Unfortunately there are no English guide books currently available, so it can be hard to find accurate up?todate
information on the caves. Trip reports from other clubs seem to be the way to go, but these often lack
information such as grid refs and rope lengths. A really good Spanish source of information is the website
www.mallorcaverde.es which has loads of online surveys and cave descriptions complete with grid refs and
tackle info. Aside from the odd language anomaly (like ?monkey? instead of oversuit), these descriptions were
still very good when converted to English with Google Translate, and the grid refs we used were all spot on.
Another website I liked was bttersmallorca.com which has loads of trip reports by a chap called Rafael
Minguillon. This is quite good for having lots of photos and info for some quite unusual places, often with grid
refs and tackle details, and is also quite an amusing read. CSS also has a copy of Corpus Cavernario Mayoricense
by J. A. Encinas in the library (kindly donated by Gian), which is an epic tome (in Spanish) detailing all the caves
on the island.
In the decade since Matt and I last went caving in Mallorca, a permit system has been introduced for certain
caves. These include some of the usual go?to caves for the British caver such as Cova Cal Pesso, Cova Can Sion
and Cova des Diners, but overall the list is short compared to the number of caves with open access. At the
moment the Vallgornera system is out of bounds to all non?local ?sport cavers? (i.e. cavers without any scientific
objective), and the application process for the other protected caves is not straightforward. On the plus side, if
you don?t mind a protracted wait, there is a chance that permission will be granted for certain caves, and if
you?d rather not have the faff there are hundreds of holes more readily available.