Roca Foradada via ferrata, above La Pobla

La Roca Foradada is the holed crag you see from the village, to the north, and its via ferrata is the closest one to La Pobla de Segur. It is not of a single difficulty: it has K2 and K3 sections, which are easy, and K4 and K5 ones, which are very demanding, that split off and rejoin. That is why it works with mixed-level groups and, at the same time, is not a beginner's ferrata to do on your own.

From the village to the wall

You leave the centre of La Pobla on the L-522 road and, about 4 km along, is the car park. From there you continue on foot along the same road until a path, on the right, leads to the start of the K2–K3 part. With a guide, the whole activity takes about four hours, and the descent back to the car takes roughly an hour of that.

Why it closes in winter

Access is prohibited from 15 December to 1 April. The tourist office explains the reason: it is the start of the breeding season of the scavenger birds; in the Collegats area, according to the same office, all four of Europe's vulture species breed. The rest of the year it is open.

With a guide in summer

Collegats Outdoor, from Càmping Collegats, guides it from 1 July to 31 August, Monday to Saturday. You meet at 9:30 at the campsite and ten minutes by car later you are at the car park. On reaching the wall, the guides split the group by level: some go on the easy variant and others on the hard one. The price is €65 per person, €58.50 if you sleep at the campsite, and includes helmet, harness, ropes, first-aid kit, insurance and a guide in Dutch, English or German. They recommend a minimum age of 10 and groups are eight at most.

Outside July and August, La Pobla's tourist office cites two other companies in the village that run via ferratas, Guies Vall Fosca and Mundo Canyon, without specifying which: ask them whether they guide the Roca Foradada on the date you want.

If you have experience and go on your own

Guies Vall Fosca, at Avinguda de l'Estació 30, rents the full equipment, with harness, energy absorber and helmet, for €20 per person per day; the day counts from 18:00 to 18:00, and you collect it by appointment. With that you can do the part that suits your level, knowing that the K5 sections are genuinely hard.

Afterwards, for lunch in the village, El Raier opens at midday Wednesday to Sunday, and if you came up by train, the one-night getaway with train and ferrata matches the timetables.