Morocco 2016 – by Ruth C

Nine climbers gathered in the departure lounge at Gatwick, when tales of broken bones, healing bones, lack of fitness, joint injuries, dizziness and general age related symptoms began. Perhaps a flight to the nearest beach resort would have been more appropriate than the adventurous trad climbing on offer in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas. None the less, we went, initially basing ourselves at Hotel Les Amandiers in Tafraoute, the hotel where the original British climbers stayed when first exploring the area just over a decade ago, the likes of Chris Bonington, Joe Brown and Ben Wintringham.

Man cannot live on bread alone, unless you go climbing in Morocco! Breakfast comprised of warm bread, local honey, apricot jam and coffee. This was the same every morning unless you opted to head out for a Berber omelette in town which quite a few did.  So day one, the acclimatisation day, started with a visit to Palm Tree Gorge, chosen for being a venue with not too long a walk in, single pitch routes and thankfully, palm trees for shade. Lunches, once again were bread based filled with the only food item to be found with enough resistance to both the high temperatures and the lack of Moroccan hygiene; ‘Laughing Cow’ cheese triangles.

In the evening we ventured into town for food, this marking the start of Richard’s ten day marathon of vegetable tagines, again accompanied by more bread.

Day two we went into Tizgut Gorge and to our surprise, found a live scorpion near where we had dumped our bags. Three pairs climbed the two pitch routes on the shady side, one being the classic Joe Brown route of Tizgut Crack, E2 5b. The other party headed up a 150m route on the sunny side which eventually turned out to be a much longer excursion of 275m with a long scrambling descent back down to the base of the gorge.

These two days were only the warm up for the ‘BIG DAY’. John, Peter, Jurgen and Sally departed the hotel at 6 o’clock in the morning aiming for the Lion’s Face which is a 300m HVS up the most prominent feature on the mountain’s south side. The approach, the climb and the walk off took ten hours with over 850m of height gained during the day. Unfortunately Peter returned with two souvenir blisters on his ankles resulting in an end to his climbing for the rest of the week.

Nine climbers became eight.

The other half of the group left the hotel for Anergui, a small mountain village dwarfed by a huge 300m rock cliff in its back yard. Richard and Kevin opted to climb a route here before loose rock and an under graded guidebook description forced them to bail off the route. Paul, Amanda and Ruth embarked on a full mountaineering day beginning with the Southwest Ridge route, a 300m Severe up to a plateau. There followed several kilometres of walking before a 500m grade 1 scramble up to the summit of Jebel el Kest at 2375m.  From here, views of the Sahara and the North Atlas could be seen. Despite the group being spooked by a bird of prey on a belay ledge, Ruth unintentionally standing next to a 4ft long Viper, Paul coming across a 8ft long shed snake skin and a couple of navigational detours, the three arrived back after an eleven hour day, feeling tired and dehydrated but happy.

Not surprisingly, everyone was feeling much more leisurely the next day and so we climbed on the single pitch roadside rock of Tamaloucht Crag. Yes, they do exist in Morocco but it was not a day without event. Following an abseil, Sally’s rope was pulled down to find a mysterious cut through to the core and John was feeling very much under the weather. The temperature under the crag reached the low 40’C and so everyone bailed to the luxury of the hotel swimming pool. Kevin attempted the world record slowest pool entry by taking at least an hour to get from toe dip to whole head under water.

Thursday we transferred from Tafraoute to the Kasbah Tizourgane on the north side. It was a damp day resulting in us visiting a small crag of Atkil Edge. Jurgen couldn’t resist the lure of a well protected E2 overhanging crack but with a 6a technical grade. Paul and Rich followed thankful of a top rope.  John’s illness worsened and ended up flying home with Peter.

Eight climbers became seven.

The group settled into the Kasbah lifestyle of bread, jam, honey, dodgy looking white powder which we can only assume was icing sugar and rice pudding for breakfast. We did get the occasional pancake or boiled egg.  At which time the inevitable question would be pitched ‘where shall we climb today?’ Friday was Harram Peak and the Golden Cirque in the Afantinzar Valley providing some quality starred routes. Saturday, we headed up to the Towers with Sally and Kevin climbing Lion King (HVS) and Amanda, Ruth, Jurgen and Paul climbing Auld Lag’s Syne, a VS variation start to Auld Lang’s Syne. Richard’s dizziness returned and decided to walk or hitch back to the Kasbah.

Seven climbers became six.

‘Where are we climbing tomorrow?’

The penultimate climbing day, Jurgen, Amanda and Ruth climbed the excellent five pitch route of Pink Lady (VS 4c) with Amanda dressed head to toe in pink, it had to be done. Sally and Kevin were across the road on Ksar Rock, also picking some three starred routes to climb. By the next day, Kevin was feeling somewhat tired and opted to rest.

Six climbers became five.

The remaining five, which now only included one named driver, drove up to Babouche Buttress at the head of the Tagzene area where Jurgen and Sally climbed Magic Mushroom Ridge (HVS 5b). Amanda, Ruth and Paul aimed for a long Severe for a mountain day feel on Orange Wall. Paul’s back pain got the better of him and chose to sit it out.

Five climbers became four.

Perhaps departure day came as a timely event but despite the reducing numbers, we all returned home safely after yet another excellent Moroccan adventure.  The sheer amount of climbed and unclimbed rock in the area meant we probably all left Morocco with a longer tick list than we each went out with. The lure of Moroccan climbing may well strike again!

Typical Moroccan tea