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Area 13

This area lies beyond area 12, around Vega de Mohandi, Cabeza Muxa and Vega Maor. The SIE are working in this area again, so we ought to lay off it unless invited. At the moment it only contains SIE discoveries, which are included here for the sake of completeness, and in case we ever drop into any of them. Descriptions are taken from Espeleosie 27 and Atlas de las Grandes Cavidades Españolas, 1987.

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1/13 Pozu de los Texos
Location: Huge entrance, about 500m westish from Vega Maor.
Description: Pitch of 93m from east side of shaft drops into 30m wide passage, descending to streamway, reported as 200 litres per second, sumping in both directions. May be worth diving.

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2/13 Pozu Joon
Location: 200m south of Pozu de los Texos.
Description: Single pitch of 128m. Side passages are marked at -88m and -110m.

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3/13 Pozu les Cuerries
Location: Near Collado las Cuerries, north of Vega de Mohandi.
Description: A complicated cave, with two series, terminating at depths of 212m and 545m. The latter intersects a large streamway, believed to be the upstream continuation of Cabeza Muxa.

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4/13 Pozu Cabeza Muxa
Location: Huge entrance below Cabez Muxa.
Description: Entrance shaft has pitches of 26m, 11m, 15m, 4m, 4m, 7m, 3m, 10m, 37m, 247m, 102m to depth of 600m, where a large stream is met. Upstream seems to end at a lake needing a boat after 300m. Downstream descends pitches of 5m, 4m, 6m, 3m to 150m of open streamway. Then a 6m pitch, followed after a further 100m by pitches of 9m, 8m, 6m, 6m, 4m, 4m, 14m, 10m, 3m, 11m, 21m, 4m, 10m, 6m, 6m, 6m, 6m, 7m, 6m, 15m, (over a horizontal distance of about 600m) ending in a sump at a depth of 906m.

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5/13 Bufona Canal la Texa
Location: This is an SIE cave, originally explored by them in the '80s, down to a constriction, where they abandoned it. Several unsuccessful attempts were made by OUCC to find it in 1993. The SIE returned in 1985, and have extended it, and are continuing exploration.It is described as being about one kilometre NE of Cabeza Julagua, in the middle of a ``canal''. It may be in the base of the cliffs at an altitude of about 1350m, about where Oston first becomes visible when walking down the Culiembro path. Or it may be somewhere else.
Description: A door shaped entrance, 4m by 3m (if I've correctly understood the Catalan description). The original exploration was down pitches of 35m, 18m, 21m, ending at a constriction at a depth of 103m, emmiting ``fort corrent d'aire''. For a further description, see a recent issue of Caves and Caving. Well positioned to drop into Cabeza Muxa beyond the sump.

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8/13, Pozu Cabeza Julagua
See elsewhere.

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9/13, Pozu de la Cemba de Joulagua
Location: North of 8/13.
Description: An 8m drop to a bouldery floor, with a small climb down at one end, which is choked.

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10/13, The Windy Cave of Oston
Location: Oston Area. About 200m along the ridge W out of Oston towards Ario, a small drafting hole 10m to the left of the path.
Description: Sharp horizontal, triangular entrance enters hading rift about 1m high. After 10m this opens to a chamber with old stal and choked passages ahead and to the left. To right, 3m climb to junction. Right leads to crawl after 4m. Unexplored. Left is more open and drafty and leads after 20-30m of easy going to crawling over fossil stal. Unexplored beyond.

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