Cova de Rus

Cavity with 6 entrances and 63 metres of passage in Castellar de n'Hug, on the southern slope of the tossal de Rus, within the Cadí-Moixeró natural park.

Castellar de n'Hug • Berguedà 63m 15m

EspeleoWorld

Cova de Rus

Cavity with 6 entrances and 63 metres of passage in Castellar de n'Hug, on the southern slope of the tossal de Rus, within the Cadí-Moixeró natural park.

Castellar de n'Hug · Berguedà

Length: 63 m · Depth: 15 m

Updated record

https://espeleoworld.com/en/c/cova-de-rus

Information can change. Always verify coordinates, access, weather, and cave conditions before setting out.

Topographic map of the main entrance — Main entrance · ICGC topographic map

Cavity with 6 entrances and 63 metres of passage in Castellar de n'Hug, on the southern slope of the tossal de Rus, within the Cadí-Moixeró natural park.

Characteristics

Type: Cave
Municipality: Castellar de n'Hug
Region: Berguedà
Unit: Alt Llobregat
Length: 63 meters
Depth: 15 meters
Major Unit: Pirineu Axial
Lithology: Limestone
Updated on EspeleoÍndex: August 27, 2017

Location

In the lowest part of the group of cliffs known as roques de Rus, located on the southern slope of the tossal de Rus (2118 m). Within the Cadí-Moixeró natural park.

To get there, from the Pobla de Lillet we take the road to Castellar de n'Hug. After about 3 kilometres, we leave it to take the turn-off leading to the Clot del Moro, where the Museu del Ciment is. From the western end, right at a sharp bend, a fairly steep track starts and in about 6 kilometres it will leave us at the collet de la Casa Nova, after having passed the refugi d'Erols. We leave the vehicle at the collet (a chain prevents us from going on) and continue along the track on the left, which leads to the bassa de Rus, where it ends. From here, almost without a path, we will head for the lower part of the cliffs and rocky outcrops that we have to the NE. The last stretch we will do through dense forest, until we locate a climb that leaves us at the western entrances of the cavity.

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

Rus, Cova de
Elevation: 1488 m
42.285644, 1.970364
UTM 31T (ETRS89) 415110 4682005
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Topographic

Cova de Rus - Topography, Castellar de n'Hug, Berguedà

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

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Photos

Cova de Rus - Photo, Castellar de n'Hug, Berguedà

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

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Description

Morphology

The access path leaves us at the western entrances. There are three entrances, one right next to the other. At the other end of the cavity we find the eastern entrances, which are 3 more entrances, also right next to one another; these, being left hanging, are not accessible from the outside.

All 6 entrances give way to a step to be able to access the interior of the cavity. If we number the entrances from west to east from 1 to 6, it turns out that:

Entrance-1 is very narrow.
Entrance-3 is the one we used to access, as it is the most comfortable, although it gives way to a 5-metre pit.
Entrance-4 is the one situated at the highest elevation, which is why it is the one that defines the zero elevation of the cavity.

The main gallery is a vertical joint with an average width of 2 metres. The gallery is partially obstructed by accumulations of blocks that come to form passages between them. In the central sector we can descend between blocks until reaching the lowest elevation at -15 metres of depth.

The cavity has every appearance of being a tectonic cavity, structured along a main joint from which some secondary joints branch off.

Progression

Entering through entrance-3, very soon we drop into a 5-metre pit that leaves us at the bottom of the main gallery. From the foot of the pit we can already see the light entering through the eastern entrances.

Once we reach the eastern sector of the main gallery, we are situated below the eastern entrances, which we see a few metres above our heads.

History

The cave is cited in the Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya, by Jordi de Valles (Volume-3, year 2009), indicating that no data are available. The existence of the cavity was reported years earlier by Roger Fontquerni, a technician of the Cadí-Moixeró natural park, who provided a list of cavities located within the park, among which was the cova de Rus, unknown to speleologists. Even so, it would not be until 6 June 2017 that Ferran Cardona and Carme Bañoles decided to go and look for it; they located the cavity but could not explore it since the entrance gives way to a pit and they had not planned to bring equipment. A month later, on 5 July, a team made up of Ferran Cardona, Josep Cuenca, Hilari Moreno and Jaume Ferreres reached the cavity, explored it and surveyed it. Despite being unknown to speleologists, the cave seems to have served as a hiding place for emboscats or smugglers (very common in the past in these parts). At least, this is deduced from the fact that inside the cavity were found a seat, in the manner of a small bench, built in a makeshift way with a plank and some trunks serving as legs (see photo), as well as two small glass vials that probably contained medicines.

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Bibliography

Valles, Jordi de.(2009).-”Berguedà, Cerdanya, Garrotxa, Ripollès”. Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol.3): 1-380. EC Gràcia/FCE.

Dades de Ferran Cardona, Josep Cuenca, Hilari Moreno i Jaume Ferreres, GEB i ECG, extretes del web de Grup Espeleològic de Badalona (www.geb.cat), post del dia 17-07-2017.