Category Archives: Guidebook(s)
Top Guidebooks for Mountaineering, Climbing & Bouldering in Morocco
Good guidebooks are an essential piece of gear for the climber and mountaineer. Ideally, a solid guidebook will have great concise route descriptions, clean photos with routes clearly marked, a bit of beta on protection, and the necessary information for approaches and descents. Good information on local accommodation, transport, supplies etc. are some of the other elements that make up a good guidebook.
Below are guidebooks we recommend for your mountaineering, climbing and bouldering adventures in Morocco.
For a comprehensive mountaineering guidebook for the High Atlas Mountains we suggest getting Des Clark’s Mountaineering in the Moroccan High Atlas – Walks, Climbs and Scrambles over 3,000m. Des, our senior guide, has lived in Morocco and guided all over the High Atlas Mountains. In this guidebook he brings together his local knowledge and his many years of experience as a guide to give you a great resource for your adventures in the High Atlas.
For a guide to more technical rock and ice routes in the Toubkal Massif we recommend Toubkal Guia de Ascensiones y Escaladas by David Taura Riera. While not everyone will be able to understand the text in Spanish, the book is worth it just for the topos of the routes. It does also give you good beta on the technical equipment you will need for your chosen route. Be sure to google translate the equipment list to ensure you have the right kit for your trip.
Moving on to pure rock climbing guides, we would recommend the two volume set for the Anti-Atlas mountains: Tafraout – Rock Climbing in Morocco’s Anti-Atlas. These two books contain a life time’s worth of trad climbing and give excellent information for your trip logistics. There are now also mini-pocket guides of the best areas, giving you the top starred routes, and they are also conveniently small enough to shove in a jacket pocket.
For more information on the guides and the Anti-Atlas check out www.climb-tafraout.com
Now we come to one of my favourite places in Morocco: the big wall limestone area known as Taghia! This gorge has earned a top spot in the international climbing scene with climbers such as Alex Honnald and Arnaud Petit making repeated trips.
For this area we would recommend getting the guide Taghia Montagnes Berberes by Christian Ravier. This book is written in French but again the topos of the routes make it well worth its price. You can also find hand-drawn topos of other routes not included in this guide in the local gites in Taghia, so be sure to have a good look around. The Taghia area primarily offers sport climbing with many well-equipped routes. However, it is worth bringing a set of micro and standard cams and a set of nuts to pad out protection and belay stances for the less well-equipped routes.
For a great article in English for logistics help check out: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2008
What about a bouldering guide for Morocco? 2015 saw the launch of the excellent digital guidebook for low to mid level bouldering for the amazing Oukaimeden area of the High Atlas. This guidebook app is available for both android and iphones. All the routes have a topo, grade and GPS co-ordinates so all you need for locating and selecting your route is your phone! We like this guide for its features such as grade selection: choose a practical grade and the slick filtering system will bring up all routes in the area you are in. The guide is published by Rakkup and put together by Imik’sImik Bouldering and Climb Morocco.
Climbing Guidebook Marrakech Region
Climbing Guidebook for the Marrakech Region
Over the years, I have enjoyed sport climbing in an area about and hour and half north of Marrakech called Ain Belmusk. The location is pretty remote but is beautiful and boasts some great sport routes from French 4+ to 7a.
Climb Morocco has produced a great little digital mini guide for the area, which gives clear directions, good topos, grades and other useful information about the area. It costs no more than £5.00 and will give you a good couple of days climbing.
Be on the look out for other mini-guides for climbing areas around Marrakech and the High Atlas region!
Contact Climb Morocco directly for purchase of the mini guide at info@climbmorocco.com
Morocco Trad Climbing | Tafraout Guidebooks
In part 2 of our mini-series on Morocco trad climbing we look at the latest guidebooks to Tafraout and the wider Anti-Atlas area. If you missed the first, part 1 was a full-bodied taster to the Morocco trad climbing scene in Tafraout, and part 3 rounds the series off on basic logistics.
Go-to guidebooks to Morocco trad climbing in Tafraout
So as I mentioned previously, Jay and I were keen to get our hands on the newly released guidebooks for the Anti-Atlas, specifically documenting trad climbing. On our first evening in Tafraout we were able to meet up with the books’ author, Steve Broadbent, at the Restaurant La Kasbah. He and a bunch of other climbers were over for the release of the books (published by the Oxford Alpine Club) and after a friendly chat with Steve we secured our copies and spent most of the evening gripped by the endless possibilities laid out in the books. If you are planning a trip to the Anti-Atlas for an amazing Morocco trad climbing adventure then look no further then the two-volume set of guidebooks. They really are a must for your trip.
Everything from bouldering to sport climbing and huge mountain routes
Steve and the Oxford Alpine Club have really upped their game with this definitive and comprehensive set of books, which cover everything from roadside granite bouldering and sport climbing that surrounds the town of Tafraout to the mammoth quartzite mountain routes that will test even the slickest and most efficient of parties.
A lifetime’s worth of Morocco trad climbing
Volume 1 covers the south side of Jebel el Kest and the Ameln Valley while volume 2 takes in the north side of Jebel Kest and Jebel Taskra. With this set you are armed with a lifetime’s worth of multi-pitch trad climbing. There are almost 2,000 routes within the pages of the two-volume set.
Well put-together guidebooks
What I love about the guidebooks:
- Clear maps and directions i.e. the accurate information that will get you in and out of the crags/areas you have selected for your trip
- Excellent route information including: grades, good topos and concise and clear route descriptions and other helpful route info
- Crag selector section – I really like this because it gives you all the pertinent information for each crag/area in summary form, including: name and location of the crags/areas, style of climbing (mountain route, single pitch, roadside crag, sport, multi-pitch trad etc.), driving and walk-in times, number of routes at each grade i.e. five E2s, and more
- The books have a wealth of good information on accommodation, transport, history of climbing in the Anti-Atlas, local culture, restaurants and tourist attractions
To purchase these books in the UK see: www.climb-tafraout.com/tafraout-guidebook
Or you can buy them for 450 Moroccan dirhams in Tafraout at the following places:
- Hotel Les Amandiers
- Maison Troc
As mentioned in the last post, we at The Mountain People can offer you guiding on multi-pitch Morocco trad climbing routes up to E1 with a qualified Mountaineering Instructor (MIA) who lives in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco and speaks the local Arabic dialect. Contact us at: morocco@the-mountain-people.com
All the best to you on your upcoming adventures!
Tags: Anti-Atlas Guidebook, Anti-Atlas multi-pitching trad, Tafraout Guidebook
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