The Aragonese Pyrenees, the area of the mountain range that concentrates the most peaks over 3,000 meters in altitude, is a faithful thermometer of what happens in the mountains. Captain José Manuel Mora of the Civil Guard, 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 operation recorded 661 people rescued, of whom 506, 76.5%, required this help “due to an overestimation of their abilities, whether due to lack of technical, physical, or mental capacity.” Mora details that daily they encounter cases of “so-called city hikers who take routes from internet applications, want to do the same, and are not qualified for it.”
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Mora comments that the old-school mountaineer, if in trouble, tries to solve the situation by their own means, but the flood of people who have discovered the mountains recently, at the slightest setback, call emergency services by phone.
A 26-year-old British young man lost his life on Friday after falling on the Besiberri Sud route
The figures so far in 2026 are slightly higher than those of 2025, with eleven more rescues in Mora’s area of responsibility. The GREIM head considers that after the increase in outings to nature detected coinciding with COVID and which resulted in an increase in rescues, they are now close to reaching a peak.
The Greim documents the rescues and at the end of the season releases statistics. Captain Mora has revealed that of the 661 rescued, 138, almost 21%, are people over 65 years old. The bulk is the 51 to 65 age group, with 318 rescues.
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The Greim has recorded eleven deaths in the Huesca Pyrenees this summer, three of which were due to a heart attack. The death of a shepherd struck by lightning is also recorded.
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The latest 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 lost their lives. The first, a resident of Bayonne, was walking the Los Ganchos trail in the Hecho valley on Monday the 17th when he possibly died of a heart attack. Two days later, a Florida citizen was hiking with three others in the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park when he suffered a vertical fall in the Colada de Pineta area that caused his death.
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And, unfortunately, last week another fatality was recorded in the Pyrenees, in Catalonia. A 26-year-old British young man had left on Friday morning from Caldes de Boí, in the Vall de Boí, with a companion to climb Besiberri Sud, 3,024 meters high. The hiker fell in the Estany de Gémena de Dalt area, on a steep slope, according to the Generalitat Firefighters. Not far away, in a rocky spot in Saboredo, in the Val d’Aran, a Polish man also died on August 5 after suffering a fall.
Iñigo Soteras, a doctor in the emergency service specialized in mountain rescues with the GRAE firefighters (Special Actions Group), also warns of cases of exhaustion due to high temperatures, “a step prior to suffering heat stroke, which has a 50% mortality rate, so action must be taken quickly.” Among the services carried out this weekend by the GRAE was that of a young man on Pica d’Estats who felt unwell and could not continue. He was evacuated by helicopter.
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