CAVING IN MALLORCA
PART THREE
THE CAVES AND POTHOLES
COVA DE SA CAMPANA
ESCORCA
The mountain road that snakes its way down towards Cala sa Colobra from the C710 is legend throughout Mallorca, particularly amongst the coach driving fraternity. It comprises of a series of steep, hairpin bends interspersed with a series of less steep hairpin bends. It is like driving down a giant Helter-Skelter. The traction of the road surface at times displays qualities akin to those of the Cresta run.
We were extremely fortunate to have a certain A.W. at the wheel of our rearguard car, as we wound our way down towards Cova de sa Campana. Andy was able to demonstrate his advanced driving technique to full effect, expertly bringing a controlled skid to a halt, centimetres from the roadside wall and a gnat’s cock away from the vehicle in front. In the absence of traffic signs indicating otherwise, it is presumable O.K. to drive at 100kph on a stretch of road that doesn’t pass through a built-up residential area.
Just over a mile before Sa Colobra is reached, you pass a solitary farmhouse, El Bosc, on the left hand side of the road. This building will have been visible for some time, due to the meandering nature of the mountain road. A couple of bends further on there is a smallish pull-in on your right, just prior to the road veering around to the left. This pull-in is adjacent to the 9.5k road marker, in an area of small fluted limestone crevices. This pull-in is large enough to allow you to park your car sufficiently far from the roadside to permit changing in relative privacy, enabling you to change out of your now brown trousers and into your caving clobber. The lay-by is identifiable by assorted caver’s litter; remnants of shredded boiler-suits, spent carbide, dead Spanish battery cells, cigarette packets, beer bottles and brown trousers.
As the crow flies, the cave entrance is about 1km from here, all uphill. As you turn to face the hillside, you will see a broken col at the summit. This lies at a bearing of 70 degrees magnetic from the pull-in. In an ideal world you would draw a straight line in your mind’s eye to this col and ascend straight up it. Nature however will force you to take a more zigzagged route. Once you have attained the summit at this point, continue along the top to your right for about 50metres before descending into the col proper. Remember this for your return journey, but if it’s still daylight you should be able to see your cars and drop down accordingly.
From the other side of the col, an ill-defined path skirts the contours of the mountainside to arrive at the cave entrance. The limestone scar in which the low arch of the cave entrance is situated, can be seen from the high vantage point as you start your descent. I’m not at all sure how obvious this would be if you didn’t know what you were looking for. Lee pointed it out to us. The actual entrance is virtually invisible until you’re on top of it. As Sa Campana is Mallorca’s longest and deepest cave, it is visited by a veritable multitude of cave explorers; these visitors help to keep the path relatively well worn. There are also some faded red painted way markers splashed here and there en route. If you had a full-blooded Red Indian tracker among your party, you’d be sorted Kimmo Sabbi! Otherwise use your compass. The remains of an old iron gate marking the entrance lie at 80 degrees from the col. Following this combined with basis caver’s intuition, you will find the entrance eventually, trust me!
A window between old stal columns on a broad ledge overlooks a gloomy chamber, immediately inside the entrance. A proficient rock-climber could climb this severe graded pitch free, mere mortals will require the assistance of a 15metre rope. There are a number of distinct belays affording a choice of descents. At the bottom of the pitch, the obvious stooping sized mud passage leading off on the left of the chamber ends in a cul-de-sac. The way on is to the left of a large 5m high stal, down a steep boulder slope to the second pitch, overlooking another large chamber. The pitch is tackled from the left hand side, starting down a small drop and a chute. There is a large thread at a stal-grille that splits the pitch; a flowstone slope continues to the bottom, 65m of rope is needed in total. From the bottom of the pitch, continue under an archway into a pretty grotto. From here the floor slopes steeply down a mud crawl between boulders, this crawl bears left to a short climb over a rock spur and enters a vast chamber at the head of an enormous boulder pile. Those of our party that had visited the Berger (the majority of the team) commented on its similarity to the Berger’s Great Rubble Heap. Various people advised us to leave a lighted candle, or some other similar object at this point to indicate the way out. We declined this advice.
Follow the right hand wall of the chamber down a muddy slope, and admire the inventive collection of mud models and inscriptions en route to the base of the chamber. From here a further arch leads to an even larger chamber, ”Sala de Gegants”, reputedly large enough to swallow the whole of Palma cathedral with room to spare. The pitch into this final chamber comprises a greasy slope to the lower reaches where the passage is floored with gour-pools. A rope belayed to a large obvious stal boss can be useful in assisting this clamber down, the lads decided to do it free. My personal descent soon escalated into an uncontrolled free-slide, quick reactions and a fortuitous jug, just within reach of my outstretched left hand, stopped my unceremonious free-slide from continuing unabated to the bottom of the chamber. When I stopped shaking, I was able to pick out a less hazardous route down.
Fig, who had been observing my dramatic antics from above, declined this method of descent and opted instead for a hairy traverse around the left hand wall of the chamber. This traverse gained a flat lofty platform in the roof of the hall, from where the superb collection of unusual helictites could be viewed from close quarters. It also provided the opportunity for some of us to play at being Paul Deakin. These helictites furnish the clearest example of nature blatantly disregarding the laws of gravity that I’ve witnessed in 30 years of caving. The rest of the team joined Fig at his vantage point, by means of a free-climb using combined tactics. The start of the climb led up from a ramp in the left hand extreme of the chamber. The volunteered lead climber lowered a rope down for the rest of us to use.
On the other side of the chamber to the ramp, a calcited flowstone slope cascades down to a usually dry streamway. A diminutive flow was trickling down into a narrow rift at the end of it. Lee and I chimneyed down, as this appeared to indicate a possible way on. It was soon evident that this continuation would require some serious digging. The dig however would offer the enticing carrot of a theoretical connection with the lower levels of the Torrent de Pareis. At this point you are about a mile horizontally into the mountainside, at a depth of about 180m, the true bottom of the cave lies at circa minus 300m.
The lower reaches of the cave are gained by a series of relatively serious pitches. As none of our party has ever been down them, the following narrative is second-hand, as such I cannot vouch for it’s absolute accuracy. The fourth pitch is found by descending the steep sandy chute, located to the right at the bottom of the third pitch. A 65m rope is sufficient for this pitch, there are three re-belays;-16m,-22m and –38m. Pitch five follows again to the right, over a loose boulder slope, 60m of rope is needed. An initial drop of 16m lands on a ledge, traverse to the right climbing over an awkward boulder en route. There is a bolt placement low down on the opposite wall, if you can find it. Re-belay from here for an exposed drop of 10m to a lower ledge; a further 10m drop then enters the final chamber. This leads down a scramble to a gour pool in a small alcove. The end of the cave is daubed in red paint at this point. Loose rocks are as ever a particular hazard in this section, and great care must be taken in the selection of suitable natural belays.
