Foreign Trek 1992 Morocco

Organiser: Mike Wynn MGS Leaders: Allan Witton, Adrian Dobson, Simon Duffy, Graham Seel. The illustrated log below contains a full party list.

The Route was an 11-day circuit of the Toubkal area of the High Atlas range, with an ascent of Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak, as a climax. The first three days took us east from Aroumd through the Berber villages of Tamatert, Ouaneskra, Tacheddîrt, Oukaimeden and Agounss to Tiourdiou in the Ourika valley, each day crossing a col from which we made an easy summit ascent. Walking through these villages gave us a fascinating insight into the primitive and traditional existence of these mountain people. We then followed the Tifni river through the Kassaria gorge to Taloutoult in the upper Tinzer basin, from where half the party continued along the valley while the other half made the long traverse of the Iferouane ridge to climb Trek’s first 4000 m peak.

After a long descent to Amsouzart on the Saharan side of the range and a bivouac at Lac d’Ifni we crossed Tizi n’Ouanoums to camp for three nights by the Toubkal hut in the upper Mizane valley. The seven-day approach walk had developed fitness and helped acclimatisation and the ascents of Toubkal and Ouanoukrim were accomplished with ease, and half the party bivouacked on Toubkal’s summit. We returned to Aroumd via a steep scramble over Tizi n’Tadat into the Ouarzane valley for a bivouac at Tamsoult and then over Tizi Mzik. The summits climbed were: Tanamrout – east (2630 m), Jbel Oukaimeden (3273 m), Jbel Attar (3267 m), Iferouane (4000 m), Toubkal (4167 m), and Ouanoukrim (4088 m).

Route Outline: Day 1. Aroumd > Tanamrout (east) > Ouaneskra 2. Jbel Oukaimeden > Oukaimeden 3. Jbel Attar > Tiourdiou 4. Taloutoult 5. Iferouane > Ouraine 6. Lac d’Ifni 7. Toubkal hut 8. Toubkal 9. Ouanoukrim 10. Tamsoult 11. Aroumd.

Below is a slide show of a selection of images from the Morocco.