
Bòfia dels Prats
Avenc de 36 metres de fondària a l'Obaga Negra (Coll de Nargó)
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Bòfia dels Prats
Avenc de 36 metres de fondària a l'Obaga Negra (Coll de Nargó)
Coll de Nargó · Alt Urgell
Length: 164 m · Depth: 36 m
Updated record
https://espeleoworld.com/en/c/bofia-dels-prats
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A 36-metre-deep pit at l'Obaga Negra (Coll de Nargó), with a 15x10 entrance, a chamber nearly fifty metres long by 30 wide, and the Fonda and Remuntant routes.
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
From the 15x10 entrance, the lower lip gives access to a vertical drop of between 13 and 15 metres, depending on the point of rigging, since there are several fixed anchors. At the foot of the drop one lands in a notable chamber nearly fifty metres long by 30 wide that descends in a ramp for some ten metres of drop. The floor of this chamber consists of an accumulation of small blocks covered with mosses and a layer of jackdaw excrement that makes it especially slippery.
From the chamber we can continue along two itineraries that we could call the Via Fonda and the Via Remuntant.
The Via Fonda can be reached by following the left-hand side of the chamber. We can descend the first pit below a large block, or else climb a few metres where we find a handline by which one accesses the drop. The first section is 10m and after a small ramp floor we find a second pit of 8 metres. At its base one can follow a small room and a gallery where we find a rigged climb that leads to no practicable continuation. The maximum level of this sector, according to the survey by Lloret/Ubach, is -36 m, corresponding to the -42 of Devenat/Esteve.
A new access in this sector is, once at the handline by which one accesses the drop, to continue along the handline, entering a descending gallery full of jackdaw guano, at the end of which, on the left, we find a pit that takes us directly to the small room; at the bottom of it and at the maximum depth, we make a small climb that has been rigged and enter through a narrow section into a small gallery, then a pit of some 3 metres, from which we enter a sunken chamber that continues through low passages and narrow sections until it is no longer passable.
From the entrance of the sunken chamber, in its upper part we find a small crawl that at the end is very narrow, and which brings us back to the small room where we made the small climb.
Back at the base of the first pit, if we follow the south-western side, we find an ascending rope to access the Via Remuntant; this has a total length of 70 metres. A first vertical section of some 5 metres, and a kind of ramp on a cornice rigged with a handline, places us at the western end of the chamber almost at its ceiling.
On reaching the end of the ascending slope we are on a ledge that forms a magnificent balcony over the chamber. Here we find several jackdaw nests, and one can continue through a low passage until reaching a widening with many formations, where we find two continuations. The first, descending between flows, opens a blind pit of 10 metres (muddy ramp and vertical of 8 m.). The second option begins through an elevated crawl between concretions, which leads us to a small room and after a second crawl we reach, by means of a pit of some 5 metres, a small room profusely decorated with all kinds of speleothems.
Speleothems
The second option of the Via Remuntant begins through an elevated crawl between concretions, which leads us to a small room and after a second crawl we reach, by means of a pit of some 5 metres, a small room profusely decorated with all kinds of speleothems.
History
The first news we have of the exploration of the cavity was carried out in 1965 by members of the SAS de Centre Gimnàstic Barcelonès. In 1966 it is already cited in a monographic guide about el Boumort published in the magazine Montaña nº 100, where it is assigned an exaggerated -65 metres of depth.
The first known survey, made by the first explorers of the cavity, does not appear published until 13 years later, in volume 1 of the Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya in 1978; this survey gives it a depth of -42 metres.
In 1985, Jordi Lloret (SIE-CEA) and Montse Ubach (ERE-CEC) made a careful survey of the cavity, unfortunately they did not survey the part corresponding to the via remuntant as it went unnoticed by them. This survey, however, is not published until 2003 in the magazine Espeleòleg nº 43. This survey revision gives a maximum depth of -36 metres.
In 2014 the colla de l'espeleodijous took advantage of a visit to the cavity to survey again the part corresponding to the via remuntant.
In 2017, Marcel Lavaquiol and Jordi Francès explored in the final part of the via Fonda a new section formed almost entirely by crawls.
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Bibliography
- Borràs, J.; Miñarro, J.M.;Talavera, F.(1978).-”alt urgell i la cerdanya”. Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol.1):72. Ed. Políglota.
- Lloret Prieto, Jordi.(2003).-”Bòfia dels Prats o Avenc de l'Obaga Negra”. Espeleòleg (43):44. ERE-CE Catalunya.
- Senent, Joan; Victoria, Josep M.(1966).-”Datos para el conocimiento espeleológico del macizo del Boumort”. Montaña (100):269-281. Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.
- Fotos de la cavitat, part de la descripció i topografia de la via remuntant extretes del blog (www.espeleobloc.com.es) posts dels dies 5-6-7 i 8 de desembre de 2014.
- Fitxa actualitzada al desembre de 2017, dades de la descripció del nou sector i croquis facilitats per Marcel Lavaquiol i Jordi Francès.
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Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