Whilst we were away photographing the helictites, probably about half an hour, the diminutive stream previously described was fast turning into a raging torrent. The terminal chamber (for us) was beginning to leak water like a colander. It does not require much imagination to envisage the dire consequences of being in the lower reaches of the cave under such conditions. This chamber marks the end of the normal tourist trip, the thunderstorm raging outside provided an excuse for us to terminate our exploration at this point also. We didn’t really need an excuse, Lee had not allowed for any tackle to do the bottom pitches anyway, shrewd fellow!
There then followed an expedient and largely uneventful return to the surface. Bringing up the rear (as usual), I did however have cause to question the wisdom of not leaving a lighted candle at the requisite point. Now here lies an interesting paradox. Why is it that the more prone you are at getting hopelessly lost in some complicated cave system, the more adept you become at retracing your steps and miraculously finding the correct way out. This fact rings true, even when your electrics are operating at one candlepower. I did however get to see some bits of the cave that the others missed.
The sheer size of Sala de Gegants, the remarkable helictites and the general proliferation of formations in the fossil section of the cave, make this an exceptional trip. Martin Bishop, probably our most well travelled caver, ranked it amongst his all time top ten list. Lee reckoned it was a right belter. I find it hard to quantify the degree of difficulty and danger that this trip implies; I certainly wouldn’t like to give it some arbitrary grade. Compared to the more illustrious, big-name trips in Europe it is indeed small fry. A competent team of well-organised, suitably equipped and attired cavers could do the standard tourist trip in the same time it takes to do the canals and back in Giants. On the other hand, it is easy to foresee a situation whereby a set of circumstances could conspire to make even the tourist trip a strenuous exercise. The long, hard slog up to the cave entrance, the blistering sun outside, the oppressive humidity inside, the general rigours of the trip, loose rocks, rain and the effects of a red wine hangover can all have an accumulative effect. It is not a caving trip to be undertaken lightly. Since it’s discovery, there have been numerous recorded incidents underground, many serious, some fatal. Do not underestimate this cave.
ESCORCA
In addition to being the home of the island’s longest and deepest cave; Cova de Sa Campana, the region of Escorca also boasts a fine selection of vertical shafts. A few of these are detailed on the following pages. Unfortunately it has not been possible to include a large scale map of this area. Hopefully the individual descriptions will enable the potential explorer to locate the entrances without too much trouble.
AVENC DE SA MIRANDA
ESCORCA
A typical Mallorcan pothole, reaching –72m in depth with no way on at the bottom, there are a few pretties to appreciate on your long prusik out. As a shaft bashing exercise it’s fine, but nothing to set it apart from many other similar pits.
Should you contemplate this descent the technical details are as follows; belay rope to nearby large tree and then remove large boulders, strategically placed in shaft top to prevent nosey tourists from plummeting into the gaping abyss below. Re-belay to convenient huge thread and drop down 42m to land on a sloping ledge. Kick the loose rocks from off the ledge (first man only!), re-belay again to obvious low thread and ab down a further 22m to a small chamber, from here a 3m free-climb ends in a choked passage. Now turn round, affix jammers to the rope, engage brain in neutral and commence the boring ascent out.
The entrance to the cave can be located (in theory!) by following the path that leads from the Restaurante de Escorca, down towards the start of the Torrent de Pareis. After descending for about 20 minutes, the top of the shaft (daubed with red paint) should be found on the right of the path.
Bearing in mind the location of the cave entrance, it would be a good idea to make optimum use of you time and combine the bottoming of the hole, with a visit to the Torrent de Pareis, this would make for a full day out.
TORRENT DE PAREIS
Torrent de Pareis is well worth a visit in it’s own right, it is an extremely popular tourist attraction. This fact is soon starkly brought to your attention, when you get stuck behind a lengthy convoy of holiday coaches, as it snakes it’s way down the spectacular, winding, mountain road to Cala Sa Calobra.
The massive twin rock portals, which mark the point at which the Torrent de Pareis flows into the Mediterranean Sea, provided the dramatic backdrop for the famous 50’s film “Jason and the Argonauts”. If you wish to explore this famous ravine, details can be found in walk 13 of “Landscapes of Mallorca”(Green 1994). If you are feeling fit you can start at the highest point and traverse the whole ravine, this is caving without the roof on, at it’s finest. Otherwise you can start at the bottom, where there is ample purpose built car/coach parking facilities, and take a gentle stroll upwards for as far as you feel like going, or as far as conditions permit. If you wish to progress more than a few hundred metres, expect to swim or at least get very wet.
The sides of the gorge are lined with caves, or more accurately the remains of caves, largely obliterated by the downcutting of the Torrent de Pareis. Whichever way you plan to attack the walk, don’t plan to do too much on the same day. We visited the place after bottoming Cova de sa Campana, and were too knackered to get very far. We did manage a superb photo-shoot though, a snap of the end of the gorge features in part one of this journal.
AVENC DE S’AIGO
ESCORCA
If you’re the type of caver that likes a bit of a dangle, then you’re certainly spoilt for choice in Escorca. Not a million miles away from Avenc de sa Miranda are the twin shafts of s’Aigo and Llorer. These two pots are so close together they could both be descended on the same visit to the area, thus providing a lot of a dangle.
To find S’Aigo, take the C710 to Mortitx and exit at the sign for “Mortitx Exploracion Agricole”. Follow the track passing a green house and a tennis court, and continue through a gate. Pass another small building, go round an orchard, and a stile and a gate will be seen to your right. Climb the stile and follow a well-defined track on the right to a flat valley. Head seaward down the valley, eventually you will come across a wall topped with a wire fence, a gate allows you through this wall. S’Aigo is found on the left after a further walk of 30 metres, this gaping open hole is well deep. After the descent of a gully for 16m, belayed from the obligatory large boulder, you arrive at a stance on the shaft’s lip. Here a “Y” hang gives a superb almost free-hanging drop to –79m, landing on a boulder ledge. Hence another large boulder provides the belay for a further 12m free-hang to the shaft’s bottom, an impressive situation.
A body-sized hole gives access to a debris festooned streamway leading to the lower reaches. A 6m pitch is immediately beyond this hole, there is a calcited thread to belay from, take care! After the pitch there are a series of serious climbs, (hand-line recommended), to the end of the cave in a mud filled chamber.
N.B. The entrance pitch can also be rigged with a traverse line from the head of the gully, to reach another gully. From here a descent can be made to alternative belays at the shafts edge. These give a free-hang of 95m to the boulder ledge.
Tackle required: - Entrance to –107m, 120m. 6m pitch, 10m. Handlines, 3 x 10m.
This cave clearly takes a lot of water, be sure to descend in settled weather.
AVENC DES LLORER
ESCORCA
Take a bearing of 300 degrees magnetic from s’Aigo, and you will find Avenc des Llorer after 500m.
Twin holes in a depression unite in a large chamber below the surface. Descend the right hand one, belayed once more from a suitable boulder on the seaward side of the shakehole. There is a spike re-belay on a ledge at –16m, and a further re-belay using a calcited thread at –32m; this suffices for the final drop of 37m.
The large chamber at the bottom is well covered with the unsavoury droppings of various flying creatures such as bats and pigeons. Two passages containing dirty formations lead off, but close down almost immediately. A 125m rope if sufficient for the total descent. It is not, as Cilla might say, a Llorer, Llorer laughs!
