UKC

Despite being the out of season stomping ground for the likes of Joe Brown and Twid Turner for many, many years, the Quartzite mountains of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas still provide what seems to be an endless supply of unclimbed rock as well as a rapidly developing list of three star classics of literally all grades.

Andi Turner writes about blood, sweat and tears in Jebel el Kest.

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In reply to UKC Articles:

great article Andi, very well written . worth mentioning that if you're a fussy, non-French-speaking vegan, you may find yourself relying heavily on Oreos for hillfood!

In reply to UKC Articles:

My advice is to carry plenty of spare cash. We hadn't realised that drinks (including tea and water) were not include in the price per night for the kasbah. We were lucky we had enough because it's about a 1 hour drive each way to the nearest ATM. We also got stopped several times on the road by police for 'speeding' and had to pay a special 'fine'. However this was on the drive between Marrakesh and Tafroute. Locally we had no issues.

It's a really great place though and the Kasbah is great.

In reply to riven:

Excellent article that Andi and really well written.
AP.

In reply to AP Melbourne:

Wow, high praise indeed! Thanks Andy!!!

In reply to UKC Articles:
I've just got around to reading this article. Good work Mr. T. Your passion for what we love shines through. Whilst I don't care for trad (don't shoot me) I am so inspired to go and climb some highballs above a couple of pads. If every destination article was this good, I'd have to turn to crime to fund my increasing dreams. I would say keep at it, but there's clearly no need

In reply to Fishmate:

That's very kind of you, I'm glad you liked it. Needless to say, there was a lot of rock and certainly plenty of highballing opportunity. You could literally go and only climb first ascents for the entire duration of a trip. The sort of general consensus from the regulars we spoke to was that if you weren't climbing a three star route, you were probably making a second ascent anyway.

More pictures here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskSUHRzg

Andi

In reply to UKC Articles:
Talk about timing! Awesome article and really exciting to read as we're heading out there in March: 3 days in Tafraout and 3 days at Kasbah Tizourgane (they were already booked for the week and we had to take a cancellation.). I'm climbing Sev to VS and my partner to E1 so we'll be tackling some slightly less challenging routes than you're hitting... but great to here there are a variety in these grades. Thanks for the article - wish us luck! all the best

In reply to UKC Articles:

the whole time i was there I never noticed the actual lions face in the lions face hahaha!!

Your picture is the first time I was able to make it out !!

to add to your write up , the Marrakesh in tafarout is good for grub

In reply to UKC Articles:

Fantastic write up. Takes me back to an amazing couple of weeks 3 years ago. We were on a budget so did 10 days self catering in Tafraoute and then a couple of nights at the Kasbah on the way home as a treat. We were climbing in the lower grades, loads to go at although the serious and remote nature of the climbing is there at all grades I think.

Longing to go back now!

In reply to Snoweider:

Yes, that's definitely how it feels. You're not a million miles away, but there's definitely a sense being quite removed. I think the grades generally reflect this too.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Just got back from a week in Tafraoute and didn't have any problems getting through the airport, no bribes needed and didn't see any cash exchanging hands. The only problem we had was Rhino car hire looking for a 12,000 Dirham (£1000) deposit via a credit card that we didn't have, for a car that probably wasn't worth much more than that. Looking at the small print it had been mentioned but we'd not spotted it back home. We managed to find another car from a man in the airport car park easily enough

Kasbah restaurant is good for food as is the Cafe Alfaath just down the road, a cheap place to mix with the locals. The Cafe Zrda is also a good and cheap place to eat. Maison de Troc is great for a visit, but beware if you go you may come out with a carpet.

In reply to Paul Figg:

LOL his prices were kind of mental , even with the exchange of chalk he was looking for 10 times the amount you'd spend on a carpet in Marrakesh .

In reply to riven:

I got fined once in Morocco under a dubious pretext and ended up coughing up about 10 quid which went straight into the copper's pocket. A local told us this was pretty standard practice, but he also said that if you were a tourist and you got assertive and asked for their name and number, they would back down. Tried that second time round and it worked a treat!