The Pedraforca.
If the confinement of March 2020 brought us anything, it was an immense desire to be in contact with nature. This caused some of the country's large and popular routes to collapse with professionals and amateurs due to lack of confidence. It was the case of Pica d'Estats in Catalonia, which gathered queues for several months to crown the cross at the top.
The ** Federation of Excursionist Entities of Catalonia ** (FEEC) called for more regulation to avoid these crowds and more dissemination of alternatives and other lesser-known routes. And little by little it is bearing fruit.
One of these new initiatives is the Cadí High Route , born from the creators of the High Route of the Lost , in the Aragonese Pyrenees. It is, therefore, about a circular route in the Sierra del Cadí-Moixeró with ascents to five peaks : Tosa (2,536 m), Penyes Altes de Moixeró (2,276 m), Comabona (2,548 m), Costa Cabirolera (2,604 m) and Pedraforca (2,506 m).
A total of 88.5 kilometers and more than 7,300 meters of positive elevation gain which begin at the Vents del Cadí refuge and connect with those of Sant Jordi, Niu de l'Àliga, Prat d'Aguiló, Molí de Gósol and Lluís Estasen.
High route of the Cadí.
21 YEARS AFTER FOC CARS
This new crossing was born 21 years after the Carros de Foc crossing, which connects the shelters of the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. Its success has led mountaineers from all over the world to do it.
However, like any new route, new features appear with respect to the previous ones. And in this sense, all participants will have a geolocator device , which will allow GPS tracking in real time and will notify the guards in case of emergency, in order to activate the accident protocol.
This proposal of self-guided trek , which was presented last week at the Niu de l'Àliga refuge, at 2,520 m, has the endorsement of several professionals, including the Basque mountaineer Alberto Inurrategui . Despite having crowned 14 eight-thousanders in alpine style, Alberto has been looking for other less media-friendly challenges in recent years, although on equally complicated routes.
"The attractiveness of this new proposal is that it invites effort . It seems that we are forgetting that good things cost, we are immersed in a infantile culture, in the 'become famous, rich and handsome', but what requires effort is much more enjoyable", he pointed out in the presentation. "The joy of surpassing 3,000 can be as rewarding as an 8,000 from the Himalayas, and the same can be said of the 2,000 of the Cadí".
Would you like to be one of the first to do it? Here you can find more information.
The effort is always worth it.