His name is José Antonio Martín, and on December 29, his traces disappeared. An adventurer, a master mountaineer, decided to fulfill one of his dreams the day he disappeared: Climb El Calvitero (Sierra de Béjar), the peak connecting the states of Cáceres and Salamanca. A dreamlike landscape, 2,400 meters altitude. The Catalan wanted to do this for a long time. the day has come
“I’m starting the route, everything is fine,” he said aloud to his partner, Merche, at 9:11 a.m. He did not write or send any more audio. On the same day, at 3:40 p.m., his phone rang. They never saw him again.
That same night the wests began, intermittent, inevitably scarce, and paralyzed by storms by the end of this week. More than a month later, ice, snow, A search process was re-enabled this Saturday.
Valeriano Calle, head of the Rescue Unit, UCAS De Arrate, a professional association specializing in the search for missing persons, tells the Iberian Press Events and Investigation portal CASO ABIERTO: “We are going to look for Jose. The weather is fine, the climate has changed, it may be defeated now. the person in the search position can work”.
The UCAS base camp will be set up on the second platform of Torreón (very close to the ski resort of Sierra de Candelario, La Covatilla, Béjar). It’s where José Antonio left his car the day he disappeared.
One dog tested positive
“We’re going to do a very special search over the weekend,” the head of the rescue unit explains, “which is why we’re not looking for volunteers this time.” The UCAS team consists of human-dog couples. Ten detector dogs are coming up to the Sierra de Béjar, specializing in people-watching, “they will take the puppies in twos.” There is no set schedule, “we will be there every day until we can no longer”.
The cobbled area with many corners has already been explored. “Last time we went upstairs at the beginning of the year, those holes were covered with snow. We want to go back and look there because it can be done. He’s taking the route Jose took, and because a dog left a trail on the previous call.– At the beginning of the year.
The expert talks Part of the lower region of El Calvitero (about 1,900 meters above sea level). At about the same point, another dog tested positive in a raid organized by QSDglobal on February 11. Last done. Again, the ice stopped searching. “There’s very little distance between the dogs’ positives. Theirs was a little lower, everything moves in line with it but nothing. We’re going to break up the space, we’re going to look at it very little by little so we can’t miss anything. It’s very possible that the point the dog marked went to Jose.”
“Something happened”
Born in Catalonia, Jose took advantage of the Christmas holidays to travel to the town of Ceclavín (Cáceres), his partner, Merche, as he always does. He was close, had a day off between family gatherings, and he planned it: “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Front, ice axes, crampons. Warm clothes, snow pants, red North Face jacket. Charger for mobile charging and car. José Antonio left everything ready the night before. “Don’t go,” Mercedes told him. He mentioned a group of hikers to calm him down. Active Tourism, which was “going up”. José walked with deft feet. I’ve reviewed them all. That was that day, he went up.
The Béjar Civil Guards located the car, it was on the second platform of Torreón, exactly the spot Jose had pointed out to his partner hours earlier.
“The phone you are calling…”. Same message, same mechanical sound, over and over. “I said something happened,” Merche told this medium just a month ago. “I remember my daughter Carla trying to comfort me: ‘Mom, The battery is already dead, wait until it comes to the car as it has a charger…“. They gave a short margin. The calm was soon broken.”I remembered what they told me about the group, the Turismo Activa group, and I called them.. They told me ‘we didn’t go’. Call 112 now.
The Béjar Civil Guards located the car, it was on the second platform of Torreón, exactly where Jose had pointed to the woman hours earlier. It was windy, cold, foggy and a little rainy. added Special Rescue Group for Mountain Response (unmerciful). An intense search began that same night, intermittent in the following days and then almost non-existent. Wind and snow paralyzed everything. The last time they officially called Jose was on January 16. “They told us the search was suspended… that’s all.”
Communication with GREIM
Mercedes keeps falling apart. After three months of waiting, he can only thank “UCAS, QSDglobal and all the volunteers, climbers, colleagues… for their unconditional support”. He did not live for three months, he survived.
In constant contact with the GREIM captain, he knows that if this weekend does not yield results, it will not be the last raid. “They told me they divided the mountain into sectors, Volunteers called in to monitor sierra in future callsIt’s not just the top. That’s what we’ve always been looking for to expand the area to eat.”
Jose Antonio, the porter that patients love. Meticulous, very; methodical, more Always wanting to take new steps, to develop, to grow. She decided to become a nurse’s assistant, “just out”. Calvitero was one of his many projects. Later, after New Year’s, they planned to go to Madrid to return home with charged batteries to Les Franqueses del Vallès, where they would begin to organize one of the most important projects for both of them: they were going to get married.
Three months after that fateful December 29, Mercedes continues to fight. It does this 24/7, watching the weather, watching the ice melt. The moment comes. “I have mixed feelings,” he says, “on the one hand, I hope they find it, and on the other hand, I’m afraid. Fear that the thread of hope you always carry within you will wither away, Maybe I’m confused somewhere… These are very conflicting feelings…” she complains.