The Aneto Cross, the historic emblem located at an altitude of 3,404 meters on the highest peak of the Pyrenees, has disappeared from its location, according to sources from the Civil Guard confirmed to La Vanguardia. The Huesca Civil Guard Command, through its Special Mountain Intervention and Rescue Group (GREIM), has launched an investigation to clarify the facts after receiving notification from the Benasque City Council last Thursday afternoon.
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“They cut it with an angle grinder and pushed it down the cliff,” according to indications commented by guide Chemary Carrera and blacksmith Miguel Ángel Plaza to Heraldo de Aragón, who have a strong technical connection with the structure, everything suggests that the monument “has been the victim of severe sabotage.”
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This theft has caused commotion and deep disappointment in the local and mountaineering community. The mayor of Benasque, Manuel Mora, has expressed his incomprehension and anger at the “alleged sabotage,” lamenting that someone would undertake a strenuous five-hour ascent with the sole purpose of committing vandalism. From the City Council, they emphasize to Diario Alto de Aragón that the absolute priority at this time is to find the whereabouts of the cross, recover it, and restore it if it has suffered damage in the fall.
In August 2025 it was reinstalled on the summit after two years of restoration
For the moment, the same Civil Guard sources have told this media outlet that all hypotheses remain open, although vandalism is the main one, and they have avoided offering more details so as not to hinder the ongoing proceedings.
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This incident occurs less than a year after the cross returned to the roof of the Pyrenees, on August 6, 2025. The imposing structure, which measures 4 meters high and weighs 100 kilos, had been removed in September 2023 due to the severe deterioration of its base after being exposed to ice, lightning, and strong winds for more than seven decades.
The monument holds historical and symbolic value for mountaineers, who traditionally immortalized their arrival at the summit next to it. The original structure was carried up in five 20-kilo pieces and installed in 1951 by the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (CEC) to mark its 75th anniversary.
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