Advertisement
Published: August 8th 2007
Bart and Dave at the trailhead
After passing through Imlil, Aroumd and crossing the river we made it to the trail.Day 1: Bart’s Birthday
It turns out that the part I had hiked in April with my two friends from Peace Corps Togo was only the beginning of the trail. Bright and early in the morning I set out hiking from Imlil with Bart (Peace Corps Morocco) and Dave (US civilian). We passed up Sidi Chamarouch, where I had turned around last time, at 11am and continued on up the trail to the Toubkal Refuge.
We didn’t have much gear - Dave didn’t even have a sleeping bag and was relying on an airplane blanket to get him through the night at 3200 meters in the High Atlas. But the weather was perfect and we all had good shoes. The trail up to the refuge is fairly easy, with only a few steep bits, though it’s rocky and somewhat torn up by mule hooves. Most trekkers rent a mule to haul their good and gear up this part of the trail. Without a mule we packed light and counted on buying most of our meals at the refuge.
We made it to our destination early in the afternoon and collapsed in our bunks without even talking about lunch. Around
Toubkal Refuge
The refuge is at about 3200 meters, with clouds and snow banks below. The waterfall on the left is on the trail up to the summit. On the right is the way towards Lac d'Ifni. 4pm I went down to the kitchen where you can use the gas stoves, dishes and utensils as much as you want for 10 dirhams a meal. The kitchen was busy with people cooking afternoon tea and starting on dinner. It was a mixed group of guides cooking for their clients and hikers from Casablanca or Tangiers. For once I was the only woman in the kitchen - nobody missed the humor in that. They were a friendly group, tasting each other’s concoctions and joking about the different accents and dialects they each spoke. Moroccan Arabic varies quite a bit according to region and it’s always a good ice breaker to compare Marrakech slang with that of Casablanca.
Bart got an All-American birthday lunch of Kraft macaroni and cheese. I wasn’t about to carry real food up the mountain and make a tajine like the guys who had mules to carry their stuff. I got teased about not knowing how to cook and replied that I didn’t have time to cook a tajine because I wanted to go outside and see the mountains. After lunch we continued the birthday celebration with a short hike down to a snowfield we
SNOW
Old snow, but still good for boot skiing and snowball fights. had passed on the way to the refuge. Bart stood very patiently downhill from me as I threw snowball after snowball at him and missed every time.
Back at the refuge we chatted with the other foreigners: a Londoner, two women from Barcelona, a couple from Ireland and a mostly Canadian (Belgian/Thai) named Cat. There was also a French journalist who was finishing a month of trekking across the Atlas and was getting up at 3am to get to the summit to watch the sunrise. She looked exhausted and I didn’t envy her.
We were planning on getting up at 5am, so soon after dinner we climbed up to our bunks where I spent most of the night swatting at moths and feeling the bedbugs biting me. If I ever get to climb Toubkal again I’m renting a mule to carry a tent and everything else. The refuge is well stocked and a fun place to meet other trekkers, but not a place to sleep.
Day 2: The Summit
I thought it was still dark when Bart announced it was time to get up (I don’t have a watch) and I saw that several people were already
Day 2
The first part of the ascent up from the refuge. gone, though others were still snoring. After a quick breakfast we were joined by Cat and set out for the top. The altitude hadn’t gotten to me much the day before but I was definitely breathing harder the closer we got to the top. Bart was kind enough to take my water bottle on his pack so I didn’t have to carry anything.
It was spectacular. We climbed up alongside waterfalls and past snowfields in classic U shaped glacial valleys. From the refuge it’s not too far, but the trail goes straight up and it’s obvious no mule could climb up. There’s only a couple places where you need your hands to haul yourself up, but most of the way is very steep loose scree. The trail is irregularly marked with cairns here and there, though there were enough people out that it was pretty obvious which way to go. From the refuge the waterfall on the east goes up to the summit and the waterfall to the south leads to Lac d’Ifni.
After two or three hours we made it up to the top at 4176 meters, the highest point in North Africa, and sat around enjoying
Team Toubkal
At this point we had made it up to the ridge that leads up to the summit and could see down over the other side. the view and taking pictures. To the north, Marrakech was lost down below the clouds, enveloped in dust and probably sand storms. A bit farther east was the rest of the High Atlas range and the peak above Oukaimden at 3273 meters, where Bart and I had gone skiing with our friend Brian last January. To the south we could see a few villages down in the valleys but looking west towards the Atlantic all we could see were clouds and more peaks.
I’d like to say we took our time and enjoyed the scenery on the way back down but somehow it turned into a race, with us hopping down the rocks and sliding down the snowfields. We made it back to the refuge for an early lunch of spaghetti then ran down the trail back to Imlil. The guys weren’t running, but at their pace I almost had to jog to keep up with their long legs. I don’t remember how long it took but it was fast and we arrived in Imlil early enough to make it home that night.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.159s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 33; dbt: 0.1292s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bart
non-member comment
Great times
See ya tomorrow for more great memories...