Blind date with Torrecilla

23-13-2013

Road cones

Spanish fir 

If you have ever spent any time slowly cooking yourself on a beach near Marbella you have probably looked along the coast to Gibraltar and maybe even spotted Jebel Moussa in Morocco. If you bothered to turn round you would possibly have spotted, in the haze, a range of mountains inland. This is the Sierra de la Nieves – the snowy mountains – a UNESCO designated Biosphere reserve.

The highest point in the sierra is Torrecilla (small tower) with a prominence of P1472, meaning that, in my mind anyway, it could be classified as a sub-Ultra, but anyway it is definitely a Major with an absolute height of 1919m at N36.67596 W4.99623. It is the fifth most prominent mountain in mainland Spain.

If you were on a package holiday and went on the coach trip to the Pueblo Blanco town of Ronda built round a hundred metre deep gorge, then chances are your coach crossed high over the sierra on the winding road, that is obviously a favourite with bikers and cyclists. I doubt that your coach turned off the A397 to the right at N36.66074 W5.09932 on to an intermittently paved and unpaved road heading for the heart of the mountains. Curiously, the road is closed at N36.67508 W5.05278 despite there being a large car park and recreation facilities further on at Quejigales.

For once I had a map, however it wasn't really necessary as there are plentiful signs and the tracks are quite obvious. There were half a dozen cars parked near the roadblock which indicated there were a number of other parties on the hill ahead of me.

I continued on the still intermittently paved and unpaved road to Quejigales, passing an unsigned road at N36.68547 W5.04865 that branched to the right. I later realised that this also cyclable but steeper unpaved road would be an alternative route to the Puerto de los Pilones. After about three km I reached the Quejigales car park. Just beyond there at N36.69202 W5.04350 there is a signboard and small bridge crossing a dry arroyo. From the bridge the path meanders steeply through a forest of pine and deciduous trees. 

Abies Pinsapo Boiss

Apparently, the pines – Abies Pinsapo Boiss – are almost uniquely to be found in this area. The only other place in the world being one valley in the Moroccan Rif mountains. I am not sure which valley that is and wasn’t probably the hashish trail I had walked a few days previously, however, I love it when I can link walks together. Later on in the walk there were hazy views down and across to Gibraltar and Jebel Moussa, adding to that sense of circularity.

Out of the pine forest

The path leaves the forest at and soon joins the unpaved road that came up from the aforementioned junction. Turning left on the road I soon reached the collado at the Puerto de los Pilones at N36.68917 W5.02209. The path then does a long semi-circular traverse around the head of a large ‘corrie’, occasionally losing a bit of height but mainly gradually ascending.

Marbella the right distance away

Snow well, snow well...

At N36.69410 W5.01379 there is a restored snow-well (presumably shepherds would have collected as much snow as possible to provide a water source after the spring melt) the Pozo de Nieve de Tolox. 

Torrecilla black tree

Eventually after much twisting and turning the path reaches a rocky pass, turns left, gives the first proper view of the summit and then loses height down to a some caves and a spring at 36.68210 W4.99708. The sign besides the spring says something about not using detergents in the water, I think.

Torrecilla

After the spring comes the final ascent and explains why the route has been classed as ‘media’ rather than ‘facile’. It was on this part of the walk that I overtook all the other parties, that had set off before me, as they struggled with the loose rocks, scree and prickly vegetation on the steep slopes. There was evidence of waymarks but there were a number of options – all as good/bad as each other.

Handy sign for anyone who is not sure where they are

The top is marked by a cairn, a sign and a nearby cross. There is a logbook to complete inside a metal box fixed in the side of the cairn – the logbook shows that Torrecilla is a popular destination. 

Pico Torrecilla

I had the summit to myself for quite a while and then the other parties started to arrive looking sweaty and frazzled. I was the first to leave and I did not see anyone else the rest of the day. I reversed my ascent route – except when I reached the Puerto de la Pilones I remained on the unpaved road. Although it was slightly longer that way it had the advantage of being able to march without having to concentrate on where to put my feet and it also meant that I stayed within a gentle and welcome breeze for a lot longer than the way down through the trees.

Overnight in the Camping Le Sur, Ronda

Torrecilla from the north

The hashish trail

21-06-2013 - 22-06-2013

Cannabis sativa

The Ultra, Jebel Tidirhine N34.84044 W4.51654 2428m P1901 rises in the Rif mountains above the outlaw town of Ketama. On one side of the main road out of the town is the Gendarmarie Royale office, on the other several hectares of young hashish plants.
I had known about the cannabis growing before I went there, but I assumed it would be hidden in remote valleys. At first, I just thought it was bracken. The whole area is given over to the cash crop with complex and sophisticated irrigation systems.