AVENC DES TRAVESSETS
ARTA
Travessets is the deepest single drop on Mallorca, at –145 metres. In fact only one shaft on the island has a greater total depth, the one at Forat des Amica bottoming out 35 metres deeper. This fact obviously means that the pot is at the top of the hit list of all committed shaft bashers who visit Mallorca. Despite its popularity the place is in desperate need of further bolt placements. You’d probably be well advised to take your own bolting kit.
In 1986 the total belay for the whole drop was a large boulder at the surface, and a single back-up thread. There may have been bolt placements inserted since then, but if so they would have been by persons unknown and would be of uncertain pedigree and vintage.
The original hangs provided for a bouncy-bouncy ascent, especially on thinner rope, with lots of potential rub-points. I’m glad that I’m not a committed shaft-basher! Lee and Fig have been down; they breed proper chaps in Ripley.
The entrance can be found by taking the road to Ermita de Betlem from Arta, and turning right at the sign for Puig Tudosa. After passing through several gates, a track joins from the right, shortly before the summit is reached. The summit is easily recognised by a large radio relay station, sporting several large dishes on it. It is also strikingly painted in red and white. Park your car as near to the start of the track as possible, and follow the track on foot for about 20 metres then strike down towards a rocky depression that houses the shaft.
By all accounts and appearances, the shaft, like so many others on the island, takes a lot of water. The water takes the same route down the shaft as the rope; you wouldn’t want to be down there during a thunderstorm.
Avenc des Travessets is in fairly close proximity to the show caves at Arta. You may wish to visit them while in the area; you could hardly get two more contrasting trips.
This holiday heralded the return to caving action of the Pegasus legend Trevor Roberts (The Piss-Artist formerly known as Greasy Trev). Trev did his usual bad penny impersonation and turned up unexpectedly at the last minute. Considering that this was essentially a caving holiday, Trev arrived somewhat ill-prepared. All Trev’s caving gear had been thrown out by his dad, shortly after he evicted Trev. Trev was shown the door after nearly burning down the family home with a flaming chip-pan, after crashing out in a drunken stupor.
Trev went down Sa Campana (as he did all the other caves he visited), dressed in the same jeans, tee-shirt and trainers. The sum total of his SRT rig was a borrowed Fig 8 descender for going down and a borrowed jammer for going up. The Fig 8 was attached to the leather belt holding up his jeans with a krab, the jammer was attached likewise via a piece of tat. On the odd occasions when Trev deemed it necessary to exercise something vaguely resembling correct single rope technique, he simply borrowed another jammer and some more tat, His headgear comprised a small plastic Petzl type lamp wrapped around his balding pate à la Mark Knopfler.
At a stroke Trev achieved the unlikely feat of making me look like a well attired and equipped modern-day caver.
Our Mr Roberts flew the flag admirably for the traditional Brit abroad, in the time honoured fashion. Trev breakfasted on San Miguel lager everyday. Despite this, or more likely because of this, everybody was genuinely pleased to see Trev again. Bless him.
COVA DES DINERS
MANACOR
Diners is indeed a fine cave! It is also arguably the easiest to find and closest to park your car to on the whole island. Not that we didn’t have our share of problems in searching out the cave entrance. We initially pinpointed the cave on our large scale military type map. From its co-ordinates it appeared that there was a choice of approach to the entrance, from above or from below.
It could be clearly seen from the map that just below the cave was an isolated house served by a private road. We thought it would be safer to park and change at the house rather than leave the car and all our belongings on a remote hilltop, miles from civilization. The matriarch of the establishment, a German frau, whose better years had long since departed, greeted us on our arrival. She flatly refused to let us park there, and denied all knowledge of the cave or it’s whereabouts. Her manner was brusque to the point of being downright rude, but as I said she was German. Some moron, being part of a gang employed to build a swimming pool on her pretentious estate, claimed to know where the cave was and attempted to send us on a wild goose chase some 15km away. The cave was in fact, as indicated on the map, approximately 100 metres from the back door of the residence. Nevertheless we were forced to make a mega detour and attack the cave from above, in the end this proved to be a simple task. From memory I will try to describe the route taken.
Take the road from Porto Cristo to a crossroads just before Son Carrio. Turn right at these crossroads and continue uphill until a low, large, sprawling villa is reached. At the time of our visit, the villa and it’s surrounding walls were painted a dirty lime-green colour, and looked as though they’d been that way for a long time. Keeping the villa on your right hand side, follow the track to the top of the hill. At the summit turn left and park up where the track abruptly ends. The parking area is reminiscent of a redundant builder’s yard cum tip, with a few dead kitchen appliances and assorted debris adorning the wasteland. From this point follow the low wall along the summit for about 50 metres, keeping the wall on your left, until a small stile sized gap in the wall is reached.
From here a track, well overgrown with brambles, but nevertheless still recognisable leads down to the twin cave entrances after a 5-minute walk. The most straightforward of the connecting entrances is the one bearing old hinges from a former door. Go down the stooping, rocky, tubular entrance passage until a large column heralds the start of a climb down. A knotted rope may be in place for descending this smooth, calcited flowstone slope, but this is not really necessary. After a further short descent the passage continues downwards as a wide hading rift, reminiscent in it’s slope of a Mendip type cave such as Cuthberts or Eastwater. The rift gets steeper as it descends until it becomes virtually sheer. The cave up until this point is free-climbable by a competent caver. At the top of the vertical section is a dubious spit for belaying the pitch. Since there was no suitable back up for this belay, we did not go down. We had already been informed by Fig and Mick, that the rift was blind at the bottom, at a final depth of –70m.
It could be argued that a rope would be a safer option for the descent of the initial sloping part of the rift; there are two problems here. Firstly, the rock is very brittle and would make use of a bolting kit easier said than done, and secondly the rock is extremely sharp. There is also an abundance of loose rock just waiting to be trundled.
Geordie Dave did in fact offer to remain at the top of the sloping rift and lifeline us from there if required. It was here that one of the holiday’s more amusing incidents occurred. While the rest of the team continued their descent, Geordie stayed at the rift head contemplating his navel, or rather his sore ankles. At this point, for no apparent reason one of Dave’s false teeth decided it would like to become a cave-pearl. This tooth, the one right in the middle of the top row, dropped without warning to the floor. Dave, already well pissed off by having Achilles heals resembling raw steak, was not a happy bunny (moral; don’t wear brand new trainers, 2 sizes too small, to go yomping through the Mallorcan hinterland, even if they were a bargain in the sale!) Fortunately Dave found his wayward tooth and put it in the pocket of his boiler suit, thus enabling it to continue to pretend to be a bit of rock for a while longer. After meeting up with Dave again, we retraced our steps, following the draught towards the entrance.
At the bottom of the initial flowstone slope, we decided to have a bit of a poke around before climbing out. Turning through 180 degrees from the way leading out, we gazed up at the blackness beckoning into the hillside. After a short easy climb over and through large boulders, we found ourselves in a series of extensive low, flat, upper chambers. These walking sized, or at worst stooping sized passages, had some excellent formations largely coated with a strange black dust. Unfortunately we were running low on light at this stage and were forced to leave the cave without fully exploring these upper chambers.
