The Battle of
 El Mazuco

Entrance pitch, Pozu del Vega El Forcau

Name: Pozu del Vega El Forcau

Location: 2.5km SSE of Lago Ercina

GPS: N43°14′56″ W4°57′58″

UTM: 30T 340.39 4790.42

Map: Macizo Occidental de los Picos de Europa (cave site 15) at x=340.4, y=4790.4, alt. 1480m

Description: Target of the Forcau ’76 expedition, described in detail in OUCC Proceedings 8 » (also in text version »).

Visits:

1975a – locate entrance, with SCAL (Spéléo-Club Alpin Languedocien).

1975b – 07:15 start. With French from SCAL (Philipe, Veronica, Martin, Sallia, Francois, Gilbert, Pierre +2, Alain). Two parties to cave 12:30 and 15:30. Descend six pitches (11, 8, 8-15, 7, 37, 5+25m). Second party leapfrog first and on down 7th (9) and explore beyond to duck, etc. then return to find Gilbert stuck on 6th, requiring assistance out. All finally out by 02:00 and back to camp by 04:00.

1976a through 1976x – full exploration of the cave (Forcau ’76 – see references above).

1988 – walk to entrance (BC, EC, MC) in mist.

2001 – 25^th anniversary walk to entrance.

2006 – 30^th anniversary walk to entrance (1hr:40, including side-trips).

Other:

The entrance is a bit tricky to find. From the small ‘peak’ in the middle of the valley (≈200m at 210° from the El Forcau pass) the cave is underneath a brown stone outcrop at 220°, perhaps 200m from the peak.

This page was last edited on 2007-08-27 by mfc.   All content © Speleogroup 1973, 2008. except where marked otherwise. All rights reserved. Here is our privacy statement.