14) Cregüeña

The extinct Cregüeña glacier is far from the most usual mountain routes in the Aneto-Maladeta massif. These conditions have perhaps made it the least studied glacier in the Posets Maladeta Natural Park.

During the Little Ice Age, it is estimated to occupy an area of 39 ha. Its southwest orientation has conditioned its accelerated retreat. Already in the 1980s it showed two clearly differentiated sectors, then classified as ice caves.

14-1.- Upper Cregüeña-Extinguished.
This is the sector traditionally identified as the Cregüeña Glacier and later the Cregüeña Icefield. The moraine that closes the cirque at the base of the East Maladeta Peak, confirms the development of the glacier during the Little Ice Age, with an extension of 21 ha, a length of 460 m and a maximum width of 530 m. In the 1980s, the glacier that occupied the sector was divided into two sections, frequently covered with snow until the end of the season. Its last remains were extinguished in 2007.

14-2.- Inferior de Cregüeña – Extinguished.
It was located on the vertical of the southern slope of Collado Maldito and extended along the base of the ridge in a southerly direction until after Aragüells Peak: this extinct glacier reached an extension of 18 ha during the Little Ice Age. In 1990, it was subdivided into a group of smaller units that resisted attached to the Cregüeña Ridge under the protection of the Haurillón, Cregüeña and Juncadella Needles. In 1999, the fragment located at the base of Collado Maldito became extinct. The rest of the small units survived in the form of deteriorated and residual ferns until their total extinction in 2007.