The Urkiola Natural Park: Potholing and archaeology

Micología

Potholing
Archaeology

Espeleología en el parque natural de urkiola

Potholing in Urkiola

Gema Potholing group

Since it was founded by Javi Calvo in 1987, the GEMA Potholing Group (link to website) has been in charge of studying the caves in the Urkiola Natural Park. They have so far located 330 cavities, more than 150 of which are topographied and practically all the others have been explored and studied. Some of the caves stand out from among the others. Special mention should be made of Baltzola, which is the largest and most popular, the Abaro-Jentilzubi system as an alleyway, La Dama de Anboto for its mythological contents, Bolinkoba for its archaeological value, Arriluzea for being the deepest or Jentikoba for having the steepest upward gradient, although the other caves each have their own special features. The most important cavities in the Urkiola Natural Park are listed below:

By development:

- Baltzola (Dima), 2,140 m.

- Barronbarro-Larrakoarri system (Dima), 2,100 m (currently being explored)

By gradient:

- Arriluzea (Mugarra), -270 m

- Jentilkoba (Mugarra) -95 m and +130 m (total gradient of 225 metres)