Day 1: Europe - Marrakech
Accommodation: hotel. Free meals.
Flight to Marrakech and hotel installation.
Depending on the time of arrival of the flight, there is still time to enjoy Marrakech, especially the square and souks with exotic scents and precious fabrics, both tourist "spot" and lookout of bricks worn by time. Djemaa el-Fna Square, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is the meeting place for snake and monkey watchers, world "watchers," dazzled backpackers and shopkeepers who pile on their date trailers, figs and specks of sun in strange mountains.
Day 2: Marrakech - Imlil - Aït Souka (1750 m)
Positive level: 300 m.
Negative level: 300 m. 3 hours walk.
Accommodation: lodging.
Meal included: morning, noon, evening.
Transfer: 1:30 a.m.
Transfer to Imlil via the moulay Brahim Gorge and the village of Asni. We will spend two nights in a cottage in the village of Aït Souka. Quality accommodation, with superb views, run by Ahmed Aït Hammou, Moroccan guide for many years and key man for the entire Toubkal sector. Ahmed now offers a traditional beldi hammam inside the cottage (indicative rate: 50 Dhs).
After lunch at the cottage, it's off to a first leg, towards Tachedirt. We discover in passing the typical villages of the Assif n'Imenane, with their agricultural traditions from the Berber mountaineers. The irrigated terraces rise very high on the flanks of the valley. The upper channel (targa) forms an almost straight boundary between the brown of the mountain and the green of the crops; the villages are built above to not lose any acres of fertile land.
Day 3: Tizi n'Mzik (2520 m)
Positive level: 800 m.
Negative level: 800 m. 4 to 5 hours walk.
Accommodation: lodging.
Meal included: morning, noon, evening.
A day of acclimatization and fitness in the pretty Imlil Valley. After crossing several villages, an open path leads to a pass, the tizi (local name) n'Mzik, just over 2500 meters. This type of trail gives a first glimpse of what we will discover on the following days: often stony, but well plotted, and with patches of snow. In general, the lunch, carried by a mule, is taken at the collar. It is possible to climb on the rumps above the pass for a superb view of the two valleys. Back to Aït Souka.
Day 4: Aït Souka - Toubkal refuge
Positive level: 1200 m. 5:30 walk.
Accommodation: shelter.
Meal included: morning, noon, evening.
The climb to the refuge begins by following the canals that irrigate the terraced crops. After the lunch break in the small village (and marabout) of Sidi Chamarouch, the mountain becomes more arid. Snow is usually there; in this case, porters take over from the mules. Overnight at the Toubkal hut (Neltner hut, 3210 m), kept all winter (dorms, toilets and showers, common room with fireplace).
Day 5: Ouanoukrim (4088 m)
Positive level: 1100 m.
Negative level: 1100 m. 5 to 6 hours walk.
Accommodation: shelter.
Meal included: morning, noon, evening.
The valley of the assif n Aït Mizane, at first very soft — beautiful view of the needles of the Akioud, at 4030 meters — gives access by a steeper slope to the tizi n'Ouagane (3750 m). A "path" winds over the ridge and gradually disappears. Around 3850 meters, it is sometimes necessary to use hands to pass (small cracks, gendarmes to get around, blocks to overcome); playful and without any particular difficulty. The suite is gently sloping, on stabilized screes of dark and hard lavas, snowy in winter; a remarkable panoramic route. We first climb to the Timesguida n'Ouanoukrim, the "Ouanoukrim Mosque", and then once back in the saddle between the two peaks, it is tempting to climb also to Ras Ouanoukrim (again, it may be necessary to help a little hands). Second night at the shelter.
Day 6: Ascension of the Toubkal (4167 m)
Positive level: 960 m.
Negative level: 960 m. 5 to 6 hours walk.
Accommodation: shelter.
Meal included: morning, noon, evening.
Day 7: Toubkal Refuge - Imlil - Marrakech
Negative level: 1200 m. 3 to 4 hours walk.
Accommodation: hotel.
Meal included: morning, noon.
Free meal: evening.
Transfer: 1:30 a.m.
A pleasant descent takes us from a high mountain setting to the irrigated valleys that lead by Sidi Chamarouch (marabout) to the beautiful cultivated flat of Aremd (1900 m). Lunch at the cottage in Aït Souka. Then drive to Marrakech, where we arrive in mid-afternoon. Hotel installation. Farewell dinner (rather goodbye) with the guide in a ryad.
Day 8: Marrakech - Europe
Meal included: morning.
Free meals: noon, evening.
Transfer to the airport and return flight to Europe.