The girlfriend isn't really into mountain climbing. She's fit enough to do a 32KM walk, but after that she'll not be able to walk for the next couple of days . She wants to visit Marrakech. I'm OK with that, but I want some fun too.

Do you think that it ispossible to take her up Toubkal around the 13th of november?
Would she need much more than a pair of decent shoes?
How much time would we need?
Is it possible to visit Marrakech and climb Toubkal in 7 days?

Thanks!

From looking at the page, it seems that snow might be your main concern. Since it's early in the season it might not be much but sounds like it would be perfect for a nice little ice sheet requiring the use of crampons.

I did Toubkal in a two day trip from Marrakesh. I want to say I was in Marrakesh for all of five days, including the side trip to Toubkal, so I think seven days will be plenty.

I and the guy I climbed it with were pretty fit, so you could probably do it more comfortably in three days. I don't remember the names of the towns, but the truck ride up into the last village where you start hiking was pretty rough. Crazy driver. Also, on the way back, we had to cram inside a cab with four or five other guys. Arabic music blasting from the car radio. An adventure no doubt, but your girlfriend might not find it as palatable.

I did it in June, and it was pretty cold at night at the Neltner hut, but we just had street clothes and wore everything we had. I have no idea what snow conditions, if any, will be like. It's certainly worth trying while you're there.

BTW, the medina in Marrakesh supposedly isn't as nice as the one in Fez. Morocco is a tough place to travel, but I had a great trip.

Snow might be a concern for my GF - I love it! She's going to buy a decent pair of shoes, I'll rent her some crampons too. I'm hoping to camp out, it might be colder, but I'll keep her warm. Just need to get her training. Not to sure she's up for something like this right now. Problem is, I don't want to give her too much info now as she might back out. But enough so she knows she'll have to train.

I was in the M'Goun (central Atlas) in November 2004. We got a little snow storm and temperatures down to -10°C at night at 2500m. But it gets quite warm during daytime as soon as the sun gets out. Here my trip report with a few pictures : http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/374204/Moroccan-Dreams-a-trek-through-the-Central-High-Atlas-and-the-Djebel-Sahro.html.
Enjoy!

Thanks!

WouterB wrote:Problem is, I don't want to give her too much info now as she might back out. But enough so she knows she'll have to train.

LOL Make sure to train her on walking DOWNHILL. I've taken quite a few people (in good shape) in the mountains now and the common theme is that they struggle going downhill; those muscles just don't get trained very well.

And we booked it

I'll be in Morocco from the 7th untill the 14th. Couple of days in Marrakech and a couple of days in the Atlas mountains.

Anyone got a map with the altitude lines etc. on it? I read that it's quite hard to find your way from Imlil to the start of the trail.

I'd be more days in the mountains, at least 3 days. Are you going to travel by plane Note that it will be snow (and ice) there and the weather can be a bit severe. It's not difficult to find the trail from Imlil, you only have to follow the main street straightly. Anyway, you could hire a mule to the snow line. It would carry your backpack to the snow line and it's cheap. BTW, I have a topographic map of the area. Though it's not very good I bought it in Imlil

Diego Sahagún wrote:I'd be more days in the mountains, at least 3 days. Are you going to travel by plane Note that it will be snow (and ice) there and the weather can be a bit severe. It's not difficult to find the trail from Imlil, you only have to follow the main street straightly. Anyway, you could hire a mule to the snow line. It would carry your backpack to the snow line and it's cheap. BTW, I have a topographic map of the area. Though it's not very good I bought it in Imlil

I'll try to get as many days in the mountains as I can, but I also have to keep in mind that this is not really MY trip. It's OUR trip. No need to drag the GF into the mountains for a whole vacation, I know she won't enjoy it. This year I'll have spend a total of 6 - 7 weeks climbing without her.

I don't really care about the weater. Love snow and cold. GF not so much, but I'm getting her some decent gear, so she should be fine. Do you think I need a mule? I don't. I'm not planning on taking that much up. It's only a short climb. Not even sure if I bring crampons. Will bring an ice axe!

Any chance you could scan that map? Or atleast the important part(s)?

WouterB my brother has that map. You can send him a mail and he will give it to you ...
Has been on toubkal 6 years ago or so ...

WouterB wrote:

Diego Sahagún wrote:I'd be more days in the mountains, at least 3 days. Are you going to travel by plane Note that it will be snow (and ice) there and the weather can be a bit severe. It's not difficult to find the trail from Imlil, you only have to follow the main street straightly. Anyway, you could hire a mule to the snow line. It would carry your backpack to the snow line and it's cheap. BTW, I have a topographic map of the area. Though it's not very good I bought it in Imlil

I'll try to get as many days in the mountains as I can, but I also have to keep in mind that this is not really MY trip. It's OUR trip. No need to drag the GF into the mountains for a whole vacation, I know she won't enjoy it. This year I'll have spend a total of 6 - 7 weeks climbing without her.

I don't really care about the weater. Love snow and cold. GF not so much, but I'm getting her some decent gear, so she should be fine. Do you think I need a mule? I don't. I'm not planning on taking that much up. It's only a short climb. Not even sure if I bring crampons. Will bring an ice axe!

Any chance you could scan that map? Or atleast the important part(s)?

Jbel Toubkal normal route is not a short climb Wouter and I think you should go with that in your mind. If there is ice and you don't take your crampons you wont be able to cross those icy sections and you probably will have to descend instead. By the way my scaner is broken. D'you have any guidebook or anything

Diego Sahagún wrote:Jbel Toubkal normal route is not a short climb Wouter and I think you should go with that in your mind. If there is ice and you don't take your crampons you wont be able to cross those icy sections and you probably will have to descend instead. By the way my scaner is broken. D'you have any guidebook or anything

I'm only starting to look into it. One thing I'm starting to notice is that I will indeed need to bring crampons. I think it might be better to take 1 piolet and just rope the GF up and attach her to me. But yes, I'll probably need crampons.

The reason I was trying to avoid that is because I don't plan on taking my Baruntse's and my automatic crampons only attach to those. So yeah, I'll have to get some normal crampons somewhere. 2 pairs... .

The route itself doesn't look that hard. Besides, if the weather really turns ugly, the GF is staying inside anyway.

Wouter, nobody rope on the normal route of Jbel Toubal. If you are not sure about your girlfriend performance then aim at another objective such as only approaching to Refuges du Toubkal or a hike visiting berebers' small villages