About the Picos de Europa

For several decades people have been exploring the potholes of the Picos de Europa in northern Spain. This region has been uplifted and eroded to form a limestone mountain range stretching to 2700m above sea level. The Picos are divided into three ranges - the Eastern, Central and Western Massifs - separated by deep gorges. The area is well known for deep caves of over 1000m.

York University's area was situated on the Western Massif, south of the Peña Santa Ridge in the Covadonga National Park - Peña Santa Ridge from Camino del Burro (Photo: David Milne) with Oxford to the north east. This small area has a potential for caves of up to 1350m depth, realistically. Notable caves already explored include Pozo de Cuetalbo (M2) sumping at 986m, Pozo del Llastrale (β3) sumping at -944m and Sima de Cotalbin (K903) which has been explored to a depth of -723 m.

The club spent a lot of time and effort (with much reward) in this area between 1984 and 1994.

Expeditions to Picos

• 2000 expedition: no info can be found for this trip, but if it turns up it will be included here.
• 1984 to 1994: The club had well documented trips to Spain every year from 1984 to 1994. This information is stored on an external website by David Milne. The site was removed in 2007 however has now been re-published on YUCPC web space:
  picos.yucpc.org.uk