Last weekend saw four mountain-rescues operations carried out by the Guardia Civil, mountain-rescue teams in the Aragonese Pyrennes .

It was on Friday the 7th around 17.00h that the Guardia Civil in Huesca received a call out from the emergency number 112 concerning two climbers who had found themselves trapped on a rockface whilst attempting to scale the Mallos de Riglos. A rescue helicopter with a rescue team onboard was despatched.

It appears that the two climbers had managed to tangle their lines whilst abseiling down the cliff face. The helicopter dropped the rescuers at the top of the cliff, who then had to descend 150 metres down the rock face to reach the dangling duo.

They were able to untangle the ropes so that the two climbers, a 28-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man,  could continue descending on their own. Neither of them had been hurt in the incident.

Then on Saturday the 8th around 12.25h another climber and his dog had to be rescued in the area of the Pico Infiernos (Huesca, Aragón). These are three peaks where it is possible to walk between the crests. The climber/hiker was walking with this dog, passing between two of the peaks when the snow ledge collapsed and the dog fell 20 metres down the mountainside. Even though the owner did not fall, he considered it necessary to call out the mountain-rescue service to recover the dog, whom he though might be injured.

The team set off from nearby Panticosa in a helicopter and found the man, who they loaded into the chopper. Then, turning their attention to the dog, saw that it was possible to go down and pick it up, too. It was carefully hauled up to a safe area. Then both the 30-year-old man and his dog were flown to a spot where they could continue to the man’s parked car, and return home as neither had sustained injuries.

Then, around 14.30h that same day, they were called out to rescue a 42-year-old man who had got lost whilst hiking along the river valley of the Río Aragón, which is part of the route for the Santiago pilgrimage near the town of Berdún. The helicopter was sent out to find him and fly him out of it because he was exhausted and disorientated.

But there was no rest for the rescue services because at 16.55h, they received another call out because there had been an avalanche in the Estasen area which had hit four climbers, all of whom had suffered injuries.

The helicopter had to battle strong winds and settle using just one of its runners to load the injured, all the time risking setting off another avalanche

They managed to bring out the three victims who had slight injuries whilst the medic on board attended to the fourth one, strapping him to a stretcher. Members of the rescue team then carried him to a point where the helicopter could load the stretcher under safer conditions.

The three climbers in a better off state were flown to where an ambulance was waiting to take them to the area hospital in Barbastros. The fourth man was flown directly to Hospital San Jorge in Huesca. The four victims aged between 41 and 60, were three women and a man, all from Barcelona.

We would like to say that this had been the last rescue, but it was not, because that same Saturday around 19.15h a hiker in the Barranco de las Gorgas de San Julián, had twisted his ankle and was unable to continue. The helicopter was despatched yet again.

Upon locating the 48-year-old man from Zaragoza, they immobilised his ankle, then winched him out of the gorge and flew him to Hospital San Jorge.

Sunday, apparently, was a quiet day.

(News: Huesca, Aragon)