The team of technical engineers in topography Sostremetries that concluded last summer that the Arnales peak, in Aragon, does exceed the three thousand meter barrier, continues this year with its work to verify with total precision the 'altitude of six more mountains of the Pyrenees. The evolution of technology invites us to update the measurements of peaks that are close to 3,000 meters. The five members of Sostremetries, Oriol Boixareu, Andreu Alvarruiz, Marc Calaff, Salvador Sala and David Segura, will measure in the coming weeks the southwest Punta de la Frondella, the Tuca d'Aragüells or Pic de Pedres Albes, the Petit Pic del Portillón and Cregüeña, in Aragon, and Punta de Passet, in the Vall de Boí, in Catalonia. In the spring, they climbed the Salenques, in Benasc, and determined on the spot that it is about five meters below the three thousand barrier.
The topographers have analyzed the official information from the National Geographic Institute (IGN), the Aragon Institute (Igear) and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) to decide which peak deserves to be investigated because there are doubts about the its altitude As Andreu Alvarruiz points out, they have also collected the data provided by the Lidar device (acronym for the English LiDAR, Light Detection and Ranging), very effective in measuring distances through laser beams.
To give an example, the tip of Passet reaches 2,998 meters, according to IGN; 2,997.6, according to the ICGC, and 2,998.28, according to Lidar results. Whoever takes as a reference the list of the controversial Juan Buyse, published in 1990 (Los tresmiles del Pirineo) will see that it rises a little more, up to 3,002 meters. The Sostremetries group has the latest technology to be able to determine with complete accuracy whether this peak with a very sharp profile, in the Besiberri area, in the national park of Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici, is a three thousand or not.
The pointed tip of Passet evokes past times of the Pyrenees, and specifically, of the time of the French guide Célestin Passet (Gavarnie, 1845-1917), rope companion in his forays into Mont Perdut, and in other mountain adventures, of another legendary character, Count Henry Russell.
The topographers plan to climb the Passet peak in August loaded with a multi-frequency GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver, an optical level with a tripod and a scope to make the measurements. Alvarruiz believes that of the next five peaks they will investigate, Passet peak is the one with the best chance of surpassing the 3,000 level.
Currently, one of the lists most used by mountaineers eager to crown the three thousand in this mountain range is that of Cazafantasmas, a group of Pyrenees lovers who have classified 217 peaks on both sides of the border that exceed this altitude. It is a dynamic inventory, as peaks that, in the past, did not have this category are included in the catalog and others are added as a result of the results of measurements with more modern equipment. The Ghostbusters follow the criterion set at the end of the last century by the aforementioned Juan Buyse to accept or not a candidate out of three thousand. It is not enough that a pin or point exceeds this altitude, it must also guarantee a minimum difference of ten meters between the main peak and the access pass.
The last three thousand that the Cazaphantasmas have added to their list is the Arnales, of 3,001.37 meters, thanks to the work done last summer by the members of Sostremetries, who in these expeditions unite two passions, the mountain and the topography