Bodyguard

Azmorou had insisted that I park my motorhome next to his home, so that his family could guard it and he insisted that he accompany me up the hill 'for the pleasure'. I think he was more of a bodyguard than a guide as we walked through the terraces of marijuana plants that filled the valley at the back of his home at N34.86938 W4.53806 (1587m).

Hectares of hashish

Each patch was guarded by one or two young men - who did not seem any more sinister than any other Moroccans, but who knows. Obviously not women's work - but I bet when it comes to harvest time it is.
We followed the track to the edge of the forests that line the mountain - at this point the track became undrivable as the bridge at N34.86433 W4.50408 had been washed away.

Jebel Tidirhine

In the forest  we followed the track as it contoured around the mountain - occasionally there were small clearances given over to more young cannabis plants. At a fairly arbitrary point, we left the track and struck uphill steeply through the trees.

Summit from south

I began to doubt about whether my bodyguard had ever been to the mountaintop before. He was too interested in the misshapen trees and he seemed surprised as I was to join a well-maintained and well-engineered path - that did not seem to have any connection with the local harvest - and lead to the tree clear summit tops. Although it is not obvious which is the higher top when up there, it is very clear from below.

Lower top

Summit from lower top

True summit

Summit from the east

For the descent I tried to persuade my guide that there was an easier way off going down more easterly. He followed me for a while but then insisted we follow a line that looked and felt more difficult than the one I had chosen.
We hit the forest road and then it was reversal of the ascent route. Back to Azmorou's house for the inevitable mint tea with olives and bread dipped in olive oil and apricot jam.
Overnight in the grounds of Azmorou's house.

At first light I set off through Ketama, which mercifully at that early hour was free of the numerous dope-dealers and made my way back to the border of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to catch the ferry back to Europe.

Nice hats - note these are women working, not tourists

Renault 12 - I had a white one in the 70s - I thought it was sleek and stylish, then.

Overnight in Lidl carpark, Algeciraz.

Tazekka zigzags

20-06-2013

Stripped cork trees

Jebel Tazekka

About 100 kilometres to the east of Fes, near the town of Taza there is the Parc National de Tazekka that is typically not signposted off the main road. However, once you enter the park it is, for Morocco, very well signposted. maybe at the weekends the park is full of daytrippers from Fes and elsewhere. However, it felt like that other than the people who live and work there, I was the only person in the whole park. The park has a couple of gorges, an extensive system of caves and lots of cedar and cork trees.



It also has a summit, Jebel Tazekka that is a 'mere' 1980m with an unknown (to me) prominence, but I reckon it must be a P600 Major judging by the visible drop between the neighbouring ranges of the Jbel Bou Iblane to the south and the Rif mountains to the north.
I entered the park by leaving the N6 road at an inconspicuous junction near Sidi-Abdallah-el-Ghiala at N34.17117 W4.32021 and following the road through  the Gorges de l'Oued Zireg to the south of the summit, where there was sign (N34.05765 W4.15975 1478m) offering a choice of two walking routes. However, there is an unpaved road that leaves the paved road at N34.05160 W4.16746 (1505m). I drove part way up the track to N34.06162 W4.17177 where there was a little shelter from the sun and just before the ruts in the road got a bit worse. It is possible to drive all the way to the summit - however I thought that if I wanted to remain slim, fit, tanned, good-looking and interesting company to be with I should go for a walk.
I followed the track until it came to a broad col and then decided to see if there was an alternative way that went to the east of the intervening summit and found quite a nice terrace that traversed all the way round - this terrace is quite obvious when viewed from the road below (in hindsight). This took me to another col - the terrace ends at N34.08178 W4.17540 (1753). There is a junction with the original track at N34.08241 W4.17731 (1786m).

A zig, or is it a zag?

From there you head for a gap in the trees at N34.08396 W.4.17788 (1804m), from where you become a zigzag wanderer on the road to the disappointing summit.

Summit rock

Why disappointing? because it is dominated by five masts, the detritus of previous buildings and the noise o several generators - and the view is limited by the trees. Shame - because up to then the walk had been quite pleasant with glimpsed views through the trees.I found a rock that could be the natural top N34.09063 W4.18304 (1985m) and then I made my excuses and left, using the mast road all the way back.

Not a pretty site

On the road to Taza I made a quick visit to the Gouffre du Friouato - a large hole in the ground that is the start of a much bigger cave system that I could have paid extra to have a guided tour. I then drove over the east end of the Rif mountains to the Mediterranean coast at the lively resort of Al Hoceima.


