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Cova de l'Ormini

Cova de l'Ormini

Cova de 160 metres de recorregut a la serra de Sant Joan, Coll de Nargó.

Coll de Nargó • Alt Urgell160m27m

A 160-metre-long cave in the serra de Sant Joan, Coll de Nargó, known since ancient times and cited by Madoz, with access by track from Organyà passing through Montanissell.

Characteristics

Location

From Organyà we head to Montanissell; just at the entrance to the village we will find a track on the right that leads to els Prats passing by the Forat del Pitarell. At approximately 2.3 kilometres we find a fork to the right at the height of Mas de el Pitarell, which we will ignore by continuing along the track on the left; at approximately 4.9 kilometres we find a new fork to the right that we must follow to the end; in about 360 metres we will be at the entrance hut to the cavity.

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Cova de l' Ormini

    Elevation: 1605 m

    42.207040, 1.225510
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 353610 4674492
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova de l'Ormini - Photo, Coll de Nargó, Alt UrgellView image
Click to enlarge

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

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Description

Morphology

A construction in the manner of a hut measuring 4.7x6.2 metres with a grille door protects the mouth of the cave. This gives way to a vertical drop of 7 metres. This places us in a chamber 27x15 metres, with the floor occupied by medium-sized blocks and sloping towards the west. The cavity continues descending with a steep slope, forming a ramp-like gallery with an irregular layout. In this way one reaches a low ceiling passage where one must crouch momentarily to get through it. On the other side, the cave regains its dimensions until, shortly after, reaching the widest and most comfortable point of the cave; this is a chamber with a fairly flat floor, with maximum dimensions of 36x18 metres, although it is subdivided by some stalagmitic masses.

Speleothems

For their spectacular nature, some colonnades located in the N sector of the chamber stand out. The stalagmitic masses give the sector a particular beauty; these formations stand out for their black colouration, produced very probably by the contribution of manganese oxide.

Progression

The 7-metre vertical drop is overcome by means of a metal ladder with a handrail installed permanently. Two sections of fixed ladder help to overcome the most committing passages. At the beginning of 1990 the access to the cavity was already arranged with the metal ladder and the rope handrails, but the track still did not reach the mouth; this was made in 1994 and later the hut was built.

Other details

Toponymy: The word ormini, bulurmini, oli ermí, olimini, boli ermini, which we find in different cavities of the region, as well as bolumini or bolimini in others in the País Valencià, seems to come from the Bol armeni, a type of reddish clay that together with other substances formed a paste that was used to gild objects. It is also known that in the País Valencià it was used for pharmaceutical purposes. It is unknown whether this type of material was extracted from the cova de l'Ormini or whether it is merely attributed by popular imagination.

History

Known since ancient times, it is already cited by Pascual Madoz in the “Diccionario Geográfico-Estadístico-Histórico de España y sus posesiones de ultramar” published between 1845 and 1850. It is also recorded in the old catalogues of Puig y Larraz (1896); Font i Sagué (1897); Faura i Sans (1909).

On 25 August 1910 it is visited by Faura i Sans, Jeannel and Racovitza, making a detailed description and with the aim of collecting fauna.

Although known and visited by many hikers and speleologists, its topography was not published until 1978 and was made by members of the SIE - CEA a few years earlier.

Bio

Coleoptera: Troglocharinus (s.str.) fonti Jeannel (1910) (formerly Speophylus fonti).

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Bibliography

  1. Borràs, J.; Miñarro,JM.; Talavera, F: (1978).- Catàleg espeleològic de Catalunya. Vol. 1 (l'Alt Urgell i la Cerdanya): 166. Ed. Políglota. Barcelona.
  2. Cardona, Ferran.(Març 2008).-”La Cova de l'Ormini, estudi i diagnosi” aparegut al blog: Espeleobloc en el post del dia 20 d'abril de 2008.
  1. Faura, M. (1911).- “Excursiones espeleológicas realizadas durante el año 1910 en la región catalana” Bol. R.Soc. Española de Hist. Nat. Madrid.
  1. Senent, J.; Victoria, JM. (1965).- “Datos para el conocimiento espeleológico del macizo del Boumort” Montaña(100): 269-281. CEC – Barcelona.
  1. Valles, J. de (2009).- Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya. Vol. 3. 379 pp. EC de Gràcia i Federació Catalana d'Espeleologia.

  • Fotos 'JNC' facilitades per Jordi Navarro, (Centre Excursionista de Castellar del Vallès).

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