The cart of the heights
During the decade of the sixties, coinciding with the decadence of the Canfranero (the train to Canfranc), in Canfranc they began to build the hydroelectric plant of Ip (the mountain lake that dominates the valley on the northern slope of the Collarada, at 2.200 meters of altitude). This new construction, gave new hopes to the village of the North of Aragón. Presently, a project will be complete for the adaptation of this structure for tourist purposes.

The cart of the heights

Canfranc, the sixties. Railroad commerce, which during the previous decades had been the angular stone of Canfranc's economic life, begins to deteriorate. Men search for work, which is becoming increasingly scarce in this mountain village. It was during those years that the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (a public organism for the defense and exploitation of the resources of this river) decided to build a hydroelectric plant in this vicinity of the upper Aragón. The waters of the lake of Ip, at 2.200 meters of altitude, were dammed and carried by means of pipes 2-meter in diameter, over a 1000 meter precipice, to arrive at the plant built in Canfranc. Hope returned to this village where many claim to have lived something "similar to the far west".

The system
Using a system of pulleys and two carts that crossed during every vertiginous trip (covering a slope of 1000 meters), the workers (who were going to build the dam, a shelter and some barracks where they could store the material) approached everyday the Cirque of Ip. The route was staggering the first few times. The ascension followed a straight line, parallel to the pipe, which pushed the passengers of the cart downwards, but was compensated by the scenic view of the valley, which little by little could be discovered.

Once at the top, the workers had to cover a 4 kilometer trail until they were near the lake. The shelter would be their lodging place, with a hospital, a dining room and other facilities. Quite a luxury for the hundreds of workers that had to spend from two to five months in such a bucolic and isolated place. As in other great construction works in the Pyrenees, hand labor came from jails, reformatories and from the underworld of towns all over Spain. Dozens of people died. Some of them died at work, while others died during the night brawls.

Another closing
The quality of the facilities made up for the dangers, the low winter temperatures and the lack of contact with other people apart from fellow workers. It was due to the quality of the medical assistance provided that many Canfranc locals decided to get on this "less than safe" transport to obtain the medical service of the Hospital of Ip, as the now major of the city, Víctor López, still remembers: "The medical assistance offered in the hospital set up there was much better than the one we had in the valley. Therefore, my father took me up, and the Chilean doctor they had carried out my ear operation. Just like me, many other citizens put themselves in the hands of the doctors working at Ip"

As time went by, many young men from the valley of the Aragón got on the carts, overcame their initial vertigo and worked at the dam of Ip. Yet, with modern advances, the system in operation at the cirque of the lake began to make no sense, as everything became automatic. Little by little the shelter, the storehouse and the carts were replaced by a helicopter that made the necessary repairs in the cirque of Ip during the summer. No use was found for this type of transport which was finally discarded in 1997 because it lacked a standard safety system.

The beauty of the scenery that progressively appears before our eyes as we ascend, the fact of using some abandoned facilities and the chance of attracting tourism all year long have encouraged the town of Canfranc to recover this structure. The trip, which is, if we take the word of those who have tried it, "not recommended for those who suffer from vertigo", will be done by means of a funicular. The rails will be restored, new barracks will be built to be used as a viewpoint cafeteria and the shelter will be recovered in order to "offer a chance for the tourist to discover the beauty and potential of our landscape all around the year", as the supporters of this project claim.