The Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya (SMC) issued three warnings on Sunday due to the intensity of rainfall (more than 20 liters/m2 in half an hour), due to the accumulation of rain (more than 100 l/m2 throughout the day) and due to the wind (more than 90 km/h) starting in the afternoon, in addition to a drop in temperature with negative values from 2,500 meters above sea level, in Pallars Sobirà. This was the prediction for a day in which the Generalitat Fire Department had to activate a total of 49 troops to carry out a complex rescue of three people, trapped by bad weather in the mountains, in the Certascan area, in the mentioned Pyrenean region. The operation culminated Monday when the hikers, two of whom were initially diagnosed with severe hypothermia, were able to be transferred to a Tremp hospital.
This and many other rescue operations highlight for the umpteenth time the need to take into account the weather conditions, to be well equipped and to be aware of one's physical and technical limitations before embarking on an outing to the mountains.
Rescues in the mountains carried out by the Generalitat Fire Department continue to increase, between 2019 and 2022 they went from 869 to 1,221, and so far in 2023 they have already exceeded a thousand.
From the Generalitat Fire Department, Rafel Esteban, officer of the technical unit of the Grup d'Actuacions Especiales (GRAE), indicates that "the seriousness of the situation required allocating a lot of resources, it is clear that if we had not done so, these two people would have had a lot of numbers of being dead. Esteban refuses to determine if this is a case of imprudence and if, therefore, it is convenient or not to send the corresponding ransom invoice.
Actually, in twelve years, since March 2011, the Generalitat has only processed six charges for imprudence or inappropriate behavior in the mountains, although only four have been paid.
“Everyone knew the conditions in Certascan, they had been notified of the change in weather, they must be aware of the risks and be responsible for their actions. Whoever commits an imprudence must pay ”, affirms Jordi Merino, president of the Federation of Excursionist Entities of Catalonia (FEEC). It should be remembered that the federation license covers up to 12,000 euros of a ransom bill, Merino specifies.
The three hikers who set out on Sunday from the Graus campsite, in Tavascan, intended to follow the circular route of La Porta del Cel, which connects Pallars Sobirà with the French department of Ariège. The first stage ends at the Certascan refuge, where hikers could no longer reach by their own means due to bad weather. Two groups coincided on the itinerary, one from Murcia and the other from Portugal. Precisely one of those affected, a 73-year-old man, belonged to the second and had to be carried in air to the shelter. This hiker was unconscious for a minimum of four hours and the second with severe hypothermia, in his 60s, for around seven. The latter was together with a companion who was able to descend from the Certascan pass, at about 2,600 meters, to the shelter with a firefighter by their own means and without regretting any damage. What caught the attention of the rescuers is that they were both wearing shorts, despite the fact that the person affected by hypothermia had enough warm clothes in his backpack. In these extreme situations, the extreme cold paralyzes and you are unable to put on the necessary equipment to face the water, snow and freezing temperatures.
The best thing is that everyone has been able to return home safely.
