: Montmell, El
Region: Baix Penedès
Unit: Montmell, el
Length: 40 meters
Depth: 15 meters
Major Unit: Serralada Prelitoral
Lithology: Limestone
Last review: 2014-10-07

Location

Almost at the western end of the Pla de la Torre de Milà, practically in the highest area of this plain, covered by a dense garrigue that makes transit and the locating of cavities very difficult. The avenc Antistiana is found in a small clearing in the undergrowth.

It can be reached from the hamlet of Aiguaviva del Montmell by a path that climbs in a NW direction, and it is also possible from Aiguaviva itself to follow the TV-2443 road in the direction of Can Ferrer de la Cogullada and, before the houses of the Vall de Sant Marc, on the right, a track comes off that leads to Mas Solà and before reaching it there is a turnoff to the right that would take us to the ruins of the Torre de Milà and that continues onward to end almost at the upper plain.

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

Antistiana, Avenc
Elevation: 752 m
41.354923, 1.485643
UTM 31T (ED 50) 373418 4579468
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Topographic

Avenc Antistiana - Topography, Montmell, El, Baix Penedès

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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

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Photos

Avenc Antistiana - Photo, Montmell, El, Baix Penedès

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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

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Description

Morphology

Through a narrow vertical conduit with a very selective passage one can reach a depth of 9 metres. Here the shaft widens and with very steep walls one gains access to its bottom, blocked by rubble, which is the point of maximum depth at -15.5 metres. From here, and climbing back up by the wall opposite the one used for the descent, one can reach a window through which one can enter a side gallery formed by two wider chambers about 5 metres high.

Speleothems

The walls and ceiling of the side gallery are lined with fairly notable stalactitic formations.

History

In 1980 or 1981, a group of mountain enthusiasts from la Bisbal del Penedès discover and explore a new pit that they name after their own group, Antistiana II. The article-interview, with photos and a sketch of the pit, in the weekly El 3 de Vuit, goes practically unnoticed in the speleological world. At first it gave us the impression that it could be the same Avenc dels Pinyerets (the side gallery of both cavities led us into error), but with smaller dimensions and as if they had not reached the point of maximum depth.

It is not until 16 June 2011 that on one of the outings of the grup de l'espeleodijous and thanks to some coordinates from a forest ranger provided by the colleague Francesc Rodríguez (Espeleo Grup Santfeliuenc), and all the while thinking that it was the avenc Victoria, they rediscover the cavity. The exploration is possible only for the friend (and thin) Floren Fadrique, who turns the whole pit over in search of cave fauna and who later personally confirms to us that it is the avenc Antistiana in view of the sketch made by the first explorers. (Mystery solved, as Professor D'Arbó would say).