 |
|
→ The Puig
Major, our highest mountain
→ The Majorcan mountain club G.E.M
→ The
dry stone wall building college FODESMA
→ The
mountain- rescue service
→ The
great storm of november 2001
→
Weather forecast
→ Rock
climbing
→
Canyoning
► The Puig Major, our highest mountain
 |
The Puig Major
is 1.445 m (4660 feet) meter high. It´s a pity for the mountaineers that
the summit has been closed since 1958 when the americans built a radar station
there. It controls the western Mediterranean as well as northern Africa.
|
-
In 1932 a
company planned a cable car to the top of Puig Major and one platform was
already
built at the bottom (you can see it beside the road to Sa Calobra, shortly
before the pass). The project was abandoned because of the high costs: 2
million pesetas (some 12,000 Euros).
|
The
mountain has two summits: the prohibited one and the one you can see from
the Sóller valley, the Penya des Migdia ("Nooncliff " 1,398 meter).
You can climb it but you aren´t allowed to walk on the military road to
the prohibited summit. One possibility is the old snowhole trail which
starts at Km. 37.8 of the road from Sóller to Lluc (300 meter before
crossing the tunnel). You walk beside the snowholes and at the end of the
steep valley you will find the military road. Then you must climb
steeply to the left (no path) and shortly before the summit
you have to scramble a bit. For the way down you can follow the ridge
to the south and then the scree slopes to the northwest. There isn´t a
path here and you have to find a key passage (marked with cairns) at the end
of the scree slope. After a very stony and overgrown slope you reach the
unpaved
road to Binis. If you turn left you arrive at the tarmac road not
far from the place where you started the hike. Only the
Majorcan hiking experts can lead you there
safely. |
► The Majorcan mountain club G.E.M
(+ Information
►)
☻The
"Grup Excursionista de Mallorca" (G.E.M.) is the most important
mountain club on Mallorca with some 500 associates. The address is: Carrer Andreu Feliu, 20- baixos / E-07010- Palma de
Mallorca/ Tel. [0034] 871.947.900 / E-mail: secretaria @ gemweb.org /
http://
www.gemweb.org.
☻The
mountain club organises hikes of varying difficulty, canyoning,
conferences. Once a year there is a collective action to clear an overgrown
trail.
|
Trails cleared by
G.E.M. :
- 1997:
The trail from Bàlitx to Coll de Biniamar (one section of the trail from Mirador de Ses Barques
to Cala Tuent)
-
1998:
The fishermen´s trail from Esporles to Port des Canonge
-
1999:
The old trail from Estellencs to Banyalbufar
- 2000:
Differents trails from Sóller to Mirador de Ses Barques (Costa d´en Flassada, Costa d´en Nicó)
-
2001:
The old trail from Estellencs to Puigpunyent
-
2002:
The trail from Fornalutx to Coma de Son Torrella across the "Portell de Sa
Costa"
-
2003:
The trail "Camí des Puig" (Puig de Son Talent- Manacor)
|
► The dry stone wall building college FODESMA
(+
Information►)
|
FODESMA was
started to keep alive some traditional crafts: restoration of windmills
(Escola de Molins), building Majorcan fishing boats (Escola de
Mestres d´Aixa) and building dry stone walls (Escola de Margers) |
|
The dry stone wall building
college
has been in existence since
1986 :
young people learn over the
course of two
years the traditional method of stone- building and practise it on the mountain
trails. They pave the old tracks with stones and they rebuid the
walls
of the
terraces. The hiking trail across Mallorca (GR-221) is also called the
trail of the dry stone (Ruta de la Pedra seca). |
|
Fodesma also works on renovating
old buildings (military stations, farms, monasteries) and turning them
into mountain huts: "Tossals Verds" was completed in 1995 and "Muleta"
in
2002. They are working in La Trapa, in Deià, in Castell d´Alaró and in Son
Amer (near Lluc) |
|
Many trails have
been renovated by them: |
- Castell
d´Alaró
-
The
pilgrims´trail from Caimari to the monastery of Lluc
-
Barranc de Biniaraix
-
Puig de Maria,
near
Pollença
-
From Sa Granja
to
Esporles
-
Two
trails from
Deià to Cala Deià
- The
trail from
Deià to Sóller "Camí de Castelló"
- They
are working on the trail from the mountain hut Tossals to Lluc and on the
one from Port de Sóller to Sóller.
- Other
overgrown trails have been cleared: Sa Costera, Camí des Correu (Esporles- Banyalbufar),
Pas des Cossis (Galatzó), many trails around Sóller and in the "Península de
Llevant" Nature Park .
► The mountain- rescue service
(+
Information►)
|
Until 1995
only a voluntary service was called into action as
needed. |
|
Nowadays they are
two professional teams: one from the fireservice (Bombers del Consell de Mallorca) and
another from the rural police (Guardia Civil-G.R.E.I.M.).
