Alex Little

Last weekend I went up to Cantabria with the caving club to do part of Sistema del Gándara, it’s one of the longest caves in Spain with over 105km of passages, so even though we spent the night camping in the cave (34 hours in total), we still only saw a small section of the whole system. On Tuesday we also visited Cueva Mur. Unfortunately my camera broke whilst in Gándara so I don’t have too many photos, but below are the ones I did manage to get. The photos with the cotton wool looking crystals are a type of Aragonite (so I’ve been told) and in Gándara we also got to see a lot of Gypsum Flowers.

Now that I’ve been caving in Spain a few times (also went canyoning yesterday in Poyatos, Cuenca), I’ve learned quite a lot of the Spanish caving words, so thought I’d share them here in case these are useful for the presumably small group of English speakers who go caving in Spanish speaking countries.

I’m sure there are lots of useful words missing, so please send on any suggestions/amendments. I’ll also add to this list as I learn more.

abajar – to descend/go down
agua – water
albergue – hostel
anclaje – anchor point
arnés – harness
barrancos – canyoning
boca – hole (entrance to cave)
botas de goma – wellies
caída (caer) – fall (to fall)
casco – helmet
comida – food
croll – chest ascender
cuerda – rope
cueva – cave
escaladar – to climb
escarpinas – neoprene boots
espeleologia – caving
espera – wait
estrecho – narrow
frio – cold
guantes – gloves
libre – free (as in I’m off the rope)
liso – smooth
listo – I’m ready
luz – light (‘frontal’ is also used for headlight)
maillon – maillon
mojado – wet
mono – oversuit (literally ‘monkey’)
moretón – bruise
murciélago – bat
muro – wall
neoprena – wet suit
nudos – knots
pasamanos – traverse on rope (literally ‘hand rail’?)
pato – Petzl Shunt (literally, pato = duck)
piedras – stones/rocks (also shout this if you drop something!)
pila – battery
plano – flat
polvo – dust/dirt
pozo – pot/hole/well
progresion vertical – single rope technique (SRT)
puño – ascender (literally ‘fist’)
rappel – abseil/rappel
refugio – hut (usually open/free and very basic)
roca – rock
rodillera – knee pad
seco – dry
sima – pothole/cave
subir – to climb/go up
tapas – layer (in the sense of layers if rock, as well as free food with drink)

This weekend I visited my first caves in Spain (and also my first time using SRT in a cave). On Saturday we went down Sima del Carlista and on Sunday into Sima del Portillo, photos…

I recently joined the caving club here in Madrid (Grupo de Espeleología de Geológicas) and last weekend I went on my first trip with them to learn & practice S.R.T. (progresion vertical) near the village of Patones. Next week they’re off to Burgos to practice inside a cave, but I’ll be away for the next few weeks so will have to wait until I get back before I can practice in a real cave. The caves here in Spain seem to be more technical than those in the UK, with ropework/SRT needed for most caves.

Some photos from the weekend:

Photos:

GPS Track:

Photos:

Photos from visit to Madrid Zoo and Aquarium the other day….

A few photos from trip to Bilbao this weekend (taken during the 4 seconds it stopped raining!)…

Few photos and GPS track from visits to La Pedriza and Sigüenza last week:

La Pedriza:

Sigüenza:

GPS Track from La Pedriza: