Friday 18th July 2014 Day 12

Our final day, of walking in the High Atlas Mountain started with an even more reasonable 8:00 alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 9:00 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

This was our final leg down to Imil to catch the bus back to Marrakesh. We had done it we had more than achieved our goal by climbing 4 peaks over 4,000m and we were on the home straight and looking forward to our hotel and a long hot shower!

Today we walked 2.57km which took us just 44mins!

GPS stats

Our last Gite

The last view of Toubkal

Our poor boots!

First beer in 12 days!

Thursday 17th July 2014 Day 11

The hard work has been done so today was a relaxed day with a reasonable 7:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 8:00 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

All we need to do now is make our way down to the village Imil to meet our bus back to Marrakesh and we have two days to get there. Today we headed down to our Gite in Armed, passing by a sacred hollow rock on the way. 

Today we walked 5.96km which took us just over 2hrs 30mins with our Gite at 1,924m.

GPS stats

Sacred hollow rock with Mosque

The support team

Our Gite for the night

Tagine

Wednesday 16th July 2014 Day 10

The third early start in a row with a 3:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 4:45 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

Today we climbed the third and final peak above 4,000m, well to be honest we took the opportunity to climb two further peaks over 4,000m, Timesguida Ouanoukrim (4,089m) and Ras Ouanoukrim (4,083m) (Ras Ouanoukrim had two separate summits, we did both!)! In order to reach the summit of Timesguida Ouanoukrim we had to do a bit of scrambling, thankfully the scrambling was relatively straight forward with no areas of exposure!

On completing the two summits we headed back to the camp at Toubkal base camp for lunch before heading further down the mountain to our next and final camp site of the trip!

Today we walked 14.7km which took us just under 9hrs. We climbed a total of 1,783m with our camp at 2,742m.

GPS stats (you can see the two peaks!)

Heading up

Scramble done bring on the rest!

Timesguida Ouanoukrim (4,089m)

Toubkal Selfie! (it had to be done!)

Taking in the views!

Ras Ouanoukrim (4,083m)

Ras Ouanoukrim (4,083m) part 2

My work here is done!

Tuesday 15th July 2014 Day 9

Disaster struck during the night, we were very lucky to escape unharmed, however some were not so lucky! During the night the cook needed to change the cooking gas canister, he does not have a torch and most lighting is through candles. As he changed the canister gas leaked through the valve, this in turn was ignited by the candle. We woke to a massive explosion and a fireball heading towards our tent. The fireball hit the front of the tent which in turn caught light. The above happened so quickly we had no time to react and were still zipped up in our sleeping bags. There were shouts of panic and exclamation all around including mine instructing someone to put the fire out. Lucky for us it only took a kick of the canister away from the tent to do this, thankfully the tent was made of fire retardant material!

The front of the tent contained our walking boots, cross trainers, walking poles, day sacks etc. Lucky for us none of these got damaged but we had to find our walking poles as they had been kicked away with the canister.

We got out of our tent to find that the cook and the cooks mate got burnt during the explosion, on their arms and legs. They were quite fortunate as the burns were not that bad and as we had a first aid kit we started to administer first aid to them both. Eventually we were in a position to return back to bed and try to get some much needed sleep before climbing the highest mountain in the High Atlas!

Despite last nights events we had a 3:45 am alarm call for breakfast and get ready to start walking at 4:45 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

Today we climbed the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains, Jebel Toubkal. The walk started off quite steep but as we got closer to the summit the paths eased a bit. We spent some time at the summit celebrating, taking photos and taking in the spectacular views around.

Today we walked 8.43km which took us 7hrs 12mins. We climbed a total of 1,545m.

GPS Stats

At the top of Toubkal

What the front of the tent should look like

After the fire!

Almost there, it's just behind us!

At the top

Taking in the views

Being arty!

Monday 14th July 2014 Day 8

The early starts are back with a 3:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 4:45 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

Today we headed over Ouanoums Gorge to Toubkal base camp. The pass was 3,675m high and the climb provided  good preparation for the 4,000m peaks over the next couple of days.

Today we walked 12.4km which took us just over 6hrs 30mins. We climbed a total of 1,653m with our camp at 3,156m. The GPS went a bit bonkers as we climbed up the gorge due to the high steep sides preventing good GPS lock!

Squiffy stats from GPS!

Ouanoums Gorge at dawn

At the top of the pass

Campsite

The two refuges at Toubkal base camp

Sunday 13th July 2014 Day 7

Again today we started with a 6:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 7:30 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

Today we headed to Lac d'Ifni (Lake d'Ifni) the highest lake in the High Atlas Mountains. On arriving some of us took the opportunity to swim whilst others just soaked their feet and legs in the cold mountain water.

Today we walked 10.5km which took us just under 4hrs. We climbed a total of 1,171m with our camp at 2,320m.

GPS stats

Lac d'Ifi

Lac d'Ifi

Toilet tent with a view!

Our camp for the night

Saturday 12th July 2014 Day 6

After yesterdays tough walk today was considered as a day off starting with a 6:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 7:30 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time).

We left behind our high camp to descend down to the village of Amsouzart, a height loss of approx 1,400m. Tonight we were in Gite and another chance to have a proper shower and freshen up.

Today we walked 10.5km which took us 4hrs 12mins. We climbed a total of 258m with our Gite at 1,771m.

GPS stats

Village of Amsouzart

The girls that carried our stuff

Toubkal in the distance

The path followed

Friday 11th July 2014 Day 5

The first proper summit day started with a 3:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 4:30 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time) .

We left behind our camp to climb up our first peak over 4,000m , Adrar n' Dern (4,001m). Again we walked solidly all morning so that we would get to camp for midday and lunch and therefore avoiding the high temperatures of the afternoon. This was one tough day with a big ascent on narrow rocky paths followed by a steep descent through loose scree!

Today we walked 16.6km which took us 8hrs 31mins. We climbed a total of 2,128m with our camp at 3,079m.

GPS stats

It rained today!

Adrar n' Dern (4,001m)

Typical views

Scree skiing

Thursday 10th July 2014 Day 4

The day started with a 3:30 am alarm call for breakfast, pack and get ready to start walking at 4:30 (note the GPS time is BST which was 1 hour ahead of Moroccan time) .

We left behind our Gite at Tacheddirt to climb up and over our highest pass so far, Tizi
N'Likemt pass at 3,564m. We walked solidly all morning so that we would get to camp for midday and lunch and therefore avoiding the high temperatures of the afternoon.

Today we walked 9.95km which took us just over 7hrs. We climbed a total of 1,472m with our camp at 2,552m.

Day 4 stats

View from Tizi N'Likemt pass

At the top of Tizi N'Likemt pass

Our camp for the night

Typical dinner