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Balmes I Cova de Roques Sitjanes

Balmes I Cova de Roques Sitjanes

Conjunt de balmes i una petita cova a Castellcir (Moianès)

Castellcir • Moianès7m2m

A group of rock shelters and a small cave in Castellcir (Moianès), on the Roca Sitjana ridge, with the main rock shelter 13 m long and a cave with a regular chamber.

Characteristics

Location

To the east of the municipality of Castellcir we find the Roca Sitjana ridge, which reaches 864 metres of altitude at the serrat Rodó. The name of the ridge comes from the roques Sitjanes, which form an elongated rocky alignment of about 150 metres that follows a stretch of the ridge crest, forming small cinglets on either side of it, better developed on the eastern slope, where we find the cavities that are the subject of this article. It should be noted that the Alpina map uses the term in the singular: “Roca Sitjana”.

The Alpina map “Cingles de Bertí” in its latest edition (2013-2014) marks the cavity in the correct place, but in earlier editions it marked it erroneously more than a kilometre away to the east. The map only indicates the cave symbol, without it being included in the speleological catalogue of the guide that accompanies the map.

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Balma Principal

    Elevation: 828 m

    41.764812, 2.168646
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 430896 4623998
  2. Cova

    Elevation: 826 m

    41.764133, 2.168221
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 430860 4623923
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Balmes I Cova de Roques Sitjanes - Photo, Castellcir, MoianèsView image
Click to enlarge

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

Image 1 of 4

Description

Morphology

We find different rock shelters along the whole 150 metres of the rocky alignment that forms the roques Sitjanes, always located on the eastern slope. The rocky alignment presents some discontinuities in the form of small breaches that allow passage from one slope to the other.

The main rock shelter has not very high stone walls that delimit a flat space of 4 x 3.2 metres that has been used as a refuge. From the glass bottles and other remains that we find there, we have deduced that it was used as a refuge around the 1970s.

The rock shelters are modest, of little depth. The main rock shelter, the only one that brings together a minimum of comfort for its habitability, is 13 metres long by a maximum depth of 3.5 metres, which it reaches at its N end, where we find the stone walls and the flat space to which we have referred above.

From some of the rock shelters circular pressure conduits emerge, of modest diameter, which penetrate a few metres into the cingle.

The mouth of the cave is a vertical fissure, about 2 metres high and rather narrow. Once this is passed in an ascending stretch, we reach a chamber of very regular dimensions: 4.7 metres long by a little more than one metre wide. The height approaches 4 metres. The floor, rigorously flat, is dry and dusty, with excrement of the small animals that hide there being observed. At the end of the chamber, a small conduit that becomes impenetrable seems to want to go towards the other side of the cingle.

Due to its characteristics, the cave constitutes a good refuge or hiding place, although the narrowness of the mouth does not make access very comfortable.

History

Francesc Roma, on his blog “Excursionisme científic”, dedicates a post to the main rock shelter, also mentioning and describing the cave. He uses the toponym in the plural: “Roques Sitjanes”.

In March 2016, F. Cardona and J. Cuenca visit the group and carry out the cataloguing work of these cavities unpublished in the speleological bibliography.

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Bibliography

  • Totes les dades, topografia i fotografies han estat extretes del web: geb.cat (del GE Badalona) (Apunt del 10-4-2016). Autors fitxa: F. Cardona (ECG) i J. Cuenca (GEB)

Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/