MOROCCO, the High and the Low

MOROCCO

Mount Tobkhal and the Jbel Sahro

Nieve Penitente on Toubkhal summit

I went on my own to check out the High Atlas before I lead any treks there as had heard of two fatalities during trekking trips there.  I had Hamish Brown as a friend and mentor, an expert on the High Atlas, and just a mention of his name assured I would not be molested or troubled!  I ascended from Marrakech to Imlil and then to the Neltner Hut, at 3200m.  It was June, and therefore I found snow from the winter still lying, and better still, frozen at night, so that I did not have to fight the scree behind the Hut, I just dug in my crampons and axe and up I went into the hanging valley, the Ikhibi Sud.

Two French lads were coming up behind me, and took this photo as I teetered delicately over these Nieve Penitente (ridges of hard snow ice so name as they lean towards the sun, as they melt, like penitents!) on my crampons.   It was tricky as my ice axe had nowhere to find a hold.  Reaching the top of this mountain,the highest in North Africa (4167m/13,671ft) the views were amazing in all directions.

summit

Ikhibi Sud

After a hard boiled egg and a slurp of water it was off back down to the Hut and then to Marrakech before heading for the Jbel Sahro in the Anti Atlas.

The Jbel SAHRO

In the south of Morocco, pre Sahara Desert, is an area of hard sand, or hamada.  In this wild and empty barren landscape there are wonderful volcanic plugs and dried out wadis, and at night the sky is all stars. We travelled with the Berbers, the hill men of the Atlas, who mostly speak French derived from the time they were colonised by the French, until Indepence in 1956.  Wonderful men, who laugh and sing and love their animals, it was always a pleasure to be with them.