A further visit to this cave, and in particular these upper levels, is a priority on our next visit to Mallorca. A thorough search and an extensive photo-shoot would be far more rewarding than an excursion to the boring lower series. The horizontal range of the cave is assessed at 1,530 metres; almost all of this would be taken up by the extent of the upper region.
All in all this makes for an excellent, and comparatively easy trip, it is however an extremely hot cave. You would certainly not want to be wearing much more than shorts and T-shirt down there.
Tackle requirements: -
Hand-line for initial sloping descent, 22m. (Optional).
Rift pitch, 27m. Dental fixing cream.
MANACOR
Although Cova des Diners is the only Manacor cave to feature in Part three of this publication, the region is in fact quite an important area of speleological importance, particularly with regard to the sea caves. The caves of Drach, and The Caves of Hams both appear in part two of this book. Many coastal caves including Cova de sa Gleda, Cova Dets Ases, Cova de Coll along with other lesser caves appear in the Cavern diving section. An approximate location map for the Manacor area is also included in Part Four.
AVENC DEL CANAL DE LA COMA FREDA (C46)
POLLENSA
Coma Freda is one of the many sheer, deep, vertical shafts, which pepper the Mallorcan mountainsides. It is different from many, in that it actually gives direct access to something worth seeing. In this case a large, well decorated chamber leading via a crawl past delicate straws and columns to a further splendidly adorned grotto. The ease with which these chambers can be reached makes this an ideal site for cave-photography. At the bottom you could well find yourself in the company of small beady-eyed, furry rodents, I don’t know how they arrived there, they don’t appear to carry any SRT gear.
The shaft itself is 26metres deep and can be rigged from a single bolt, backed up by looping an extra 10metres of rope around a huge boulder just outside the lip of the shaft. A good trip.
P.S. You will probably find the gates to the inner road, around the perimeter of the woodland (see sketch) locked. This does not preclude access but will prevent you from parking your cars there. If you’re very lucky, as we were, you may find a friendly countryside ranger who’s prepared to let you through, you are still however, not allowed to drive up to the firebreak, but your cars and their contents will be safer inside the gates. See sketch below for entrance.
FONT D’ALGARET (A5)
POLLENSA
As this resurgence cave is situated in the province of Pollensa it features in the Encinas book. It is designated in the book as category IV; i.e. a major cave >300m long. The designated cave No. is A5, using this the cave can easily be located on the accompanying map. As this cave is an important source of fresh water, a rarity in Mallorca, the cave’s guardians do not want every Tom, Dick and Harry splashing about in there.
As such the entrance is gated and locked. Bernat, an official keyholder, and a caving associate of J.J led us into the cave. The stooping sized entrance already sporting a healthy stream immediately gives way to a hands and knees crawl in water, after squeezing through some awkward boulders. A deepish pool is then crossed and after rounding a bend a mere 10 metres into the cave, the roof closes down almost to the water level. A real nose to the ceiling duck can be passed to access 400metres of pretty much the same. A quarter of a mile into the cave it is allegedly possible to stand up, stand up that is with water up to your neck. Reputedly there are some diminutive dry chambers at the bitter end. Finding none of the assembled team of hard men gullible enough to attempt to pass the first duck, dressed as they were in skimpy dry grots, our trip was curtailed pretty much before it began. Personally I find it extraordinary that 4 adults should seem fit to survey in detail such a miserable little grovel to it’s obvious conclusion, a miserable little sump. Needless to say it wouldn’t take a great deal to flood this cave completely to the roof. Definitely a collector’s item.
The photograph shows J.J. Exiting the Cave.
AVENC DEL PI DEL PLÀ DE LES BASSES (P5)
POLLENSA
One of the features of Mallorca’s mountain roads is the presence of white painted grave stone sized distance markers. These markers, indicating the distance to or from the roads destination ( depending on your direction of travel), normally appear every kilometre, occasionally there are additional markers at 500m or even 100m intervals Such markers are indispensable when it comes to giving directions to cave entrances, Les Basses is no exception.
Follow the road from Puerto Pollensa to Cap de Formentor until the 16k marker is reached. Park in a lay-by approximately 100m further on, change and walk to the cave from this point. A certain amount of discretion is needed here, the reason being is that due to it’s remote and secluded location, the lay-by is prone to being used by courting couples.
Avenc Petit del Plà de les Basses
Avenc Petit del Plà de les Basses
Follow the clearly defined “green road” leading from the pull-in down towards the headland. This road follows a dry river course as it descends; keep the dry bed on your right hand side as you head down valley. Soon the green road diminishes to a single lane track as it levels out. You then cross the dry valley onto what appears to be a barren, cracked, parched earth plateau. Dotted about this plateau are small patches of greenery that stand out like oases. Some of these fertile areas conceal cages and traps for local wildlife, hidden amongst the shrubbery. Others indicate the presence of open potholes; the first such shaft encountered is P31, Avenc Petit del Plà de les Basses. This could be a promising dig, at the moment it is about 6metres deep. The top is reminiscent of the beginning of Nettle Pot in Derbyshire, about 50m further on is Les Basses proper.
If you stand on the lip of Avenc Les Basses and look around you, you will realise that you are in the centre of a huge, gently sloping, saucer shaped depression. This shallow basin represents a vast water catchment area, with a very fast flow-off time, due to the parched nature of the surrounding land. If you were down the shaft and a thunderstorm started to rage, then you would truly be in the proverbial.
Andy, Lee and myself tackled the descent in October 1999, while Dave stayed at the parked car continuing to whinge about his ankles being stiff and sore. Using twin belays on the entrance boulders, Lee rigged a “Y” hang and we all descended the shaft. The pot is largely reminiscent of one in the Yorkshire dales, the first pitch of 30m (40m rope needed) is followed by a succession of smaller pitches, all following one after the other. They can all be rigged using one 100m rope. All the pitches are clean washed and fluted, they all also carry worrying remains of flood debris, this is lodged in convenient cracks everywhere. The lower reaches of the pot can be somewhat cold and draughty. The final pitch is of academic value, being passable by anorexic midgets only; unfortunately Dave wasn’t there with us.
Avenc del Pi del Plà de les Basses
Avenc del Pi del Plà de les Basses
After an uneventful but enjoyable sojourn away from the Balearic sunshine, we returned to the car. Geordie “peeping” Dave greeted us with the news that while we were away, the parking lot had in fact been used by a romantic couple to practice horizontal jogging, completely oblivious to his presence. I suspect that the ankles were not the only part of Dave’s anatomy that were stiff and sore that afternoon.
