Aragonese Pyrenees: 11 rescues in one week
Between 4 and 10 October the Guardia Civil in Huesca province ran eleven mountain call-outs and assisted 24 people — hikers, mountaineers, climbers and canyoneers. The gravest case was a suspected heart attack on the GR-11 on the way up to Refugio Respomuso; seven of the eleven jobs fell on a single Saturday (10 October). Alerts came via 112 SOS Aragón and Guardia Civil desk 062; GREIM teams from Boltaña, Huesca, Benasque, Panticosa and Jaca took part with the Huesca air unit and 061 medics.
On 4 October on Cresta de la Pez (Gistaín) a 22-year-old mountaineer from Zaragoza fell across uneven ground on steep terrain and bruised an arm. He was flown to Boltaña, then taken by ambulance to Barbastro hospital.
The same day at 17:00 in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park on Monte Perdido, four French hikers aged 23–26 were exhausted and disoriented and could not continue. Rescuers spotted them from the air, flew them to Boltaña and on to Aínsa; from there they carried on under their own power.
On 5 October in the Río Formiga canyon (Casbas de Huesca) a 62-year-old canyoneer from Palma de Mallorca tripped and dislocated a shoulder. He was brought to the canyon car park and driven in an official vehicle to Hospital San Jorge in Huesca.
The same day at Plan de Aigualluts (Benasque) a hiker fractured an ankle; she was with a man (ages 42 and 44, Valencia province). She was flown to Benasque and then taken by ambulance to Barbastro hospital.
On 10 October at 09:10 while ascending Pico Anayet (Sallent de Gállego) a 24-year-old mountaineer from Barcelona got stuck on hard ground, then fell and sprained an ankle. GREIM Panticosa evacuated him with a 21-year-old companion from Castellón to the Panticosa helipad; the injured man later reached hospital on his own.
At 10:40 on Cresta Canaletas in Valle de Remuñe (Benasque) a climber took a vertical fall and bruised a heel. The three in the party (one man and two women, 34–40) were flown out; after a check by a 061 doctor the woman continued by private car.
At 12:36 on the GR-11 en route to Refugio Respomuso (Sallent de Gállego) a 62-year-old hiker from San Sebastián fell ill — suspected heart attack — with a 61-year-old woman. GREIM Panticosa, the Huesca air unit and a 061 doctor evacuated the pair to Panticosa; he was transferred to a 112 medical helicopter and flown to a Zaragoza hospital.
At 13:38 in Barranco de las Menorias (Canfranc) a 78-year-old hiker from Zaragoza tripped, slid uncontrolled down a slope and suffered multiple bruises. She was taken to Jaca hospital.
About twenty minutes later near Picos del Infierno rescuers evacuated a mountaineer with a sprained ankle; both women in the party were from Biscay.
At 17:00 at Gradas de Soaso (Torla) an 18-year-old hiker from Valencia was evacuated after vomiting, exhaustion and a brief fainting spell (lipothymia).
At 19:20 three climbers aged 31, 38 and 39 from Valencia, ascending Pico Balaitús, were exhausted and disoriented. All three were flown to the La Sarra car park.