Puig Major
The Puig Major [ ˌ putʃmaʒor ] (" Big Mountain" ) or Puig Torrella is 1445 meters the highest mountain in the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca. It is located in the northwestern landscape zone ( comarca ) Serra de Tramuntana, embedded in the same mountain range.
The mountain belongs to the municipality of Escorca, the smallest of the Population ago municipality of Majorca. At a distance of thirteen kilometers from the highest point of the Puig Major Sóller is the nearest major town. The summit of the mountain is a closed military zone.
History
The now generally referred to only as Puig Major mountain is sometimes also provided with the addition of " de Son Torella ". This is because that was referred to in the past, the Puig de Massanella as Puig Major de Massanella, so as the "Great Mountain of Massanella ". To distinguish received the other "big mountain" of the Tramuntana Mountains, the higher of the two summits, after its location above the village of Son Torella the corresponding qualifier.
The peak of Puig Major is a closed military zone since 1958. This results from an agreement with the United States in 1953, in which Spain granted a series of army and naval bases in return for extensive economic aid to the Americans. The U.S. military stationed on the Puig Major, the 880th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron and installed a first radar installation. For the construction of the peaks in the height was removed by five meters, because you needed a plateau for the building as a flat surface. The beginning at Son Torella road to the highest point of Mallorca was, like the serpentine road to Cala de Sa Calobra, by the Italian engineer Antonio Paretti planned and built under his direction. In addition to high-ranking military visited in 1959, the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and his wife the plant.
End of 1964, the Americans withdrew and handed over the base of Spanish responsibility. Today uses the Spanish Air Force squadron number 7, the Escuadrón de Vigilancia Aérea (EVA -7), with about 90 military personnel, the facilities at the summit of the mountain ( zona técnica ) and the base station ( zona del Asentamiento ) at an altitude of 850 meters at the highway MA -10 in the valley of Son Torella. With the put into operation on 27 May 2003 three-dimensional radar Lanza 3D of the Spanish military for the western Mediterranean, and parts of North Africa are monitored.
A planned construction project in 1932 for a cable car to the summit, also designed by Paretti was dropped back. The platform of the appropriate base terminal, however, was erected. It is located at 2.2 km the road MA- 2141 to Cala de sa Calobra, just before the road the Coll de Cas rice ( 723 meters ). The planned cable car was designed at a length of 2016 meters to the top of Puig Major for 25 passengers per trip. The project was not realized due to high costs and the onset of the Spanish Civil War.
Location
The Puig Major is located in the Serra de Son Torella ( " mountain of Son Torella "), a part of the Tramuntana Mountains. He forms a compact massif which has several side peaks in addition to the 1445 meter high main peak. The most famous of them is the south-west of the highest point of the island located Penyal of Migdia, the " Mittagsspitze ". This summit is with its 1398 meters is still higher than the known as the second- highest mountain Puig de Mallorca Massanella with its 1365 meters. The Penyal of Migdia on projects with its steep slope of the valley of Fornalutx and is a distinctive point of view towards the small town of Sóller.
On the Puig Major is in January and February often a thin blanket of snow, which can sometimes hold until April. At the foot of the mountain, the two reservoirs Embassament the Gorg Blau and Cuber Lake, serving the drinking water supply, especially the capital Palma. The reservoirs in the Vall de Cúber was filled for the first time in April of 1972.
Views
- Reservoirs before the mountain
- Northeast side of the Puig Major
- Radar station
- Military facilities on the summit
- Puig Puig de Massanalla