COVA DE CAL PESSO (C13)
POLLENSA
Cal Pesso is a most amenable cave, it is nearby, easy to find and provides a fine if not too taxing trip. The cave is an ideal one with which to start your holiday, giving you a foretaste of what Mallorcan caving is all about, whilst gently breaking in your SRT muscles. Des Marshall suggests in his interim guide to Mallorcan Caves that you enter Puerto Pollensa on the C710 and turn left by the side of the Garua car rental. This is sound advice providing of course, that the establishment doesn’t change hands overnight into a balti house or a sex emporium, otherwise we could all be in trouble. Follow this road to a narrow walled lane leading to a crossroads. Turn right and follow the lane to the nearest convenient parking place, as close to the foot of the hillside as possible. Climb up the hill for about 100 metres, bearing off towards 2 O’clock.
The cave is found in a small, flat floored alcove and readily identifies itself by virtue of a plaque affixed inside the entrance. Unfortunately the alcove is not at all obvious until you’re virtually on top of it. You should be able to walk to the cave easily in 15minutes. There are three other cave entrances in the immediate vicinity; Cova Petita de Cal Pesso (P4), Cova del Mentiders (M39) and La Flastornia (F24), these are not up to much, but can be visited while in the area.
The entrance accesses a small, comfortable chamber, handy for leaving gear. A crawl then leads off to the head of a small pitch, where a large chamber is entered by descending a 15 metre knotted handline. Turning left some flat-out crawling leads to an area of connecting large chambers. A 20 metre traverse line is useful in the last of these to circumnavigate a large deep hole. This marks the end of this particular section of cave. The way on is by a slanting climb up into the roof, on the right hand side where the passage starts to enlarge. There then follows a series of pitches; 46m, 19m and 13m, (One 100m rope is sufficient for all three pitches).There is a further pitch accessible to committed thin people only. Some of the smaller pitches are free-climbable, but we found that the best technique to employ was to abseil down and use a hand jammer as a self life-lining device for the ascents. All the belays are natural using big boss stals, care is needed in selection of these belays, and also in protecting against rub-points. Overall the trip is relatively straightforward and easy, with plenty of walking sized passage.
COVA DE LLANAIRA (L4)
POLLENSA
The Cova De Llanaira is featured in the “501 Grutas” book. It is shown on the enclosed map as Cave Reference number L4. On perusing J.A.Encinas’s hefty tome on the caves of Pollensa, this looked from the survey to be a cave well worth visiting. Perhaps a greater knowledge of Spanish and a closer scrutiny of the scale on the survey would have convinced us otherwise!
The whole cave can be seen in detail in less than a quarter of an hour, it is dirty, dusty, grovelly and totally lacking in formations apart from some calcited roots. Apparently there are some interesting species for budding microbiologists to study. There are only two things in this cave’s favour. 1). You can park your car within 50 metres of the entrance and 2). No tackle is needed. The entrance is easy to find if you ask at the big house at the end of the private drive. It is approximately 50 metres from the gates of the private drive on the left hand side when travelling towards the big house. A real collectors item unless microbiology is your bag. Amazingly the cave is categorised by Encinas as a grade IV, a major cave over 300 metres long, unbelievable! Did we miss something?
Andy feeling the benefits of the 4Rs.
Refreshment,
Replenishment,
Rest and Recuperation,
after the exertions of a hard trip
down Cova de Llanaira.
COVA DE CORNAVAQUES (C 27)
POLLENSA
Cornavaques is one of the caves visited by Lee, Fig & Mick during their early forays to the island. Lee has displayed a certain reticence to pay a further visit to the cave with the rest of us, for two main reasons. Firstly, the cave is a long walk away, probably approaching 4 km, and is notoriously hard to find. Secondly, although the cave is undoubtedly worth a visit, there are more convenient and better trips to do, given the limited amount of time at our disposal. We will no doubt get around to doing it someday.
You will need one of two things to help you to find the entrance, either the leadership of someone with a good memory who’s been to the cave before, or a good map, a good compass and a large slice of good fortune. The following is a description largely cribbed from another source, which may help you in achieving your objective.
Take the road leading to the C710 from Cala San Vicente. Park after 5km as near as possible to the large red iron gate on castors, on your right. Follow the track from here towards the farmhouse. Shortly before the house; bear left on the track and zigzag through the woods. A wooden gate leads through to a clearing surrounded by a substantial stone wall. The way on is through a break in the west corner of this wall and comprises of a steep scramble following a bearing of 270 degrees. After reaching an obvious ridge continue on in the same direction, across a small valley, slowly gaining height to arrive at the next shoulder. From here a much larger valley now comes into view, with the entrance to the cave at a higher elevation. Walk on the right side of the valley at a height of approx. 20m from the valley floor until the valley narrows to a gorge after a short while. The valley divides at a prominent rock pinnacle, identifiable by the presence of a large boulder. Here take the right fork, the entrance will be found after 100m, 20m above the valley bottom. It is hidden by bushes and is invisible from below, good luck!
Immediately inside the entrance is a blind hole on the right, ignore this and continue to the end of the entrance passage. Climb up a stal wall on the right and follow a small passage to a slippery traverse, from here climb down a greasy rock, “the Marsupial leap”. The way on leads to a large chamber via a small low arch, after first passing a hole in the floor, which connects with a lower chamber. The large chamber is finely decorated, including a floor to ceiling 3m straw stal column. Ignore the short climb on the right hand side of the chamber entrance, this leads to a 10m pitch choked at the bottom with a rubble collapse. Passing through the chamber, a hole on the left drops to a blind pit, clamber above this hole via a greasy 10m sloping climb. This climb gains a fine vantage point and the continuing way on. From the top of the climb descend 5m to a deep hole of 15m on your right. Beyond this hole a final climb of 10m ends in a collapse.
Although the cave has a total length of 520m you are reminded of the close proximity of the surface by virtue of the presence of some attractive calcite encrusted plant roots.
COVA DE MINA PETIT (M32)
POLLENSA
A further cave classified in “501 Grutas” as a grade IV (major cave >300metres) is the Mina Petit, the survey appears to indicate similar features to C’an Sion, but on a smaller scale. This cave has not yet been visited by the club, but hopefully will be soon.
In the same principality there is a small pothole ref; C81.”Avenc de Les Cases de Mina Petit”, map reference; 496860/4408870. A survey of the hole again appears in the Encinas book, and the location is shown on the Pollensa map.
L’AVENC DEN XIM (X6)
POLLENSA
This cave is also in the same area of Pollensa, Bernat thinks it’s one of the best vertical trips on the whole island, we understand from Bernat that it is 750ft deep. The Ripley lads have marked it on the top of their agenda for our next visit to Mallorca. Myself I think I’ll stick to grovelling around in Mina Petit.
AVENC DE FRA RAPHAEL
POLLENSA
Fra Raphael is grouped with the other Pollensa caves by virtue of the fact that it just sneaked onto the large scale military map of the area. (Map Ref;circa 4410/490) It does not appear in the book “501 Grutas del Termino de Pollensa”, nor on the map that comes with the book.
