A 63-year-old hiker from Gipuzkoa died on Sunday after a rockfall sent him tumbling down a steep hillside in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Huesca. The incident occurred at around 11:15 a.m. on the Senda de los Cazadores trail, in the municipality of Torla. The man was part of a group of three when rocks fell from higher ground; one struck him directly, causing him to lose his balance and fall down the slope.
The response involved the Guardia Civil’s GREIM mountain-rescue unit from Boltaña and the Benasque Air Unit. A 061 medical team also responded. Rescuers located the hiker from the air and confirmed that he had died. His body was flown to the Boltaña heliport before funeral services arranged its transfer to the Provincial Hospital of Huesca.
The Senda de los Cazadores lies in the high-relief terrain of the Aragonese Pyrenees, where trails can run close to steep drops and exposed slopes. The report describes rocks striking the hiker before he fell down the slope; it identifies no specific trigger for the rockfall.
The death was the second fatal mountain accident in the region that weekend. On Saturday, another 63-year-old mountaineer from Burgos was found dead near Pico Estatas in Benasque after being missing since July 21. He had set out to traverse the high mountain ridges between Pico Estatas and Pico Cregüeña but did not return as expected.
The incident also came amid other reported deaths involving Basque mountaineers. Earlier in July, Ander Elustondo Esteban, 24, from Urnieta, died while descending from Pic du Midi d’Ossau near Laruns in the Béarn region, after falling about 20 metres onto rocks. In 2025, Karlos Santiago Etxeberria, 67, from Hondarribia, died in the French Pyrenees while descending from Pico Carlit. In December of that year, Eneko Arrastua from Irun was killed by an avalanche while skiing on Pico Tablato, near the Panticosa spa in Huesca.
The incidents underline the hazards of mountain travel in the Pyrenees, where steep terrain and rockfall can pose risks on established routes as well as in remote areas. Conditions can change quickly, so route planning and attention to terrain matter for hikers and mountaineers.
