Читать книгу The High Atlas. Treks and climbs on Morocco's biggest and best mountains онлайн

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In February 1990 two of us set off to ‘beat the bounds’ of Morocco, so to speak, travelling south by bus from Agadir to Bouizakarne, then east to Tata, Foum Zguid, Ouarzazate, Ar-Rachidia and Figuig, then north to Oujda and west to Taza and Fes. (Advice: take a cushion.) Particularly on the Oujda–Fes stretch, when we’d gone by train, we were aware of snowy sweeps of mountain many miles off to port. They were even visible from Fes rooftops. What could they be? Eventually we realised they were the long crests of Jbel bou Iblane and Jbel bou Naceur. Two years later (May 1992) we set off to find and climb them – ‘we’ were the GTAM trio of Charles, Ali and myself, plus another friend.

Jbel bou Iblane under deep snow

We travelled by Land Rover hired from Marrakech via Kasba Tadla to reach Midelt. We passed a forgotten hotel night, but had a memorable meal in a small restaurant, Fes, the sort of eatery one bends routes to take in (grilled quinces once). Next day it was down the bleak Oued Melwiya (Moulouya) road – the only big river heading for the Mediterranean – and, at Outat Oulad el Hajj, onto a piste towards the mountains. The piste ran out, and some cross-country sport was needed to reach the village of Tirnest. Peyron was our guide for this trip and indispensable. (Tirnest will certainly have a good piste by now.)