Follow the Inca road from Pollensa to the 16k road marker, just past this marker the road drops into a dip as it straightens out. Looking out of the car window along this stretch, a raised walkway can be seen. This walkway follows a dry-stone wall and runs parallel to the road. After coming out of the dip, a turning on the right hand side brings you to a secluded picnic area cum car park. It is OK to park and change in this sheltered clearing. Zigzag through the trees surrounding the pull-in and go through a gate to reach the aforementioned raised walkway. Follow the walkway gently downhill until it turns sharply through 90 degrees to the left to reach another gate.(If you are confident of the way, you can cut out this dog-leg by cutting across the ploughed field ). Continue along this track and go past the Hunters Lodge. If the hunters are in residence then that is likely to be the end of the trip, the hunters are reputed to be not very caver friendly, especially non-local cavers. Just after the lodge, leave the track as it veers sharply to the right, and head up straight through the trees. After about a 100metres of uphill boulder scrambling over spiky gorse covered, sharp Limestone pavement, the cave entrance is arrived at. This entrance, although in the form of a large, deep, open shaft surrounded by trees is not obvious until you’re about 10m away. A good pointer is a nearby square rock window, which is visible from a considerable way off. It is easy to get lost on the way back, especially if it’s dark when you exit the cave, take a back bearing with your compass from the cave entrance to the Hunter’s Lodge.
The tree lined shaft gives immediate access to a large open 130-metre pothole. The cave itself is entered by pendulumning across the open shaft at a depth of a mere 10 metres. The large shaft is blind at the bottom. The cave is rigged by belaying to a sturdy tree at the unobvious end of the opening, a traverse line circumnavigating the hole in an anti-clockwise direction eventually leads to some acceptable spits in which to place suitable hangers for the descent. A 60m rope would be ample for the initial belay, traverse line and pendulum to the ledge providing ingress to the main cave. It would be nowhere near long enough (obviously!) for the main shaft; it would be good caving practice and common sense to put a huge stopper knot in the end of the rope. Once safely ensconced on the ledge you are free to enter a virtual fairyland. A huge stomping passage cum chamber, gently slopes off, taking in two medium sized pitches (30m rope needed for each), until finally a really big pitch is met at the end of the cave. The first two stages of the pitch can be free-climbed with care, preferably with a lifeline or at least a safety rope. The last part is very exposed and probably approaches a depth in the region of 100 metres. We did not descend this pitch, due to the lack of a safety belay. We understand this pitch has been dropped by Dave Elliot, who has discovered a passage at the bottom, which connects with the bottom of the entrance pitch. This extension is still relatively secret.
Going back to the main passage, there is a truly gob-smacking array of formations everywhere. Flowstone bosses, huge columns, curtains, stals, helictites, gour pools and false floors comprising of swirls of red, white, brown and yellow calcite. These formations although very old show little sign of natural decay, many though are coated with a fine coating of grey dust.
Due to the relatively easy nature of the caving in this main passage, it is tempting to stomp off quickly to the end, disregarding apparent minor side passages en route. It is worth spending some time inspecting these on the way out, since there are some equally well decorated upper chambers, which are not at all obvious on the way in.
The cave is extremely photogenic and is very warm and dry. It can be done easily in shorts and tee-shirts, although long over-trousers are especially recommended for the walk to and from the cave.
Avenc de Fra Raphael. Postscript.
On the walk to the cave we noticed a small flock of sheep grazing near the Hunters Lodge. These animals all had bells hung around their necks. On the way back from the cave we got completely lost in the darkness, the faint tinkling of the sheep bells reverberating in the distance miraculously guided us to the Hunters Lodge, and thus back to the car. I have never been so pleased to see an ovine Ding-a-Ling in my life, thank you Lord.
COVA DE LES RODES (R1)
POLLENSA
Les Rodes is categorised in “501 Grutas” as grade IV/VI denoting a major cave of over 300metres in length and between 15m & 50m in depth. Taking this into account, along with a cursory glance at the survey, one would expect a pretty decent trip. The general consensus of opinion of cavers who have visited the site suggests otherwise. Lee Hollis has been down once and has stated quite clearly that once is definitely enough. The cave is also prone to a build up of CO2, and shows evidence of flooding to the roof. These facts alone should be enough to convince you to skip the rest of this narrative and look for something better to do. If however, you choose to disregard the advice of well-meaning peers and ignore basic common sense, both traits peculiar to most cavers, then read on.
Taking the car park on the seafront at Cala San Vicente as a starting point, go back towards Palma for 250metres until a crossroads is reached, turn right and up a track to some metal gates. Continue to the right and cross over a wall into a driveway. Pass a small hut on the right and a flight of steps leading down the wall are immediately encountered. From the base of the steps go right, over another small wall to where the cave entrance can be found in a patch of bramble.
A scramble over a boulder immediately gains a stream way, follow this past a column on your left to a decorated chamber. The way on continues, low at times, to a large pool. Traversing around to the left brings you to a pitch. An 8 metre climb drops into the lower streamway, which after degenerating into a low crawl, finally arrives at the final muddy chamber with a few formations.
A trip like this could be undertaken any day of the week in Stoney Middleton, whilst in Mallorca you’d be far better of spending your time sunning yourself on the beach, with a cold beer in your hand.
COVA DE CAN SION (C18)
POLLENSA
Cova de Can Sion is another cave featured in “501 Grutas”, designated on the Pollensa area map as C18. The cave itself contains arguably the densest array of formations in any Mallorcan cave. There are allegedly over 2,000 columns festooning Can Sion’s single chamber, though we didn’t count them. The survey of the cave (See page 40a) seems inordinately complex, and indeed route finding in the cave is like negotiating a huge three-dimensional maze. Fortunately a single guideline threads it’s way through the columns indicating the optimum round trip route circumnavigating the chamber. Following this line will enable the visitor to see the majority of the cave and it’s abundance of formations without getting totally disorientated. The cave is in reality a huge dome shaped fragmented hading chamber with no side passages leading off. The lower reaches of this huge sloping chamber are prone to CO2 build up. The small triangular entrance in the mountainside gives immediate ingress to the large chamber. This is particularly useful in the context of ease of photography, the cave being extremely photogenic. Bats are present inside the cave.
By using Encinas’s map it is relatively easy to locate the private road leading to Can Sion, the gate on the private road is clearly marked as such. Follow the private road to a 'T' Junction; right leads to the unoccupied and somewhat desolate private residence, left leads to a small car parking area. From this area continue on foot up the obvious track leading high up into the mountain. Close to the summit, shortly after passing a superb panoramic vantage point the track ends at a large scree slope. Drop down the scree for about 30 metres veering 45 degrees to the left, where a well-worn goat track is encountered. This goat track leads directly to the small triangular opening leading directly into the cave.
AVENC DEL FAR (F3)
POLLENSA
One day during October 1999, while I was doing family type holiday things with my wife, Lee, Andy & Dave went searching for Avenc Terressa. Armed with a description from the publication “Mallorca Caves - an interim guide.” They set off in the midday sun, 3 hours later they found Avenc del Far. Dave who was still suffering from blistered, bleeding feet declined the descent, so it was left to Andy & Lee to go down. The rigging of the single entrance pitch, the depth of the cave (36m) and the general ambiance of the place seemed to match exactly that of the given description for Terressa. Conservative estimates would however place Avenc del Far’s entrance to be about 400metres from where the entrance to Avenc Terressa should have been.
