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Caves of Saldes

Saldes, in Berguedà, contains 17 cavities: 6 caves and 11 pits, with 2195 m of total passage and a maximum depth of 166 m. Notable are the Grallera del Carabasser, 166 m deep, and Esquerdes de Palomera, 500 m long.

Saldes has 17 catalogued caves, including 11 potholes and 6 caves. The longest is Esquerdes de Palomera (500 m) and the deepest is Grallera del Carabasser (166 m). Most caves are found in limestone.

17 caves
2.2 km total length
166m max depth

Length adds each cave once (a system counts once), and depth is that of the deepest cave, canyons excluded.

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The municipality of Saldes, in Berguedà, has 17 inventoried cavities: 6 caves and 11 pits. Together they total 2195 m of passage and reach a maximum depth of 166 m. The recorded lithologies are limestone (15 cavities), travertine (1) and conglomerate (1).

Among the most significant cavities is the Grallera del Carabasser, a pit 166 m deep in the Pedraforca, whose route begins with a 34 m shaft and reaches the -166 level. Esquerdes de Palomera, near the Pleta de la Vila, in the upper part of the Palomera cliff, form an important group of fissures with a complex network of aerial and underground sections, and reach 500 m of passage. The Forats de Sant Telm, at the western end of the Serra d'Ensija, south of Feners, are a tectonic cavity 51 m deep and 316 m long, with five entrances in the main cavity and a sixth independent one.

Other notable cavities are the Forat de les Olles, a pit with 60 m of vertical drop in the Pedraforca with 268 m of passage and a total vertical drop of +8/-52 m; the Graller de Roca Cerdana, 96 m deep, located in 1983, with a 95 m shaft; and the Graller de la Pleta de l'ós, with 70 m of vertical drop, explored for the first time by the ERE del CEC on 29 and 30 June 1968.

Map

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