Autor: Ramón Dies Fecha: 8 de April de 2021 Categoria: Adventure

The Boumort. Explore a wild territory: challenge and excitement in equal parts

An adventure of discovery: nature, history and landscape.

Exploring the Boumort” is a real physical challenge depending on the time of year in which it takes place, especially in summer where heat and water supply are a key factor. The number of days available in which you want to carry out also suggests changes in strategy.

Espluga de Cuberes on the right. The Collegats walls in the background. Barranc de l’Infern, at the bottom of the valley, left side.

The characteristics of the journey make it have a quite important psychological component. (Physical resistance, missing roads, cliffs, extreme temperatures …)

Anselmo resting after sweating to get there … He did not know that after this, the descent to Barranc de l’Infern would be the greatest challenge of the journey.

In some parts of the route, the use of the map and its interpretation to be able to choose and guess the route are essential. If you want to follow the route only with GPS, it is most likely that you will be stuck on a cliff or made a skewer between gorse.

Start of the traverse from the cliffs of Pessonada. With vestiges of the Civil War

The old roads have disappeared in some sections. The forest and other alterations have made them disappear. Wild animals have created new ones. On very rough terrain, blindly following a GPS track can end up in a very difficult situation.

Anselmo arriving at Cap del Boumort. Serra de Sant Corneli i el Montsec in the background
 
Small vagueness in GPS accuracy (for example 3 or 4m, no more is needed) can make the safe path go 20 or 30m above or below the wall you are moving through. In certain parts, orientation and navigation with the map is key to finding the right route. A good technical challenge, but also a psychological one.

OUR ROUTE:

Exploring the Boumort” Traverse

The place is spectacular and well worth it. Although I do not know all the regions of the peninsula, I would dare to say that it is one of the wildest and most challenging territories in the State. We are in a National Hunting Reserve in which the deer is the protagonist, but it is also a protected natural space that belongs to PEIN and the EU’s Nature 2000 Network.

Herd of deers, during the tour

However, there are unpaved roads where 4X4 vehicles (also some abandoned roads) are good enough and can be used as safe trails. Or as evacuation routes if necessary.

Coll de la Creu pass. Important crossroads and access to drinking water.
 

Despite this, in the most interesting places the access is strictly on foot. (Or climbing;)) There is also the possibility of sleeping in the guarded  Cuberes mountain hut where you can eat very well and enjoy a good rest. Even take a dip in the summer. Recover well to be ready to continue this vital experience!

Provision of water is key. Having clear supply points and calculating the possibility of arriving with our physical capacity is essential. Although many water sources appear on the maps, in summer, when they are most needed, many are dry, others have not sprouted for a long time, and some are only small mud puddles and water that emerges from the ground, where wildlife drink. There are also points where springs have been used to accumulate water in large tanks to fight fires that can be used to drink water if it is made drinkable. Getting fresh and clean water from the dripping of the stalactites in the caves is a sensation that is difficult to describe, pure joy of living!

 

 

Collecting water from a stalactite in the process of formation

Some of the gifts that this route gives us, apart from the challenge itself and the experience, are the great variety of landscapes, its unusual spots (such as the Espluga de Cuberes), wildlife observation, solitude, the night sky (where the Milky Way is still visible to the naked eye), its geological and human history (ancient settlements, the Civil War…)

Espluga de Cuberes

If you want to enjoy an experience like this (more or less challenging) for sure, we will be happy to accompany you. We will prepare it taking into account your abilities and motivations.

The adventure is guaranteed, we are waiting for you!

 

Foto: Anselmo Acebes

Other activities we do in the Reserve:

https://www.amaroqexplorers.com/en/viajes/boumort-kings-of-sky/

https://www.amaroqexplorers.com/en/viajes/discovering-the-boumort-reserve/

Contact:

https://www.amaroqexplorers.com/en/contact/