Winter mountaineering in Scotland every year was so hit and miss due to my work and the weather conditions to much time had been wasted. If the conditions were right, time off work always seemed a problem and when work was slack the conditions were wrong.
Moroccan Villiage
Having seen pictures and read articles of winter in The High Atlas Mountains in Morocco, I decided to go and have a look. Living close to Stanstead and Luton cheap flights are easy to obtain and for under £20 each way I was on my way. Having worked as a tour leader in Morocco I had a good contact in Marrakech who met me at the airport and took me to her office.
With all the logistics sorted out I made my way to the taxi stop in glorious sunshine and in tee shirt and shorts to take a shared taxi to Imlil, a small mountain village about two hours from Marrakech. Piles of snow lay all around, tongues of ice run down the road and icicles hung from roofs, it was cold, very cold. I booked in to a small guesthouse Café Soleil which is run and owned by Abdul, put on every bit of clothing I had and looked around the village just before it got dark. Five more travellers had checked in by the timed I returned and with no heating in the guest house every one was dressed with large coat, hat and gloves seated around a small gas fire. We all ordered a lamb tagine for dinner and then at 8.30pm I retired to the warmth of my four season’s sleeping bag. The morning came after what seemed a very long night with sunshine so bright sunglasses were required. What a beautiful place, high snow covered mountains all around, villages dotted amongst the hills and smells of all kinds of food cooking on the open stoves. I had eggs for breakfast the set off on the path up through Sidi Chamharouch to the French owned mountain hut C A F Refuge at the base of Toubkal, Morocco’s highest Mountain. The path takes you through small villages and settlements, along steep valleys and up through the holy shrine of Sidi Chamharouch on to the hut. There are two huts here now and I headed for the original hut, the French owned hut being the most popular with the climbers.
From the summit of Toubkal