Climbing of Mt Toubkal 2013
To do it justice it deserved its own page, a dream come true and I thought that time might pass me by before I had the chance to make an attempt on this mountain at 4,167 metres, and ranking 36th in the world for prominence. My friend Chris from the CHA walking club accompanied me on the 8 day trip, with the shortened itinerary here:
DAY 1
We were meant to fly direct to Marrakech but it was changed with our flight taking us to Casablanca instead with an internal flight taking us to our destination and hotel for the night.
DAY 2
We left Marrakech by bus ending at the village of Imlil from where we trekked to our mountain base, a typical Berber house in the village of Aremd. This afternoon we spent our time with an orientation walk to stretch our legs.
DAY 3
The village of Aremd is about 2000 metre elevation and today is spent walking the mountain paths showing the fertile valleys and the surrounding peaks.
DAY 4
Today is the start of the 2 day ascent of Mt Toubkal, from Aremd we pass orchards up the floodplain of the Ait Mizane valley before climbing steeply, as it zigzags up the mountainside. We are thankful that the mules are carrying our provisions and baggage, they are so use to winding their way as they are an indispensable animal to the Berber way of life in this remote district.
Eventually after traversing the flank of the valley high above the river we reach Toubkal base camp at Neltner, 3207 metres, after about 5 hours of walking here is where we will spend the night before tomorrows final ascent.
DAY 5
This was a steep climb that also involved some scrambling and after about 4-5 hours of walking I reached the summit, I say 'I' because Chris was suffering from breathing problems and returned to base camp. After taking in the views it would be a slow descent to our base camp where we would spend the night before descending next day to Imlil.
DAY 6
We descended to Imlil where we met our transport that took us back to Marrakech, as it was still early we spent our free time exploring some of the delights of the city.
DAY 7
Our first contact with Islam is heard by the calling to prayer in the city's mosques as we wake an prepare ourselves for breakfast, it is also our official guided tour of the city in the morning with time on our own in the afternoon.
DAY 8
The end of an adventure and our flight home, the lack of air caused me to lose my voice for a few days but other than that there were no problems.
Below are some photo's of our adventure in climbing a mountain nearly 4 times higher than 'Ben Nevis' and losing 20% of sea level breathing abilities, not bad going for a pensioner.
PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTO FOR A LARGER PICTURE AND LOCATION
DAY 1
We were meant to fly direct to Marrakech but it was changed with our flight taking us to Casablanca instead with an internal flight taking us to our destination and hotel for the night.
DAY 2
We left Marrakech by bus ending at the village of Imlil from where we trekked to our mountain base, a typical Berber house in the village of Aremd. This afternoon we spent our time with an orientation walk to stretch our legs.
DAY 3
The village of Aremd is about 2000 metre elevation and today is spent walking the mountain paths showing the fertile valleys and the surrounding peaks.
DAY 4
Today is the start of the 2 day ascent of Mt Toubkal, from Aremd we pass orchards up the floodplain of the Ait Mizane valley before climbing steeply, as it zigzags up the mountainside. We are thankful that the mules are carrying our provisions and baggage, they are so use to winding their way as they are an indispensable animal to the Berber way of life in this remote district.
Eventually after traversing the flank of the valley high above the river we reach Toubkal base camp at Neltner, 3207 metres, after about 5 hours of walking here is where we will spend the night before tomorrows final ascent.
DAY 5
This was a steep climb that also involved some scrambling and after about 4-5 hours of walking I reached the summit, I say 'I' because Chris was suffering from breathing problems and returned to base camp. After taking in the views it would be a slow descent to our base camp where we would spend the night before descending next day to Imlil.
DAY 6
We descended to Imlil where we met our transport that took us back to Marrakech, as it was still early we spent our free time exploring some of the delights of the city.
DAY 7
Our first contact with Islam is heard by the calling to prayer in the city's mosques as we wake an prepare ourselves for breakfast, it is also our official guided tour of the city in the morning with time on our own in the afternoon.
DAY 8
The end of an adventure and our flight home, the lack of air caused me to lose my voice for a few days but other than that there were no problems.
Below are some photo's of our adventure in climbing a mountain nearly 4 times higher than 'Ben Nevis' and losing 20% of sea level breathing abilities, not bad going for a pensioner.
PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTO FOR A LARGER PICTURE AND LOCATION
