UKC

Morocco Rock Guidebook

© Crack Addicts

Morocco Rock is the ‘must have’ and much acclaimed definitive guidebook and a vital tool for any trad climbing trip to Morocco. It has been nominated category finalist at the prestigious Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Awards and contains around 1,000 routes on the north side of the Jebel el Kest and Jebel Taskra mountain ranges near Agadir. This area is only a stone’s throw from Europe, easily accessed in an hour and a half from the airport and includes some of the best ‘sunny winter trad climbing’ to be found anywhere.

The rock climbing on the North Side, which is comprehensively covered by this guide, by consensus, supersedes the original earlier development on the south side of the range. This is due to the huge variety of crags, better and wider choice of venues, each with their own unique character, and the generally more fertile terrain, providing a more picturesque and idyllic backdrop. The diversity of cliff aspects here provide a convenient choice for the climber, allowing for differing climatic conditions and sunny or shady preferences. The climbing is also surprisingly accessible in the main, almost akin to ‘cragging’ in places, with convenient roadside cliffs, as well as more remote and adventurous settings to be found deep into the heart of these ranges.

Check out this page for a detailed crag list

Features included within the guide:

  • Detailed and accurate maps to the six major areas by Don Sargeant
  • Precise and informative topos for all the crags, including useful overviews and road junction insets for easy navigation around the area
  • Inspiring action photography, not only of the easily accessible classics, but also of the more remote and esoteric routes
  • An engaging and colorful historical section written by Mike Mortimer, covering the entire development of the area and a heartfelt foreword by Sir Chris Bonington, both enthusiastic pioneers of the region
  • Other information about where to stay, car hire and useful gear to take, as well as interesting notes and photos of local flora, fauna and geology
  • A detailed and comprehensive route index
  • Available from www.moroccorock.com

Check out the destination article for more info on the region

 

An added bonus is the free PDF supplement, received when purchasing the guidebook through the www.moroccorock.com website, and which is updated every few months by the industrious authors Emma Alsford and Paul Donnithorne, meaning that your guidebook never goes out of date!

Morocco Rock Supplement  © Crack Addicts

 


For more information Morocco Rock



10 Oct, 2013
Its a nice book, although I found the coverage of easier routes (below E1) a little vague and we had some trouble with some of the maps, which had crags marked in the wrong place (we got lost lots) Still an awesome place for a climbing trip though. We also just bought the newer one, which looks like it covers everything in this guide and much more - cant wait to get out there again!
10 Oct, 2013
And even more, including some views on how it came to be "definitive", at http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=522853
14 Oct, 2013
"coverage of easier routes (below E1) a little vague" and "trouble with some of the maps" Can you be a little more specific please - as these comments (and the conveniently added "plug" which you make after them..) seem to be another obvious slur from the competition, which I am getting awfully fed up with on these forums - The routes were very well researched (with much interaction and email exchanges with first ascentionists - far more than was ever done with other guides I could mention) and there is far more detail on routes generally, compared with either of the two previous guides, not just a focus and concentration on the routes that we have done either!! As for the maps - these were done by an extremely experienced graphic designer who has been producing maps for guidebooks since before most users of ukc were born, in conjunction with the other main author Paul, who has done more climbing out in this region of Morocco than anybody - trust me I've added up the meterage of climbing myself..and he knows the area extremely well, including visiting every single crag, not just the ones he has climbed at, so while there is always room for some errors in the production of these guidebooks, I find it most unlikely that anyone would have "trouble with some of the maps" and maybe your map reading skills should be questioned - that or your obvious loyalty to the competition. Anyway, suffice to say we are very proud to have achieved Banff Finalist with our guide, and many users of it have emailed us to say how pleased they are with their Morocco Rock guide.
14 Oct, 2013
How Morocco Rock came "to be definitive" Again, I have to say I am taken aback by another obvious attack - for your information, this guidebook came to be definitive, partly because of the huge amount of time and commitment that Ben Wintringham put into the area - in meticulously recording in detail all the routes that were being climbed on the north side (information available to all and copied by some), and partly because of the huge amount of time and effort that Paul and I made in continuing with his work. Ben had created a fantastic website and was also working towards a guidebook (pre 2006) and after his untimely death we took up the task of producing this book, which is a legacy to Ben and all his hard work and passion he felt for the area - We were also helped by many, many main activists of the area, who all played an important role in helping to make this guidebook as accurate as it could be, which of course is extremely hard for a relatively "young" area which has had a minimal amount of repeats on its routes.
14 Oct, 2013
The plug was so subtle that until you highlighted it just now I hadn't even realised there was a bigger, newer and more wide reaching guide out! I wouldn't personally have chosen to read any criticism of the guide as a slur from the competition. For one thing, as I've said above, in responding you've highlighted far more obviously the fact that there is a newer guide now out. Well done on Banff. Its always looked like a nice guide when I've flicked through it in the shops.
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