Sierra del Cadí - Pedraforca
I LAUGHED when I first saw Pedraforca, rounding a bend in the mountain road that leads up into the heart of the Sierra del Cadí – the range that lies just short of the Pyrenees in Cataluña.
I had planned to climb this 2,506-metre peak, but – seeing its towering, twisted form front on – I realised that this was not going to be possible for a ‘fairweather’ mountain lover like myself. Or so I thought.
There is no doubt that Pedraforca is a difficult mountain to ascend, but many thousands do it each year, which is proved by the number of people you may see around the jagged summit.
But first, a bit of local colour. Due to its extraordinary shape, this stand-alone mountain is one of the best-known in Cataluña and, despite its formidable appearance, it is well climbed. The Pedraforca massif has several peaks. The Pollegó Superior (2,506 metres) is the summit on the right of the massif, which has the Calderer (2,505 metres) just in front of it (see photo above). These two points form part of the undulating ridge of lumpy rock which can be traversed on a route from the Coll del Verdet pass. The nearest high point in the photo is the Pollegó Inferior at 2,444 metres, which is a more difficult ascent. The easiest route up the mountain is on the tongue of scree that you can see between the protrusions.
‘Pedra-forca’ is written in Catalán – in Spanish it would be ‘piedra’ (stone) ‘horca’ (fork). The huge gap like a
missing tooth between the ascending parts of the mountain gives us a good idea of how it got its name.
The massif was formed around 25 million years ago and erosion from wind, water and ice has created the weird and wonderful shapes that can be observed today.
The route
Many of the routes on the Pedraforca massif – there are quite a few of them – start from a spot just outside the village of Saldes. Follow the B-400 road which passes Saldes, heading for Gosol, and turn off right after just over 1km out of Saldes, to follow the winding mountain road which leads to the Mirador del Gresolet vantage point, where there is a car park at an altitude of approximately 1,600 metres. Be warned
– this is a very popular spot and it is advisable not to go at weekends, fiesta days or during August.
The route starts where the road meets the bottom of the car park, where there is a sign which points for the Lluís Estasen mountain refuge on the PR-C 123. Walk up the stone steps and ascend through the pine trees for 800 metres to reach the refuge building, where there is more signage and information boards.
When I set out from the car park I was convinced that I would not be going to the summit, but would instead wander along one of the routes on the side of the mountain. This feeling was enforced when I saw an information board with a mock-up image of the route along the summit ridge. It was made to look like a terrifying
traverse. The ‘photo’ appeared to show a razor-sharp ridge running for around 1km with huge drops off both sides. Not for me thank you very much, I thought at the time.
At the refuge, a wide track forks – and signs point in two directions. One is for the Enforcadura del Pedraforca, which is the ‘missing tooth’ bit of the mountain between the two summits. This is the ‘easier’ route up the mountain, although you have to come back down on the same path if you want to avoid the ridge.
I opted to take the other path, heading for the Coll del Verdet pass, still on the PR-C 123 and, at this stage, still laboring under the misapprehension that I would not be going up to the top. It’s 2.9km to Verdet from this point.