The phone numbers are: "112" und "062". When
needed ,a helicopter takes part in the rescue operation. Up to the present
the
service is free of charge. |
-
In 2001 , 6
people died in the Majorcan mountains (4 Spaniards, 2 tourists), 4 were
severely wounded (1 from Germany, 1 from the U.K., 1 from Norway and 1 from
Spain) and 9 suffered slight injuries.
-
33 hikers lost their way and were brought to safety by 11 rescue parties. 12
accidents occurred in canyons.
- In
the first three months of 2002 the rescue operations increased by 160 % in
relation to 2001!
► The great storm of november 2001
|
The two pictures were made on the way to Penya Roja (Alcúdia). In the
picture on the
right picture it´s possible to appreciate that a large area of forest was lost in the
great storm of November 2001. |
 
|
The strong winds (120 km) and the heavy rainfall (300 litres in 24 hours)
destroyed many forests: 300.000 pine trees were felled. The worst
affected areas are in Cap Pinar (near Alcúdia), in Lluc Alcari (near
Deià), Son Fortuny (Galatzó- Estellencs) and S´Alqueria (S´Esclop-
Andratx). The foresters have been working very hard to clear several
hiking trails, sometimes they had to walk for one hour to reach their workplace up
on the mountain! |
|
We will always
see some fallen trees. In January 2003 it was a small storm and in
February a heavy snowfall broke many branches in the following areas: Pollença, Lluc,
Tomir, Massanella. |
► Weather forecast
|
The service is very reliable. The best way is to watch the
TV forecast the night before: around 9.30 pm (TV 3, Saturdays around 9 pm,
5-day forecast) or TVE (La 1) at around 9.50 pm, 3-day forecast. |
|
The weather forecast on the Internet from
"WEATHERONLINE"
is also
very reliable. |
► Rock climbing
 Castell d´Alaró,
there are 30 climbing routes in the overshadowed cliff .
|
They
are many climbing areas: Castell d´Alaró, Port de Valldemossa (the wall is
15 to 30 m high, 8 routes from 4b to 5c), S´Estret de Valldemossa, Sa
Gúbia (near Bunyola, 20 routes, wall 20 to 200 m), Cala Bóquer (near Port
de Pollença, 7 routes,10 to 100 m), Torrent de Pareis (S´Entreforc-
Escorca, 10 to 200 m), Cala Santanyí (5 routes, 10 to 20 m), Cala
Magraner, Gorg Blau (6b to 8b+), Andratx (4+ to 8), Sa Jonquera near Artà
(6 to 8b), Es Fumat (Cape Formentor, 6 to 7c+), Port de Sóller (4 routes,
10 to 25 m), Puig Major. The climbing wall near Calvià is closed (you have
to cross a private property to reach it) |
► Canyoning
|
Mallorca is made
of limestone, that´s why they are plenty of caves, chasms (the deepest
one is "Sa Cova de Sa Campana" ,319 Meter deep) and canyons.
Here are the most important: |
*Torrent de Pareis, our most famous canyon. It´s a
difficult and strenuous hike, where you need a rope for your safety, but
you could manage it without. For
more information►
*Torrent
de Mortitx, between Lluc and Pollença. The upper part ist a hike
with some places where you need your hands. But for the last section you
need technical equipment and canyoning knowledge. A big problem is returning
when you reach the mouth of the canyon. You could either swim to the next
cove (only if the sea is calm, it takes 30 minutes) or take the difficult
"via ferrata" on the cliff.
*Torrent
des Gorg des Diners,
between Binis
and Cala
Tuent.
*Torrent des Gorg Blau (Sa Fosca),
our most
difficult canyon.
The most
beautiful and impressive section is
"Sa
Fosca":
the canyon is so narrow that the light doesn´t reach the bottom.
*Torrent des Guix,
between
Coll de Sa Batalla
(near
Lluc)
and Binibona.
*Torrent de
Coanegra,
between
Orient
and
Santa Maria.
*Torrent
de Na Mora,
between Port de
Sóller
and
Cala Tuent.
*Torrent des Lli,
above the
"Port de Valldemossa".
*Torrent des Salt,
above the
"Port de Valldemossa".
*Torrent de l´Ofre,
between
L´Ofre
and Biniaraix.
*Torrent d´Almadrà,
between
Cúber-dam
and Lloseta.
*Torrent
des Salt des Molinet,
below
Fartàritx, near Pollença.
· ►►
For more information,
there is a Majorcan book: "Els torrents clàssics de la Serra de
Tramuntana" M. Trias, F. Ramon
|
Be careful! In 2001
there were 12 rescue services in the Majorcan canyons. |
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