Avenc del Far is specified in the Pollensan caving bible, “501 Grutas” and is designated as F3. It is the only cave in the book and on the map that is anywhere remotely near Cap de Formentor. Given that Encinas has a tendency to record even the most insignificant nook or cranny in his tome, it seems rather strange that Terressa does not feature. Draw your own conclusions.
The actual single drop descent was undertaken on 9mm rope. There was no way of deviating the rope from the fine calcited flowstone on the walls of the slightly sloping shaft. This was no problem while abseiling down, during the prusik out the rope tended to make interesting twanging sounds!
Using Encinas’ accurate co-ordinates and the Pollensa area map, the cave should in theory, be easy to find. It is literally by the roadside and is approximately 900m from Cap de Formentor.
COVA DE LA BASE (B10)
POLLENSA
Cova de la Base is situated within the confines of the Military Base on the Pollensa peninsular. Lee and Fig were fortunate enough to be able to visit the place on one of their earlier forays on the island. Wishing to find the cave entrance with the minimum of hassle, and thus spend as little time as possible wandering uncertainly around the military compound, the lads invested in a Magallen G.P.S. to help locate the entrance. Such an expensive high-tech gizmo seemed to fit the bill ideally, for this operation.
From Port D’Alcudia the road to Cabo Formentor is followed past the buildings of the military base, on the right hand side of the road. Immediately after these buildings the road takes a sharp 90 degree turn left up towards the hills. Here one parks up as unobtrusively as possible by the roadside.
At this juncture our heroes, having changed into their caving gear, smugly entered the map co-ordinates of the entrance into the G.P.S. and confidently set off following the arrow. The arrow indicated that the entrance was 500m away to the Northeast. 2hrs later, after much fruitless rambling, the cave remained as elusive as ever. Venting their frustration on their newly acquired toy, the offending article was cast unceremoniously into the wide, green yonder. Plan B was put into operation, a return to the car was made in order to obtain boring, but trusty map and compass.
Leaving the car on foot, the road is followed steeply uphill round a right hand hairpin bend and a left hand hairpin bend. At this point an old fence formerly bordering the military campus is met. Follow this fence and head on upwards to where it has collapsed. By now you will have noticed a number of old official signs, as ever these are in Spanish but it doesn’t take the brains of an Einstein however to realise that they do not constitute a welcome mat. At the collapsed fence bear right onto the military land and head upwards towards the lower of the two obvious hilltops, visible on the skyline. The gaping crater of a large collapsed shakehole is soon met just below the lower summit, slightly around to the right. This is the cave entrance and is in fact 500m away from the starting point, in a westerly direction. Also nearby is the small open shaft of Avenc de La Base (B8).
Surprisingly there is a bolt in situ for abseiling into the crater and dropping down the short entrance pitch into the cave proper.(10m rope required). The pitch drops into a dismal, muddy, walking sized passage cum chamber, which leads after a short time to the head of the second pitch. A natural stal belay provides an initial hang, which unfortunately incurs a serious rub-point. Lee & Fig, no doubt expecting to drop down into some wonderful Shangri-La, dutifully inserted a new bolt re-belay just below the lip of the pitch.(20m rope in total needed). The pitch dropped into a larger, muddier, more dismal chamber. The pair moped around for a few more minutes, vainly trying to salvage something from an outing rapidly turning into a comedy of errors. Prudently they decided to cut their losses and retreated from the cave, no doubt to drown their sorrows at some nearby hostelry.
I see no point in visiting this place again, unless it is to try and locate a now defunct G.P.S. lying somewhere on the desolate hillside. If this is your intention, please bear in mind the consequences of being incarcerated by the descendants of the conquistador, as a reward for straying onto their hallowed ground.
Bat sleeping, suspended from roof of Mallorcan cave. A colony of bats
identical to this was discovered in Cova Sa Marti (Saint Martins Cave).
Inhabitation of bats was encountered to some degree in
nearly all of Mallorca’s fossil systems.
COVA SA MARTI ( Saint Martin’s Cave)
ALCUDIA
Religious history of site
The Cova Sa Marti is situated at the foot of the Puig de Sant Marti, about 5km from the town of Alcudia. Inside the cave there are two altars, both sheltered by chapels, these are dedicated to St. George and St. Martin respectively.
Documents have been found, dated from the end of the XII century, which refer to the cave as a place of Paleo-Christian worship, perhaps it has always been as such. The architectural and sculptural elements of the two chapels do not in fact reveal greater antiquity than that of the XIV century. The chapels built into the rock itself, sheltered by the cave’s enclosure are well preserved. The antique form of the Trancept domed canopies are reminiscent of the period following the renaissance.
In 1507 a miracle much revered in Alcudia occurred at the cave. An image of St. Christ of Alcudia was brought to the chapels, to implore God to provide rain for the dry fields. The image was observed to sweat blood and tears. There have been three particular important periods of restoration work and embellishments on the site of Cova Sa Marti.
In 1886 the Luliana Architechtural Society of Mallorca carried our preliminary restoration. In 1962 the priest Rev. D. Antonio Beltran, aided by local people carried out further remedial work. The final embellishment was completed in 1993 by the parson D. Philipe Guasp. From this date, a popular and joyous pilgrimage has come to take place here on the Sunday after Easter each year. It would appear that an annual spring clean occurs just before this event. Apart from this one yearly occurrence, the place is not actively used for worship and the gates allowing access are locked.
Cave description
Sa Marti is in a collapsed doline, very similar in depth and appearance to Sa Gleda. The main difference between the two is that where Sa Gleda has the rubble heap providing evidence of the original collapse, the debris at Sa Marti has been replaced by artificial religious placements. Behind one of the chapels, entry to the cave proper is gained. The way in is through a bit of a squeeze either side of the chapel walls. The squeeze is passable to even the most generously proportioned cavers. Immediately inside is a huge chamber floored with the greater part of the original collapsed breakdown. This boulder ruckle is completely surrounded by submerged passageways leading off in all directions. Wading across the flooded section to the right, a further small chamber can be entered by squeezing through a choke, this chamber too is sumped. There are no other dry ways leading off. In the main chamber, a single dive line, belayed to a large boulder, leads off from the base of the rubble heap into the aqueous depths. J.J. informs us that the site has not been dived by locals, and that the line was laid by a British team. The line was certainly not in place when Messrs Farr, Cronin & Co visited in 1996 (see expedition report).
The large chamber houses the largest colony of bats that I’ve ever seen. Considering the abundant presence of “Holy Water”, they cannot surely be vampire bats!
Because of the religious significance of the cave, the entrance is reasonably well signposted from the centre of Alcudia. In view of this same religious significance it is unlikely that official permission to cave and dive therein would be readily given by the relevant authorities.
