Avenc Josep Cuadrench
A 25 m deep pit near the hermitage of Foix, in Torrelles de Foix, with an entrance of 1.22×0.7 m and a gallery along an N-S joint.
EspeleoWorld
Avenc Josep Cuadrench
A 25 m deep pit near the hermitage of Foix, in Torrelles de Foix, with an entrance of 1.22×0.7 m and a gallery along an N-S joint.
Torrelles de Foix · Alt Penedès
Length: 52 m · Depth: 25 m
Updated record
https://espeleoworld.com/en/c/avenc-josep-cuadrench
Information can change. Always verify coordinates, access, weather, and cave conditions before setting out.
A 25 m deep pit near the hermitage of Foix, in Torrelles de Foix, with an entrance of 1.22×0.7 m and a gallery along an N-S joint.
Topographic
Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.
Photos
Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.
Description
Morphology
An entrance of 1.22×0.7 metres drops us into a P-3.8. We are in a joint that we will descend for about 5 metres and overcome an r-1.7; the average width is about 0.5 metres. 7.5 metres further down we find a crawl that gives access to a small pit (r-1.8).
At this point we will climb an r+1.5 and reach an upper little chamber, the chamber has dimensions of about 4×2 metres, and also a fissure with a pit of 7.8 metres sounded, which leads to the lower chamber that we will describe further on.
Descending the r-1.8, we find a small cubicle of 1.3×0.8 metres, and on the right a P-6.4, we will descend this pit. At about 3.4 metres there is a block that facilitates the rappel.
Now we are in a gallery, oriented along an N-S joint. The width oscillates between 1.5 and 2.5 metres. On the S side we find a small pit 2 metres deep, very narrow and with no continuation. The height to the ceiling is about 8 metres.
Advancing about 10 metres through the chaos of blocks in a N direction, on the left we find an ascending ramp that ends at the foot of a flowstone. Here we also find a small orifice that leads to a pit of 4 metres sounded.
On the right we will go into a small gallery of about 5 metres until its narrowness prevents us from continuing. Here we reach the maximum depth of the cavity: -25 metres.
Speleothems
The upper little chamber has lithogenic coatings.
History
The first exploration was carried out by members of the ERE – AEC on 30 March 1959 and they dedicated it to the then president of the entity, Mr. Josep Cuadrench. The cavity goes practically unnoticed, except in the local area and perhaps also among speleologists from Vilanova.
At the end of February 1989, members of the SIRE – UEC Sants visit and survey in the Puig Pedregós area a pit 12 metres deep which they take to be the poorly documented Avenc Josep Cuadrench, thinking that it could be the same one that had been cited as Avenc del Rot.
After the recent work of the GE Badalona and CE Castellar (September 2016) it is fairly clear that this cavity is not the Avenc Josep Cuadrench and, by elimination, it must supposedly be the also undocumented Avenc del Rot.
Note from Espeleoíndex: But... if one consults a brief article by Àngel Lagar (1972), one will find a cavity, Avenc de Foix, of which there was no further news. Lagar explains that in January 1951, his friend J. Rosell took him to a pit near the sanctuary of Foix and that they explore it after having to uncover it. At the end of the same year he returned to continue with his collection of fauna. It is not, however, until August 1972, that together with his colleagues from the SIRE – UEC Gràcia he decides to return to that pit and also to the nearby Cova de Cal Magí Rossell. They make the survey and publish it, giving some fairly erroneous coordinates. Nothing more was ever known of this pit of Foix.
Joan Virella (1978), in his list of Penedès cavities, cites it and grants it a depth of 12 metres, the result of a misinterpretation of the survey; when, if you look at it properly, one sees that it reaches about 25 metres deep.
Now, comparing that 1972 survey with the one made in 2016 of the Avenc Josep Cuadrench, we have few doubts that it must be the same cavity. Thus, the first exploration would be Lagar's in 1951 and given the total lack of data, it was renamed in 1959 as Avenc Josep Cuadrench.
User Comments (0)
No comments yet.
Be the first to share your experience!
Registered Explorations (0)
No explorations registered yet.
Register your visit to this cave!
Bibliography
- Lagar, A. (1972).- “Dos nuevos 'avencs' en el Penedès”. Senderos (168): 24-26. Unió Excursionista de Catalunya. Barcelona.
- Virella, Joan (1978).- “Experiències a l’entorn de la localització d’estacions prehistòriques Apèndix. Catalogació de cavitats de les comarques penedesenques i encontorns”. Miscel·lània Penedesenca 1: 241-269. Institut d’Estudis Penedesencs. Vilafranca del Penedès
- Actualització de dades, topografia i fotografies, extretes del web: geb.cat (del GE Badalona). Apunt del dia 5-12-2016: Els intrigants avencs del Pujolet (Torrelles de Foix, Alt Penedès)
Nearby caves
Avenc Petit del Puig Pedregós
0.1 km · N
Torrelles de Foix (Alt Penedès)
2 topo.3 photos
Avenc del Rot
0.2 km · N
Torrelles de Foix (Alt Penedès)
2 topo.3 photos
Cova del Cingle de Foix
0.5 km · NE
Torrelles de Foix (Alt Penedès)
1 topo.
Cova de la Verge
0.5 km · NE
Torrelles de Foix (Alt Penedès)
3 topo.4 photos
Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/