Isak Andic died on December 14, 2024, on the Camí de les Feixades, one of the trails on the Montserrat mountain that lead to the Benedictine monastery. It is called this because, before the phylloxera plague, there were feixes (terraces) for vine cultivation on the slopes of the massif. It is a “low difficulty” route, suitable “for all types of audiences” and with a single risk point in case of a fall: the exact place where the founder of Mango fell from a height of more than one hundred meters. “The slope is steep and the lack of vegetation that could obstruct the fall, combined with the proximity of the cliff, may make it impossible to stop before reaching the levels of vertical conglomerates,” states a report from the Montserrat Mountain Board accessed by EL PAÍS.
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The analysis of the natural setting where the incident occurred, on a sunny midday, has been essential in the investigation to try to clarify whether Isak Andic fell accidentally or was pushed by his son, Jonathan Andic, who is under investigation for homicide. The Mossos have conducted up to 10 simulations on the Camí de les Feixades, a 5.5-kilometer route classified as a long-distance trail (GR), which historically had been used by pilgrims and is now frequented both by primary school students for excursions and amateur athletes to run the Cursa de l’Alba de Collbató.
After parking the car, father and son barely walked a few hundred meters, to the place where the fall occurred. Jonathan already knew the area: he had visited it up to three times the same week the incident happened: Saturday the 7th, Sunday the 8th, and Tuesday the 10th of December 2024, according to the cameras and traffic surveillance systems of Collbató. That is one of the main incriminating elements against him, which the defense will try to refute.
The dirt path is between one and one and a half meters wide, is “low difficulty” and has “the technical conditions suitable for pedestrian tourism,” according to a report from the Mossos d’Esquadra addressed to the Board, which had requested an analysis of the terrain conditions on December 14. The point where the incident occurred, next to the Salnitre caves, is “almost flat” and does not present “risks derived from its condition,” adds the Board itself, a public body (presided over by the president of the Generalitat) that mainly takes care of the Montserrat natural park, a mountain with a unique profile that is also a symbol of Catalan nationalism. “It is not a path where you can skate in rainy or highly humid conditions” (which was not the case) “due to the existence of mandatory steps on rock.”
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The provisional bail detention order of one million euros issued by the judge investigating the case also refers to a report from the Mossos mountain unit. They point out that the path “does not present a fall exposure, except for the specific point where the events occurred.” This is also the idea reflected in the board’s report: if one leaves the path to go to the “slope,” about three meters, this can cause a fall into the void, something that does not happen on the rest of the path, where there are bushes to which one can eventually hold on.
Other evidence cited by the judge is directly related to the scene of the events. In the photographs taken by the Mossos, they point out that there is a “rounded slip marked in yellow” at the place of the fall which they consider requires a “scraping action with the sole of the deceased’s sneakers” carried out “at least four times in both directions (front-back)” for the footprint to be marked in that way. The mountain unit agents consider that it must be done “deliberately applying pressure on the ground,” and that it cannot be marked “accidentally.”
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