Espluga del Duc

The first data we know are those of the exploration that in 1964 members of the ERE – CEC, EDES, EDECA and CE Pirenaic carried out, and although very minimally they appeared in the first volume of the Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (1978), locating it in the municipality of Oliana, a short distance from the comarcal boundary with el Solsonès. Now we can expand the information with the topography that appeared in the archive of the ERE – CEC and that had remained unpublished.

Once the record was posted on Espeleoindex, our colleague Jordi de Valles alerts us that it could be the same Espluga del Duc that members of the Centre Excursionista del Solsonès explored in 1995 and that he includes in his catalogue of el Solsonès, in the municipality of Odèn.

Comparing the two topographies we verify that indeed, it must be the same cavity, although with a very different topographic interpretation (we include both and let each draw their own conclusions). After a conversation with Oleguer Escolà, author of the first topography, we no longer have any doubt. Furthermore, we can know that at first they called it Cova de la Paret, a synonym that until now was erroneously attributed to the Cova dels Encantats de Vilamala (explored in 1965) and that like this one they accessed it by descending from the upper part of the crag with ladders.