Thursday, March 28

The third highest mountain in Spain, from boat to boat in summer: up to 500 people try to climb Aneto daily

The Aneto registers a high percentage of rescues because it is the peak with the highest influx. According to the chief lieutenant of the Civil Guard’s Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group (GREIM), Baín Gutiérrez, up to 500 people try to climb the highest peak in the Pyrenees (3,404 meters) every day during the summer months.

Gutiérrez has commented that this weekend he has left a dozen rescues in the Pyrenees, in which the interventions for the accident suffered by two young French people on the Aneto glacier and the rescue of a 51-year-old mountaineer from Barcelona stand out. after a fall of 100 meters in the La Pez peak, in Bielsa. The woman suffered polytrauma, with open wounds and loss of mobility. She was transferred by helicopter to the Miguel Servet hospital in Zaragoza.

Lieutenant Gutiérrez pointed out that this year the Aneto glacier route has the worst conditions in living memory and 80 percent of those injured in the area are caused by sliding down a slope, just as happened this weekend to two young French men who had to be rescued.

“Nearly 500 people get to climb Aneto every day in summer, so since there are so many people it is logical that there are accidents” and, in addition, “the conditions of Aneto this year have been dangerous”, he warned.

Throughout this summer, three people have died in the Pyrenees and the number of rescues exceeds 150. 40 percent occur in hiking activities, 32 percent in high mountains and 16 percent correspond to canyoning.

The chief lieutenant of the GREIM of Jaca has stated: “hiking is the activity that motivates the most rescues for a very simple reason and that is that hundreds and hundreds of hikers come and I would dare to say that up to thousands on a day of great influx in our zone in the Pyrenees of Huesca and this summer there have also been heat strokes due to the high temperatures”.

Benasque with 22 and Panticosa, with 16, are the municipalities that have registered the highest number of claims. “The influx is massive in areas such as the Benasque Valley or the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, which is a magnet for mountaineers and vacationers and this causes many interventions, as well as in the Tena Valley where this summer also There has been an intense work”.

Facing this final stretch of the summer, Gutiérrez has recalled the main advice. Thus, he has said that prior planning of the activity is of “vital importance”, to try to avoid accidents and problems, as well as knowing the weather information is very important because the weather is “very changeable at this time of year”. In addition to being properly equipped to go to the mountain and carry out the planned activities.



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