Sistema de Sarrahèra

The two cavities are located on the left bank of the arriu de Sarrahèra, above the 2000 metre contour.

Approaching from Pont de Suert, take the N-230 road; just after the N mouth of the Vielha tunnel, take the track that leaves immediately on the left. You will need to continue a few metres along the road to make the U-turn.

This track takes the N slope of the serra, and you must follow it until you meet the track that comes from Betren and climbs to the Tuca. The other alternative is to take this track from Betren; in that case follow the N-230 road, cross Vielha and in the middle of Betren, take the track on the right that climbs to the Tuca. With a high-clearance vehicle, both options will take about 40 minutes.

We will park the vehicles at the end of the track suitable for high-clearance vehicles, where there is a small altar, a cabin in good condition where one can spend the night and some livestock enclosures (ETRS89 coordinates 320957-4726544-1940msm). We will see the old installations of the Tuca ski station. On the other side of the stream, we will take any of the livestock paths that climb the slope and the old installations up to the coll Era Serra de Naut (2024m).

We will descend slightly in a SW direction and, without losing altitude, go around the mountain along a very well-marked path. We will pass above the bosc de Sarrahèra and, after a marble scree, reach the meadows that open out into the valley of Sarrahèra. From here we can see the entrance of the Cauva de Sarrahèra, directly opposite at the same elevation. The large esplanade that crosses the river, about 150 metres below us, will serve as a reference.

We will continue without losing much altitude to a large pool on the pala de Sarrahèra. Opposite, we will see the two channels that descend from Labada de Sarrahèra. The Horat de Sarrahèra is located next to the first channel coming from the esplanade. To reach it, one can climb up this channel, or one can access it via the channel to its left, which involves much easier scrambling. Via this second channel, one must watch for a grass slope located on the right and about 210 metres in height, which must be ascended. Once past it without losing altitude, we will continue in a W direction to the next channel. Before descending and crossing, we will be able to see the entrance of the SA-3 at the boundary between the marbles (grey) and the sandy limestones (brown).