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Cova de la Riera d'escales

Cova de la Riera d'escales

Interessant cova de 40 m de recorregut a l'Alta Garrotxa

Montagut i Oix • Garrotxa40m8m

A 40 m long cave in Alta Garrotxa, with three entrances, located on the left bank of the riera d'Escales, 15 m of elevation above the streambed and about 270 m west of the cova de Coll Roig.

Characteristics

Location

On the left bank of the riera d'Escales, 15 m of elevation above the streambed. About 270 m west of the cova de Coll Roig.

To get there, we will start from the Sadernes parking area and follow for about 2 kilometres the track that goes up the riera de Sant Aniol until reaching a place with space to leave the cars (Pàrquing Núm-3). Here a path sets off that crosses the riera and climbs up the other slope until reaching the coll Roig, where the descent begins that takes us to the streambed of the riera d'Escales. We will go upstream and very soon we will see on our right the cova de Coll Roig. Here the riera makes a turn to the left and a relatively straight stretch begins heading west. We will walk along it for about 270 m when, at a point with no clear reference, we will leave the riera to climb up the left hydrographic slope. Thus we will reach the lower entrance of the cavity, located about 15 m of elevation above the streambed. The other two entrances are hanging.

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Cova de la Riera d'escales

    Elevation: 322 m

    42.283352, 2.584144
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 465713 4681321
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova de la Riera d'escales - Photo, Montagut i Oix, GarrotxaView image
Click to enlarge

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

Image 1 of 7

Description

Morphology

The cave has three entrances, the lower one being the largest and the easiest to access, since the other two are hanging. Setting the zero level at the upper entrance, the lower entrance is at level -8 m and the middle one at -2.5 m.

We can describe the cave as formed by two galleries with an ascending layout that form a closed angle between them. Right at the angle there is a chimney 6.5 m high. A ramp with a step connects both galleries. At the end of the second gallery we find the middle entrance. The access to the upper entrance is located a little elevated a few metres before the middle entrance. There are other small passages difficult to represent as they overlap the galleries and with which the cavity reaches a length of 40 m.

Speleothems

The most decorated part of the cavity is found a few metres from the entrance; in the rest bare rock predominates.

History

Known by some hikers and by some local people. The place name Cova de la Riera d'Escales and the cave symbol appear labelled on the Editorial Alpina map 'Alta Garrotxa', at least since the 2018-2019 edition.

Despite these antecedents, the cave does not appear in any catalogue or in any speleological review, being speleologically unpublished. That being so, in October 2025 Ferran Cardona (ECM Barcelonès) decided to go and carry out the cataloguing tasks.

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Bibliography

Totes les dades, topografia i fotografies han estat extretes del web: geb.cat (del Grup d'Espeleologia de Badalona). Apunt del 14-10-2025. Dades: Ferran Cardona (ECM Barcelonès)

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