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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 (500m) and the deepest is Grallera del Carabasser (166m). Most caves are found in limestone.

17caves
2.2kmtotal length
166mmax 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

The 20 longest

  1. 1Esquerdes de PalomeraSaldes, Barcelona500 m
  2. 2Grallera del CarabasserSaldes, Barcelona470 m
  3. 3Forats de Sant TelmSaldes, Barcelona316 m
  4. 4Forat de les OllesSaldes, Barcelona268 m
  5. 5Graller de la Pleta de l'ósSaldes, Barcelona140 m
  6. 6Graller de Roca CerdanaSaldes, Barcelona130 m
  7. 7Forat del GatSaldes, Barcelona95 m
  8. 8Forat Gran de la Feixa AltaSaldes, Barcelona82 m
  9. 9Grallera de Forat MicóSaldes, Barcelona65 m
  10. 10Cova de RosetSaldes, Barcelona35 m
  11. 11Cova del DiedreSaldes, Barcelona30 m
  12. 12Cova del RosetSaldes, Barcelona18 m
  13. 13Espluga RodonaSaldes, Barcelona14 m
  14. 14Bauma del CaldererSaldes, Barcelona10 m
  15. 15Forat del Coll de les AgudesSaldes, Barcelona8 m
  16. 16Esquerda del Coll de les AgudesSaldes, Barcelona7 m
  17. 17Forat del CaldererSaldes, Barcelona7 m
Full ranking

The 20 deepest

  1. 1Grallera del CarabasserSaldes, Barcelona166 m
  2. 2Graller de Roca CerdanaSaldes, Barcelona96 m
  3. 3Graller de la Pleta de l'ósSaldes, Barcelona70 m
  4. 4Esquerdes de PalomeraSaldes, Barcelona65 m
  5. 5Forat de les OllesSaldes, Barcelona60 m
  6. 6Forat del GatSaldes, Barcelona54 m
  7. 7Forats de Sant TelmSaldes, Barcelona51 m
  8. 8Forat Gran de la Feixa AltaSaldes, Barcelona50 m
  9. 9Grallera de Forat MicóSaldes, Barcelona26 m
  10. 10Cova de RosetSaldes, Barcelona17 m
  11. 11Cova del DiedreSaldes, Barcelona10 m
  12. 12Forat del Coll de les AgudesSaldes, Barcelona5 m
  13. 13Esquerda del Coll de les AgudesSaldes, Barcelona3 m
  14. 14Cova del RosetSaldes, Barcelona2 m
Full ranking

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