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Cova de l'Escaleta

Cova de l'Escaleta

A 265-metre-long cave in the municipality of Camarasa, known since ancient times by the inhabitants of the area.

Camarasa • Noguera 265m 15m

A 265-metre-long cave in the municipality of Camarasa, known since ancient times by the inhabitants of the area.

Characteristics

Location

By the road that leads from Camarasa towards the dam, about 50 metres before entering the road tunnel, on the left of this road we find a path that places us on a terrace at a higher level. We will have to follow the path along this terrace for about 450 metres and watch the walls behind us, since the small mouth of the cave is located on a bend and hanging on the wall. From the path we will climb up to the foot of the wall, where a kind of natural steps acting as a staircase (hence its name) will facilitate our access to the cavity.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Cova de l' Escaleta

    Elevation: 411 m

    41.901257, 0.882278
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 324340 4640981
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova de l'Escaleta - Photo, Camarasa, NogueraView image
Click to enlarge

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

Image 1 of 8

Description

Morphology

A narrow mouth places us in a gallery 2 x 4 metres and 30 in length; this, at 20 metres, opens laterally on the left and, after a small climb, into a gallery up to 10 metres wide. 25 metres further on and after overcoming a barrier of large piled-up blocks, we find ourselves in the very middle of a room 15 metres in diameter and 12 metres high. If we continue towards the NW we will be able to continue for about 136 metres through a rosary of small rooms of variable and reduced sizes but in general uncomfortable to explore. If from the room we head to the NE, behind an elbow in the wall we find the access to a gallery that does not exceed 1 metre in height along its entire length, except for the final small room which is 3 metres high. At the middle of the route we find a diversion to the right in a SE direction with a floor with plenty of sand and it ends up becoming impenetrable.

History

Known since ancient times by the inhabitants of the area, the oldest exploration of a speleological and archaeological nature of which there is news is by Lluis Marià Vidal (1894).

In 2002, the SIE del CE Àliga carried out some clearances in the NE gallery, advancing a few metres, but no possible continuation is observed. (Unpublished data, archive of Francesc Rubinat).

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Bibliography

  1. Lloret, J.(1974).-“Algunos datos sobre la Cova de L'Escaleta (Serra de Montroig, Camarasa, Lérida)”. GOURS (2):17-23. GEFOMA. Barcelona.
  2. Rubinat, F. (1976).- “Cova de l'Escaleta” GOURS (3) 37-41. GEFOMA. Barcelona.
  3. Ullastre Martorell, J.(1967).-“Morfogénesis de la cova de l'Escaleta, Camarasa.Lérida”. Geo y Bio Karst (10):20-21. Barcelona.
  • Coordenades actualitzades el 2016, facilitades per Antoni Satorra (GELL)

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