Overnight in the carpark of Al Hoceima port - as recommended to me by a gendarme.

Jebel Igdet

16-06-2013

Jebel Igdet/Igdat

I suspect the majority of tourists if they cross the High Atlas, do so on the Tizi-n-Tichka pass; judging by the lack of ceramic stalls on the roadside far fewer bother with the Tizi-n-Test pass and only a tiny proportion of those would consider turning off to tackle the road along the Ougdemt valley to Arg N30.98984 W8.40574 (2145m). 

Traffic news - no road works

Hamish Brown claims in his book ‘The High Atlas’ that this road is paved all the way. The first few kilometres maybe, but then there are about 20 km of narrow difficult unpaved rutted road with no passing places and much of the way with a serious unprotected drop on one side. Luckily in both directions I met nothing coming the other way other than a few muleteers. Other hillbaggers will be aware that sometimes getting to the start of a walk is harder than the walk itself. I wouldn't say that the drive this time was harder but I was glad when I finally reached Arg. Within moments there was a swarm of men from the village inviting me to their homes for mint tea – I tried to put them off by promising I would go to one of their homes ‘ce soir’ but that I needed to get going before the day became too hot.

Arg

The walk entails following the road through the village, with several more offers of mint tea, and then the road narrows to a mule track that heads off to long line of cultivated irrigated terraces where as ever the women were doing the work as the men stood around in small groups. Fairly soon the track drops down to the valley floor and becomes much less well defined. At the junction of two valleys  N30.98742 W8.43015 (2555m) a group of men waved at me to carry on up the main valley towards an obvious col on the summit ridge. Quite why this route is any better did not ever become clear – it was a slippy, scree ridden ill-defined path all the way to the col and was taking me away from the summit rather than towards it. Also I realised that the previous day’s exertions on Toubkal had tired me more than I thought. I kept going up and then decided to make a long traverse from N30.98935 W8.43836 (2915m) across to the next col rather than go all the way up to the first one. This did not really turn out to be any easier and in terms of the effort/progress ratio did not make much difference. From the second col I traversed on the left hand side to the third col and then gained the summit ridge where the going was easier, even if the air pressure was lower. The final stretch was more of a walk and would have been quite easy if I had had the energy for it. Hamish Brown writes about the first ascent by Joseph Thomson in 1888 as an ‘extraordinary feat of mountaineering’ so maybe I should be pleased that I managed to get to the top of the Ultra, Jebel Igdet/Igdat N30.96462 W8.44337 3619m P1613 too. Karl Smith in his trekking book mentions there is a trig on the summit but I saw no sign of it – just a cairn and another cairn on the slightly lower summit a short distance to the south-east.  The views back to Arg and the Ougment valley were fine – however, there was little to be seen of the Toubkal which looked like it was having another afternoon thunderstorm.

Igdet summit

On the top

Igdet summit again

On the return I kept more to the summit ridge and when avoiding the more scrambly sections dropped down to the other side than the one I used on ascent and found the going a bit easier. At the second col I decided I would try going down the alternative valley. Sometimes the scree made it easier going, sometimes it was just  difficult and tiresome. I was glad to reach the valley floor and the mule track. As  I walked back to the village I could see the women gathering and carrying fodder and hear them singing and ululating as they worked. For quite a while I was accompanied by a mule that seemed to have slipped its tether – I began to worry that I would be accused of mule rustling. As I reached the village it was getting to dusk – one or two men used the two hands at the side of the head ‘sleeping’ gesture as an invitation to stay overnight – I thought they looked quite sweet doing that – I managed to decline by muttering about ‘mon voiture’. Somehow I slipped inside the voiture quietly without having to go through the lengthy elaborate ceremony of mint tea making. Despite Igdet in theory being a relatively easy quick grab from the road, I was too tired to be sociable.

Overnight on the edge of Arg village – falling asleep to the accompaniment of braying mules, ululating women and the mullah’s call to prayer.

Lakeside bedroom

One of the pleasures of travelling in a motorhome is that one night you can be high up in the Atlas mountains, the next night listening to the waves on a large lake created by the Barrage Ahmed el Hansali in the middle of Morocco close to the delightedly vowelly Ouaoumana. From Arg to Ouaoumana. Being besides a lake also gave me the chance to do what the Moroccans do whenever there is even a small pool of water, clean their cars. The van was literally covered in dust inside and outside – even things inside the cupboards were covered in a film of desert sand.

Back in the Middle Atlas

Toubkal at Imlil

13-06-2013 - 15-06-2013

Imlil from above

Trouble at the mill, sorry I mean Toubkal at Imlil.

