Mount Toubkal Trek
Early on a Tuesday morning, my friend Lucy and I travelled to Gatwick for our flight to Morocco. We had decided to travel out to the city two days before our trek started so that we could spend some time relaxing, along with exploring. On arrival into Marrakech, we made our way to our pre-booked private transfer. This took us into the city centre but as we were staying in a riad (a traditional Moroccan house built around a courtyard) and these are located in the medina walls, our driver advised us that he could only take us to the walls where we would be met by a member of concierge from the hotel. No sooner had he told us this, I spotted a gentleman sat in a large cart, in hotel uniform – our escort was here! After loading our cases into his cart, Mohammed took us on a brief, hairy walk, on the streets of Marrakech, before we walked through the medina walls and took a short walk to our hotel.
We stayed at Palais Sebban which is simply beautiful. The staff here are attentive and helpful. The hotel is perfectly located to explore the souks, walk to Jemaa el-Fnaa (the main square and market place) along with good proximity to the new part of the city. For a traditional stay and to be located in the old part of the city, I would highly recommend this property and would be more than happy to return.
Having been to Marrakech before, I don’t want to talk in depth about this part of my trip (please take a look at my previous blog from 2017) as this was all about the big climb. After our two relaxing days, it was time for Lucy, Sam and myself to move to our group hotel in the newer part of the city. Our first evening started off with a group meeting where we introduced ourselves to the rest of the group (a fabulous team of 28 climbers!) and explain why we were doing the challenge. We also met our two wonderful guides, Mohammed and Ibraheim, who were truly amazing throughout. Sadly, within the early part of our welcome meeting, the sad news of our Queen’s passing was announced and so we took some time to pay our respects and gather our thoughts.
Once we regrouped, we headed off for a last night in Marrakech where we were treated to a walking food tour. This is great for first time visitors to the city as you see some of the key sights in and around the main square whilst sampling traditional Moroccan delights.
Friday morning came around and the group was full of excitement and nerves for what lay ahead of us. After a hearty breakfast, we were loaded into two minibuses, and we set off on our 1.5 hour transfer into the Atlas Mountains. We arrived at Imlil village, which is 1740 metres above sea level, and after a few last group photos we were off. We were told that we had a couple of hours walking before we would stop for lunch.
Once we were out of the village and had entered the National Park, we started to notice the difference in fitness levels and naturally split into two groups. With a group size this large, this was always going to happen, and it allowed us all to take on the mountain at a pace that felt comfortable to us. Our guides were incredible at keeping our spirits up and motivating us when we had a dip.
Our two our walk to lunch turned into 3.5 hours and we soon realised that this climb was likely to take us much longer than we anticipated. Our lunch stop was located close to the pilgrimage site of Sidi Chamarouch, home to the tomb of the local marabout (Muslim holy man). Only Muslims are permitted to cross the bridge and approach the large white stone that serves as a shrine. Lunch consisted of lots of carbs and salad, something we were going to get used to!
After lunch we started to climb steeply. Sam had warned me at lunch that this would be the time we would notice the altitude and some of us would start to suffer. I quickly noticed the altitude was affecting my breathing so started to slow my pace down and stop every few steps to take a bigger breath. Sam noticed I had dropped back and slowed his walking down to my pace and helped me through my slump until I had my breathing back under control and was able to enjoy the climb again. I was lucky in the fact that my breathing was the only affect the altitude had on me. Some of my fellow climbers were not so lucky.
After a further 4-hour climb, we were overjoyed to see our overnight accommodation in the distance. Toubkal Base Camp is situated in Neltner, 3207 metres above sea level. Having climbed almost 1500 metres in one day, we were all feeling proud of ourselves and excited about rising early the next day to finish our climb to the peak of Mount Toubkal.
Base Camp is a hostel with shared dorms. We had a room with two quadruple bunks and were able to share with the girls in our group. Our evening consisted of freezing cold showers, repacking our day bags, filling ourselves full of more carbs and an early night in preparation for the next day. Unfortunately, the beds weren’t very comfortable, and the walls were very thin so I don’t think any of us were fortunate enough to fall into a deep sleep and feel rested when we rose at 3am the next morning.
Our early alarm call was a welcome sound after our unsettled night, but we were soon laughing and joking as we dressed in plenty of layers and headed down for breakfast. We set off from Base Camp at 0430 walking single file with our head torches on and concentrating on each step in front of us. As soon as we set off, I could feel the struggle in my breathing again. We soon realised that today was going to be a much harder climb with it being far steeper and seeing us scrambling for much of the initial climb. After literally climbing boulders after crossing a stream, I needed to have a word with myself to get my breathing under control and remind myself to enjoy this experience.