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Horat Deth Bo

Horat Deth Bo

A 250 m underground passage of the Malo river, in the Vall d'Aran, SE of the Plan de Beret, near the lower station of the Horat deth Bo chairlift.

Naut Aran • Val d'Aran 250m 5m

A 250 m underground passage of the Malo river, in the Vall d'Aran, SE of the Plan de Beret, near the lower station of the Horat deth Bo chairlift.

Characteristics

Location

SE of the Plan de Beret, very close to the lower station of the Horat deth Bo chairlift. To get there, take the road that climbs from Baqueira up to the Plan de Beret, and just on reaching the plain, a track leaving from beside the Uelh de Garona refuge will bring us very close to the cavity.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Bo, Horat Deth

    Elevation: 1828 m

    42.704570, 0.952060
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 332369 4730246
  2. Boca Superior

    Elevation: 1833 m

    42.704590, 0.953850
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 332516 4730244
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Horat Deth Bo - Photo, Naut Aran, Val d'AranView image
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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 Horat deth Bo is the largest cavity in a group of residual cavities related to one another that, in the past, formed a single underground unit, today half dismantled. The cavity has 4 entrances; one that acts as a spring and three that are pits, one of them with awkward access. The main pit is the upper entrance, located to the E (Cova Mari Carmen Moreno), through which the waters coming from a nearby area of scree penetrate. The middle entrance swallows the waters carried by the bed of the Malo river during periods of storms or thaw, since it is generally dry because the pits located some 250 metres further up mean that no water reaches it, except in times of flooding. Although this middle entrance should remain inactive for most of the year, works within the ski slopes have channelled a stream, whose water enters through this entrance. The cavity has roomy dimensions with sections taller than they are wide, except for the stretch closest to the exit where it widens as the river describes a meander. The morphology of the whole cavity is erosional, with a floor full of cobbles and gravel over which the river flows. The walls and the ceiling, of a very white colour, are full of very clearly marked current imprints and of a size ranging between 3 and 5 centimetres, which show us a not very distant period of pressurised flow in a turbulent regime.

Hydrology

The whole cavity is an active course that carries a considerable flow even in summer. During floods, the flow can increase considerably, dragging trunks and other objects that remain hanging from the ceiling.

History

In his Catàleg (1897), Font i Sagué already mentions the cavity, which he calls Avenc de riu Malo, and gives the references taken from a study (1895) on the Vall d'Aran made by the forest engineer Josep Reig. Faura i Sans carries this information into some of his works, but without adding any further data. It is not until August 1967 that three members of the SIE – CEA carry out what we believe to be the first complete exploration of the cavity.

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Bibliography

  1. Besset, Y. (1977).- “Spéléologie au Val d'Aran (Espagne)” Ouarnède (9): 57-76. GS des Pyrénées. Toulouse.
  1. Cardona, F. (1984).- “El Forat del Bo i el karst del riu Malo” Exploracions (8): 83-89. EC de Gràcia. Barcelona.
  1. Victoria, R. (1968).- “La zona kárstica del rio Malo” EspeleoSie (2): 31-32. SIE – CE Àliga. Barcelona.

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