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Cova de les Escales de la Gloria

Cova de les Escales de la Gloria

Small travertine cave in the Glorieta river valley, between Mont-ral and Alcover, with a short gallery of 7.75 metres and a vertical drop of +1 metre.

Mont-ral • Alt Camp 8m 1m

Small travertine cave in the Glorieta river valley, between Mont-ral and Alcover, with a short gallery of 7.75 metres and a vertical drop of +1 metre.

Characteristics

Location

The cave is located in the Glorieta river valley, between Mont-ral and Alcover. It can be reached from the designated car park (paid in summer and at weekends) located after the ermita del Remei in Alcover, where the walk is a little more than 4 kilometres, or better from Mont-ral, from where one parks to go to the Glorieta river gorges, with an approximate route of 1.5 kilometres. You must go down the path that leads to Alcover; after passing the Mirador de les Fonts del Glorieta you pass beside the old reservoir of the power station and, after a leisure area, we turn right at a point where there is a wide terrace crossed by a path. On the right side of this there is a small travertine cliff with several openings that do not continue; you must follow the path to the end, almost touching the cliff over the Glorieta river. On the left a fallen block can be seen forming a small hole, and on the right there is a terrace on a higher level where the entrance of the cova de la Calavera is found. From the left side of the entrance one climbs with the help of a tree up a kind of channel; two metres higher one passes over the entrance of the pit of the cova Calavera and, a few metres further on to the left, one reaches the cova de les Escales de la Gloria. If from the point where the slab that forms the hole is located one goes a few metres in the direction of the Glorieta river, on looking up one sees the entrance of the cova penjada hanging on the cliff.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Cova de les Escales de la Gloria

    Elevation: 619 m

    41.279262, 1.100200
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 340896 4571499
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova de les Escales de la Gloria - Photo, Mont-ral, Alt CampView image
Click to enlarge

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

Image 1 of 6

Description

Morphology

A wide entrance open in the cliff and formed by travertines gives access to a short, slightly ascending gallery. This small cave has a route of 7.75 metres and a vertical drop of +1 metre.

Speleothems

In the final stretch of the gallery there is a stalagmitic column; behind it the passage becomes narrower and closes.

History

Cavity explored by the SIEP in 1979; they named it Bauma del Salt del Niu del Aguila. This name is considered completely erroneous, since the Salt del Niu de l'Àliga, quite well known, is located more than 500 metres downstream, specifically at the height of the old power station. The cavity is in fact located at the beginning of the area known as les Escales de la Gloria; indeed, canyoners know this place as the amphitheatre, and the cave is above the vertical of the passage of the Túnel de Toba. This toponym error with respect to the real location of the place has led to not a few unsuccessful searches; for this reason it is thought more logical to cite it with the more appropriate name of Escales de la Gloria, which is the place where it is actually located.

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Bibliography

  1. Cabeza, J.(1980).-”Bauma del Salt del Niu del Aguila, Cova Calavera”. Bol. Esp. SIEP (12):30-33. SIEP-CE Poblet. Barcelona.
  • Dades, situació, coordenades, topografia i fotografies, aportades per Juli Serrano (SIE-CEA) i Francesc Rubinat (ERE-CEC).

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