The Civil Guard has recovered the 3-meter, 100-kilo iron cross that was torn from Mount Aneto two months ago. The cross was originally installed on Spain’s second-highest peak in 1951 by a Catalan mountaineering club. Members of the Special Mountain Intervention Rescue Group of Benasque, GREIM, and the Huesca Air Unit found the cross by chance on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 4:15 p.m. While flying over the north face of Aneto to carry out a rescue, officers spotted what looked like a cross half-buried in snow about 200 meters below the summit, in an area of difficult access. After handling the emergency, they returned and confirmed it was the missing Aneto cross that had reappeared after the thaw.
The officers transported the cross to the Benasque base, where it is now in storage. Once the investigation is complete, it will be handed over to the Benasque Town Council, which will decide whether to reinstall it in its original location. The cross was accompanied years after its installation by an image of the Virgin of Pilar and a carving of Saint Martial, patron saint of the Benasque Valley, donated by an Aragonese group.The summit cross has a history of damage. It was knocked down by a storm in 1999 and painted yellow in 2018 by supporters of the Catalan secessionist movement. In May 2026, before the original was found, French climber Maël Le Lagadec trekked 28 kilometers with 1,900 meters of elevation gain to carry and install a 35-kilogram walnut cross at the summit, completing the 14-hour journey after the original had been uprooted.