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Picos de Europa - El Cornion
Marek Jędrzejczak
Speleoclub Wrocław




General Information

ph. Z. Grzela

The Picos de Europa is the highest range fe of the Cantabrian Mountains, on the north of g the Iberian Peninsula. Huge massifs of limestone rocks emerging from the Atlantic Ocean have allured interest of the tourists, climbers, cavers and scientists of various vocations: biologists, geologists and geographers for years.
The fact that these mountains lie between the main range of the Cantabrian Mountains and the ocean coast means that one has to do with great altitude differences. The northern slopes descend abruptly from the height of approximately 2500 m to a narrow 10 km wide shore belt, while the southern slopes are more gentle. The north-flowing rivers: Riu Sella, Rio Cares, Rio Duja and Rio Deva separate the Picos from the neighbouring areas with their valleys up to 1500 m deep and dissect them into three massifs: the western massif - El Cornion (Peha Santa de Castilla 2596 m of altitude), the central massif - Los Urrieles (Torre de Cerreu 2648 m of altitude) and the Eastern massif - La Andara (Morra de Lechugales 2444 m altitude). The whole Picos de Europa occupy an area of 500 sq. km are 35 km long in the east-west direction and 15 km wide from south to north. They lie on the territories of three provinces: Asturia, Cantabria and Leon. These mountains attract many cavers and speleologists from around the world. This is the main area of activity for Spanish, French, English and Swiss clubs. For many years now, Poles have also been present in the Picos de Europa.

"The Polish exploration zone"

Poles who have been visiting the Western massif (El Cornion) of Picos de Europa since 1978, have been entitled by Parque Nacional de Picos de Europa, through Federacion Asturiana de Espeleologia, to explore a vast area (4.5 sq. km ) in the Asturian part of the massif. The area comprises the northern slopes of (among others) the summits: Torre Santa Maria and Torre del Alba. The highest spot of the zone is the Torre del Alba summit with altitude of 2390 m, and the lowest is the bottom of the Haas de Resecu cirque at altitude of 1460 m.

Polish activities in "Polish exploration zone"

The first Polish expedition was a reconnaissance by Warsaw Speleoclub in 1978. Exploration in this area by Speleoclub Wrocław started in 1991. Initially, it consisted in continued exploration of Pozu del Picu de los Asturianos (A-30) and Sima de la Torre de los Traviesos (Torre del Alba) o de los Organos (A-1), which resulted in connecting these caves in 1995 into Sistema del Hou de la Canal Parda (A-30/A-1 4/A-25/A-1) and in reaching the depth of 903 m in 1996. Simultaneously, in I 994, began a twoyear exploration of Sistema del Canalon de las Desvios (F-1 8/F-1 7/F-15), -501 m. Years 1997-2000 were the time of search for new exploration goals and hydrogeological research.
The years 2001 -2003 have, much to a surprise, witnessed the return of exploration to Sistema del Canalon de los Desvios (F-18/F-17/F-15). During the expedition of 2001, intense surface exploration in Zone B was conducted. Its effect was the discovery of B-12 with the depth of 404 m.
The next expedition, held in 2002, continued the exploration of B-12. Exploration from -396, brought a connection with Sistema del Canalon de los Desvios (F-18/F-17/F-15) at -703 m. Connecting the highly-located and very remote B-12 to the system meant its significant extension to the south, and at the same time its deepening to 733 m. In the same year, intensive surface searches were also conducted in zones C and D, resulting in discovery of D-9 where the depth of 324 m was reached.
In 2003, exploration of D-9 was continued. Just as expected, at -486 m a connection was found with Sistema del Canalon de los Desvios (B-12/F-18/F-17/F-15). This meant a new extension of the system, this time eastward. Reaching 4.8 km in length, Sistema del Canalon de los Desvios has become the longest object in the "Polish exploration zone". Also A-38 cave, discovered during the same expedition, was explored and at -123 m connected with Pozu del Porru la Capilla (A-11). Exploration of Pozu del Porru de los Garapozales (A-3) was then addressed. This time the pile of boulders ending the cave was bypassed and the depth of 457 m was reached. This cave was also an object of explorations last year. Unfortunately, despite very promising beginning, exploration in this series was stopped after a quite short distance at the level of -490 m in a pile of boulders. A search for a possible bypass did not succeed.


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