Western High Atlas 2006
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Climbing the main summits in Western High Atlas during the year 2006: Jbel Toubkal, Timesguida, and Ras N'ouanoukrim (Ouanoukrim)
The "mountain route" begins in the village of Imlil. From Marrakech, we headed south on a road to Asni, just over 40 km from Marrakech. From Asni to Imlil we continued along a dirt road passable by car, but in some sites we may encounter landslides due to water. From Asni to Imlil is approximately 15 km more.
The village of Imlil is very small, basically a dirt road about 200 m long with houses (almost all of them are shops) to both sides. Typically, the people (sellers) of Imlil will rush at us to sell us anything.
At Imlil we can hire a mule to carry all the material to the refuge. The difference in altitude is about 1,400 m, from Imlil which is located about 1,800 m to the refuge which is about 3,200 m. At a good pace, the approach is about 5 h, so the use of a mule will be a great help and we will be more rested the next day to climb a mountain.
The path to the refuge does not present any technical difficulty. Slowly, we ascend and begin to see the snowy mountain tops, what we came for.
Soon after leaving Imlil, we passed near the small village of Aroumd, where we can see the traditional Moroccan architecture of this area. The material used in the construction of the buildings (I guess adobe and baked clay bricks) makes the houses mimic their environment.
Halfway between Imlil and the refuge, at about 2 or 3 hours of Imlil, Sidi Chamharouch is reached, a small village that is a place of pilgrimage because it is the marabout Sidi Chamharouch (similar to a chapel). Of "forced stop", we can find several stalls of soft drinks and stores of mineral stones and traditional products. The "mountain tradition" is to stop to drink a tea.
At the end of the route we reached the refuge of Toubkal, also called Louis Neltner. This refuge has all the usual services of a mountain refuge and is designed to Berber style.
Normally the mules go up until where the snow starts, since it seems they are not very fond of "wet feet". We were lucky and the snow began just at the refuge. It's amazing to find this refuge that consists of several buildings in the middle of the mountain at this altitude.
The refuge of Toubkal is situated at 3207 m and depends on the French Alpine Club (CAF).
In the refuge there is only mobile phone coverage in the window that faces north, so all mobile phones are placed there. When a mobile phone rings, people desperately rushes to catch their mobile phones...
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