After the altitude difficulties I met at Mgoun, there was no way that I was going to tackle Morocco’s highest mountain – or indeed, the highest mountain in north Africa – in a single day. Jebel Toubkal is 4166m, P3755 and destined to be the highest point I have walked to and the most prominent peak. Obviously it is also an Ultra.

Toubkal in the clouds

Around Aroumd

By the time I reached Imlil (1734m) it was late afternoon and too late to set off on the supposedly five hour walk to the refuge. I managed to get a parking space undercover and guarded overnight at the top of the village – and the car park people had no problem with me wanting to sleep in my vehicle. I went for an evening walk on a track that took me high (about 2200m) directly above Imlil and then across to Aroumd which is the next village on the route to Toubkal.

I returned to Imlil on the usual track that is used to get up to the refuge – so I was now familiar with how the main walk starts. There would have been a grand view of Toubkal itself if it hadn't been covered in cloud. I was to realise eventually that it seems to get clouded quite regularly in the evenings – and indeed a bit like the Alps there are local thunderstorms in the late afternoon.

Next morning after a fairly restful sleep, despite being quite close to the main thoroughfare, I made an early start. The path is very well used by hill walkers, trekkers, locals and mules. Once you find the start of the real uphill stuff at N31.11511 W7.91991 (1959m), after crossing the valley floor you would be hard pushed to get lost. I believe that the West Highland way is known to some as the Andrex way because of regular deposits, this path could be named the mule-pooh way. Nevertheless there are some demanding stretches that get harder as the altitude increases and the air pressure drops. I am glad I was not doing it in the midday heat. There are good views of the mountain and a number of stalls selling jus d’orange etc. along the way. 

A view of Toubkal on the way up to the refuge

First view of refuges

Both the refuges

Refuge Toubkal

Sounds like thunder

As I managed to get to the Toubkal Refuge N31.06295 W7.93790 (3207m) in less than four hours it was still morning when I arrived there. I debated with myself briefly about carrying on to the top and then thought better of it. Although my acclimatisation was better I still felt a little groggy. I thought I would have a siesta sleep and then review the situation later. As it happened I slept until after 4.00pm  - and I wasn't the only one; indeed I got the impression three young Germans in the same dormitory as me slept right through from early afternoon to the following morning. And when I awoke there was cloud and frequent rolls of thunder. I went for a stroll higher up the valley, giving me a chance to have a quick look across to the main route to the summit, and then back to the refuge for a delicious barley soup and a vegetarian tajine.

I was up at first light and after a quick breakfast was ready for the off. I wasn't the first party to leave but – to my surprise, especially as I was easily the oldest person there and I was in no rush - I soon overtook everyone else. I learnt later that several people who set off after me, who like me had not hired local guides, were using me as their route finder (if only they knew me, they would have not been so trusting) and I assume that  although they could have possibly overtaken me they chose not to. As a tourist route it is fairly obvious, well worn and with frequent graffiti/tags. Some of the micro navigation – i.e. do you go right or left of that  big rock was a bit of a puzzle at times but quite soon you could find the most worn route. 

The hardest route finding is where the snow lingers. Couple of clues to others turn left N31.06192 W7.93433 (3334m) and then right at N31.06274 W7.93273 (3390m), up to a false col at N31.06056 W7.92807 (3604m). At this point you realise there is still a long way to go but don't worry you soon get a view of the false summit. My advice, take the track that keeps to the right before getting to the ridge and turning left. Save the track down the middle for a quick descent on not very good scree.

Highest point in north Africa

I had the pleasure of the summit to myself for several minutes and as it was still earlier than 9.00am the sun was at a low angle. Unfortunately the haze meant that the distant views were limited. But, hey, I was there and with only little awareness of the low air pressure.

Without a shadow of doubt

Hazy summit view

Later, I was talking to one of the guides who had reached the summit some minutes after me and he had heard me talking about Mgoun to someone else the previous evening. He told me he came from nearby there. I asked him which village and, of course, it was the home of the children of Assaka. He agreed the gorge was not friendly and sarcastically referred to it as the ‘happy valley’.

Is that the way down?

On the way down

Mind the mules

The return to Imlil was long and arduous but didn't take as long as I had been told it would, despite falling over twice – once because a fully laden mule barged into me. I was tired and felt fractious with the stall-holders imploring me to ‘look inside my shop’ and a late afternoon thunderstorm was brewing. Time to go I thought.

Toubkal mouflon

Overnight at literally the road summit of the Col of Tizi n Test pass (2100m)