The Pyrenees will register 661 rescues in 2026, the majority due to overestimating physical capabilities

The Aragonese Pyrenees, the area of ​​​​the mountain range that concentrates the most peaks of 3,000 meters above sea level, is a faithful thermometer of what happens in the mountains. The Captain of the Civil Guard José Manuel Mora, head of the Greim (Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group) in Aragon and Navarra, indicates that between January 1, 2026 and last Wednesday, his area of ​​​​action registered 661 rescued people, of which 506, 76.5%, required this help "due to an overestimation of their possibilities, whether due to lack of technical, physical or mental capacity." Mora details that on a daily basis they encounter cases of “so-called city hikers who take routes from internet applications, want to do the same thing and are not trained to do so.”

Mora comments that the old-school mountaineer, if he finds himself in trouble, tries to solve the situation by his own means, but that the avalanche of people who have discovered the mountain in recent times, at the slightest setback, notify the emergency services by telephone.

The figures so far in 2026 are slightly higher than those of 2025, with eleven more rescued, in the Mora competition area. The person in charge of GREIM considers that after the increase in outings to nature detected coinciding with the covid and which translated into an increase in rescues, we are now close to reaching the ceiling.

Greim documents the rescues and at the end of the season produces statistics. Captain Mora has announced that of the 661 rescued, 138, almost 21%, are people over 65 years of age. The bulk is the range from 51 to 65, with 318 saves.

Greim has counted eleven deaths in the Pyrenees of Huesca this summer, three of which were due to a heart attack. There is also the death of a shepherd who was struck by lightning.

The last fatalities in the Aragonese Pyrenees were recorded the week of August 17: in two days, a 63-year-old French citizen and a 56-year-old American citizen lost their lives. The first, a resident of Bayonne, was walking along the Los Ganchos path, in the Hecho valley, on Monday the 17th, when possibly due to a heart attack he lost his life. Two days later, a Florida citizen was hiking with three other people, in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, when he suffered a vertical fall in the Colada de Pineta area that caused his death.

And, unfortunately, last week another fatality was recorded in the Pyrenees, in Catalonia. A 26-year-old British man had left Caldes de Boí, in the Vall de Boí, on Friday morning with a companion to ascend Besiberri Sud, 3,024 meters high. The hiker fell into the area of ​​the Estany de Gémena de Dalt, on a steep slope, according to the Generalitat Firefighters. Not far away, in a rocky enclave of Saboredo, in the Val d'Aran, a man of Polish nationality also died on August 5, after suffering a fall.

Iñigo Soteras, an emergency service doctor specialized in mountain rescues with the GRAE firefighters (Grup d'Actuacions Especials), also warns of cases of exhaustion due to high temperatures, "a step prior to suffering heat stroke, which reaches a mortality rate of 50%, so action must be taken quickly." Among the services that the GRAE carried out this weekend is that of a young man, in Pica d'Estats, who felt bad and could not continue. He was evacuated by helicopter.