Atlas Mountains of MoroccoThis was the mountain climbing trip of a lifetime, at least for us. Olivia decided she wanted to climb twice per year; once in the USA and once abroad. We chose Morocco simply because we found round trip air fare for about $500 per person.
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Sierra said that she didn't want to be the only kid who grew up and left the house without ever climbing a mountain, and she had been saving money for a great adventure anyway. So she went with us on her first ever mountain climb.
We flew from Indianapolis to Atlanta to Paris to Casablanca with the usual legal hassles and airline inefficiencies, but finally arrived almost on schedule. We rested for a day and a half in Casablanca and saw a bit of the city before taking a first class train to Marrakesh, and then by car to Imlil where we met up with our guide, Rashid. We'd never climbed with a guide before but we thought it might be best to use one overseas.
Our first attempt on Mt. Toubkal was longer and more difficult than advertised and Olivia's asthma gave her continual problems. We had also gone from sea level to 6,000 feet elevation in less than 24 hours with no acclimatization. We failed to reach the shelter known as the Refuge, which serves as a base camp and was to be our overnight accommodations for our summit attempt the following day. Instead we had to turn around and return to our riad (equivalent to a bed and breakfast) in Imlil.
The next day we pondered our choices and made a major change to our itinerary. We chose to stay in Imlil and have our guide take us up two smaller mountains. We succeeded in making the 8,661 foot summit of Mt. Tasghimout on Sunday afternoon, February 17th. Sierra's feet blistered badly, but otherwise she turned out to be the strongest climber in our family. It was pretty amazing to see.
The following day Sierra was still unfit to climb. So she stayed in Imlil and bought some high quality moleskin and foot protection at the pharmacy and focused on recuperation while Olivia and I went with Rashid up Mt. Towdja. We made the 8,789 foot summit amidst a snow squall and some amazingly beautiful (and spooky) clouds. Olivia was great and worked hard to overcome asthma and her fear of altitude exposure. It was really encouraging to make these summits after our initial failure on Toubkal.
It should be noted that Tasghimout and Towdja are local names for the summits we climbed near Imlil. Rashid seemed unsure of the proper spelling in English. Nevertheless, they were beautiful and scenic peaks with incredible views.
On every climb we were accompanied by a mule and a porter. The porter handled the mule and also prepared us a fresh, hot meal during our climbs on both Towdja and Tasghimout. The experience must have fairly well replicated the fashionable mountain climbs of Englishmen in the early 20th century, complete with porters, mules and food service. We felt pretty spoiled.
After a day of rest, we climbed from Imlil to the Refuge at 10,000 feet on February 20th. We arrived late and our night there was a disaster. Climbers from all over the world were there, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with us in a damp, freezing cold room that echoed terribly. None of us slept at all. We woke up around 3 am the following morning for our summit bid, but we were terribly worn down from lack of sleep.
We began climbing in the dark with crampons and ice axes and made it to 11,700 feet at an agonizingly slow pace. Olivia was having a hard time once again with her asthma and a runaway heart rate (her medicine increases her heart rate, but without her asthma medicine she can't breath in the thin air). We gave up and turned back. We were very sad to be defeated yet again, but we had done our best. I slept so poorly that I was having a hard time as well, so it wasn't just Olivia who was in poor condition. Sierra was by far the strongest climber of the three of us, and even she didn't feel so well. The night in the Refuge was truly an awful experience and you cannot climb if you cannot sleep.
From Imlil we returned to Casablanca and north by train to Tangier, then by ship across the Strait of Gibraltar where we spent a day in Tarifa, Spain. We absolutely fell in love with Spain. Our late night return to Tangier was nearly canceled when our ship was unable to cross in the choppy seas. We hired a taxi and drove an hour northeast to another port and caught the last ship back to the African continent. From there we spent a final wonderful day in Casablanca at Rick's Cafe, and then returned home to the United States.
We flew from Indianapolis to Atlanta to Paris to Casablanca with the usual legal hassles and airline inefficiencies, but finally arrived almost on schedule. We rested for a day and a half in Casablanca and saw a bit of the city before taking a first class train to Marrakesh, and then by car to Imlil where we met up with our guide, Rashid. We'd never climbed with a guide before but we thought it might be best to use one overseas.
Our first attempt on Mt. Toubkal was longer and more difficult than advertised and Olivia's asthma gave her continual problems. We had also gone from sea level to 6,000 feet elevation in less than 24 hours with no acclimatization. We failed to reach the shelter known as the Refuge, which serves as a base camp and was to be our overnight accommodations for our summit attempt the following day. Instead we had to turn around and return to our riad (equivalent to a bed and breakfast) in Imlil.
The next day we pondered our choices and made a major change to our itinerary. We chose to stay in Imlil and have our guide take us up two smaller mountains. We succeeded in making the 8,661 foot summit of Mt. Tasghimout on Sunday afternoon, February 17th. Sierra's feet blistered badly, but otherwise she turned out to be the strongest climber in our family. It was pretty amazing to see.
The following day Sierra was still unfit to climb. So she stayed in Imlil and bought some high quality moleskin and foot protection at the pharmacy and focused on recuperation while Olivia and I went with Rashid up Mt. Towdja. We made the 8,789 foot summit amidst a snow squall and some amazingly beautiful (and spooky) clouds. Olivia was great and worked hard to overcome asthma and her fear of altitude exposure. It was really encouraging to make these summits after our initial failure on Toubkal.
It should be noted that Tasghimout and Towdja are local names for the summits we climbed near Imlil. Rashid seemed unsure of the proper spelling in English. Nevertheless, they were beautiful and scenic peaks with incredible views.
On every climb we were accompanied by a mule and a porter. The porter handled the mule and also prepared us a fresh, hot meal during our climbs on both Towdja and Tasghimout. The experience must have fairly well replicated the fashionable mountain climbs of Englishmen in the early 20th century, complete with porters, mules and food service. We felt pretty spoiled.
After a day of rest, we climbed from Imlil to the Refuge at 10,000 feet on February 20th. We arrived late and our night there was a disaster. Climbers from all over the world were there, sleeping shoulder to shoulder with us in a damp, freezing cold room that echoed terribly. None of us slept at all. We woke up around 3 am the following morning for our summit bid, but we were terribly worn down from lack of sleep.
We began climbing in the dark with crampons and ice axes and made it to 11,700 feet at an agonizingly slow pace. Olivia was having a hard time once again with her asthma and a runaway heart rate (her medicine increases her heart rate, but without her asthma medicine she can't breath in the thin air). We gave up and turned back. We were very sad to be defeated yet again, but we had done our best. I slept so poorly that I was having a hard time as well, so it wasn't just Olivia who was in poor condition. Sierra was by far the strongest climber of the three of us, and even she didn't feel so well. The night in the Refuge was truly an awful experience and you cannot climb if you cannot sleep.
From Imlil we returned to Casablanca and north by train to Tangier, then by ship across the Strait of Gibraltar where we spent a day in Tarifa, Spain. We absolutely fell in love with Spain. Our late night return to Tangier was nearly canceled when our ship was unable to cross in the choppy seas. We hired a taxi and drove an hour northeast to another port and caught the last ship back to the African continent. From there we spent a final wonderful day in Casablanca at Rick's Cafe, and then returned home to the United States.