COVA DE ROTJA
ALCUDIA
A walk of about 3kms along the coastline from Ermitade de la Victoria to Penya Rotja brings one to the old lookout/gun post overlooking the Cap des Pinar. The entrance to the Cova de Rotja is directly below, accessing from here would involve a hairy abseil of some 60metres. It is far easier to retreat 100 metres and descend a steeply wooded slope, then traverse to the left around the headland to reach an obvious entrance in the cliff face. A dusty entrance leads to an enormous hading chamber, which has been dissected at various levels by boulder collapses covered in flowstone and false floors. These give the impression of a series of interconnecting chambers. Many active formations can be seen, although the majority are ancient, comprising of columns and bosses, which look like they have been covered in coral. Beware the sharp rocks on the floor when the roof lowers, also in the area leading to the pitch/pitches, which could indicate the way on. This also contains a dangerously unstable boulder choke.
This cave was visited by Fig & Mick, along with a couple of their mates in the mid 90’s.Mick seems to recall that the obvious pitch descent could be by-passed by a free-climb down a rift. Fig also vaguely remembers that most of the climbing could be done free, and only one section of the pitch needed proper SRT techniques. Fig reckons that 30 metres of rope would be sufficient, this may be an under-estimation.
It is hardly surprising that their memories are so unclear, since a large proportion of their memory cells have long since been obliterated by the imbibing of too much alcohol, and the inhaling of too many illicit substances.
This cave like Cova de Bassa Blanca is situated on the desolate area at the end of the Alcudia peninsular. As such it is not shown on either the large scale military map of the area or the “501 Grutas” map. It is not to be confused with the L’Avenc de Cova Rotja (C82) at map reference 497070/4409610 in the Mina Petit area.
COVA DE BASSA BLANCA
ALCUDIA
After our abortive attempt at exploring Font D’Algaret, our adopted leader for the day Bernat, suggested an alternative venue for the continuance of our subterranean activities. Bernat, accompanied by J.J. led our party to the Cova de Bassa Blanca situated in the Bay of Alcudia.
At this point I returned to the hotel apartment, having used up my quota of Brownie points for the day. The rest of this report is compiled from the collective memories of Lee & the rest of the team.
From Port D’Alcudia follow the coastal road towards Cabo Menorca, until it terminates at a patch of wasteland, close to the beach. Most large scale maps of Mallorca, fail to show this final part of the Alcudia peninsula, probably because of its almost total desolation. As such it’s not possible to give an accurate Map Ref. for this site.
Park the car and get changed in the pleasant surroundings of the sandy Mediterranean beach. Follow the main coastal footpath for approx 1.5km, until it narrows to a single lane track at a gate. Continue along this narrow track for 30metres, and then take an obvious climb on your left up a steep, well-worn, bouldery path. Disregard the no entry signs, presumably erected to deter casual visitors and pass through the damaged fence , continue inland until the low arched entrance is encountered on the left amidst the undergrowth.
Climb down the stone steps and enter the roomy entrance chamber. Go through the gate on the far wall, and. follow a hands and knees crawl for 20m, then bear left at the end upwards into a well decorated, walking sized passage. This passage ends abruptly after 10m at a pitch.
J.J. who seems to spend most of his time underground, suspended mid-water in some submerged tunnel, seems to be less thrilled with the prospect of being suspended mid-air in a dry section of cave. J.J. declined the obligatory SRT exercises and remained at the pitch head.
A natural stal belay suffices for the initial 15m drop to a ledge; here a re-belay around a large stal boss gives a further descent of 15m. While abseiling down this last section, it is necessary to pendulum over to the right to land on a solid platform of calcite concretions. 35m of rope in total is needed to reach this lower chamber.
From here it is possible to wander at leisure through a series of interconnecting chambers. All of these exhibit the usual fine array of calcite decorations. The final chamber in particular boasts a clear blue lake 2-3m in depth. A group of tall crystalline encrusted stal pillars protrude some 3-4m above the surface of the lake, standing like a troop of sentries. In Lee’s opinion these specific formations relegate the Berger’s famed Hall of the Thirteen to the second division.
Like several other caves investigated on the island, Bassa Blanca is warm, dry & humid. Unfortunately due to the lack of a through draught in this predominantly dormant system, there occurs a substantial build-up of Carbon Dioxide. This becomes increasingly noticeable the further one progresses into the deeper recesses of the cave. All the members of the party suffered to some extent from inhaling the above normal levels of CO2 as they climbed and prusikked their way out of the cave.
CAVES AND POTHOLES IN THE POLLENSA AREA OVER 50m DEEP
In addition to the sites already described, there are a number of other caves (covas) & potholes (avencs), detailed in the “501 Grutas” book that are either categorized as Grade vii) depth between 50m and 100m or Grade viii) depth over 100m.
Pegasus members have personally visited none of the caves, consequently no individual reports have been included, perhaps this situation will be gradually rectified in the fullness of time. Some of the caves look like they could provide good trips. Details of the sites appear below. Surveys of these systems feature as usual in “501 Grutas”, the location of the entrances as ever, are clearly indicated on the accompanying map.
Category vii
Category viii
In addition to the above listed shafts and caves, there are a great many Cat VI; 15m-50m pots.
It is 99% certain that none of these shafts will be fitted with “P” hangers, spits or other such artificial belays. It is equally certain that one of the obligatory big Mallorcan boulders and/or trees will be conveniently situated close at hand for use as a natural belay. If not, and you are still intent on descending one of these drops, then you may wish to use your bolting kit.
It is extremely unlikely that poking about in any of these holes, some of them totally blind pots, will lead you to hitherto undiscovered “caverns measureless to man”, but you never know until you look!
CAVES AND POTHOLES OF POLLENSA & ALCUDIA
INDEX OF SITES INDICATED ON POLLENSA MAPS 1-3
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Cave Name
Cova Sa Marti
Cova de Rotja
Cova de Bassa Blanca
Cova de Llanaira
Avenc de Fra Raphael
Avenc den Xim
Avenc D’Albercutx
La Cova Argentera
Font den Vicenc
Cova de Mina Petit
Avenc dels Gavinets
Avenc den Patrona
Avenc del Canal de Coma Freda
L’Avenc Fonda
Avenc de L’Estretor
Avenc den Dengue
Cova de la Ceramica
Avenc del Cavall Bernat
Cova de Cornavaques
Cova de Can Sivella
Cova de Cal Pesso
L’Avenc dels Balcons
Cova de la Base
Avenc de Na Borrassa
Avenc de L’Avorriment
Cova dels Abanderats
Font D’Algaret
Avenc de Can Botana
Cova de les Rodes
Font de Llinas
Avenc de la Male
L’Avenc Mal Fet
Avenc del Far
Avenc del Pi de Pla la Basses
Cova Can Sion
Map
2
4
4
2
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
2
3
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
3
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
3
3
2
Caves 2 & 3 are on the Alcudia peninsular and do not feature on either the large-scale military map or the book “501 Grutas del Termino de Pollensa”. (See Map 4).
Caves 13, 22, 33 and 34 are on the Pollensa peninsular and are included in the “501 Grutas” book and map. They do not appear on the large-scale military map.
Map sections 1-2 are copied from “Cartografia Militar de Espana”, Mapa General Serie L. Pollensa 38-25 (643); 39-25 (644).
Map section 3 is copied from “501 Grutas del Termino de Pollensa
Map 1 Click to Magnify
Map 2 Click to Magnify
Map 3 Click to Magnify
Map 4
Or