Morocco Ski
Mountaineering: Skiing
The
morning after getting settled into the refuge we were finally ready to do some
actual skiing. There were numerous
couloirs to ski in the valley, but the guidebook mentioned just two that were located
on the north face of Tazaghart, the Descent Couloir and the Diagonal
Couloir. For our first objective we
decided on the Descent Couloir.
Deceptively difficult rock step in the Diagonal Couloir
The
Descent Couloir is the most obvious couloir in the valley and we set off in the
morning, skinning from the Lepiney Refuge.
We skinned up the apron of the north face until we arrived at the base
of our route. From there, it was time to
throw the skis on our back and boot up the couloir proper. The snow in the couloir was a mix between
easily bootable firm snow and softer snow that we would sink in to about knee-deep. Taking turns leading up the couloir, we got
about three quarters of the way up and were stopped because the top of the
couloir had been windswept and was super rocky, not allowing us to ski that
portion. This meant that we would not be
topping out on Tazaghart, which is a long, flat plateau that is supposedly
large enough to land a plane on. From
the end of the snow line we clicked into our skis and were ready for our first
real turns in Africa. The couloir was of
moderate steepness and not too narrow allowing us an enjoyable ski
descent. We took turns skiing down pitch
by pitch and were soon down to the apron.
For our first route in Africa, we were pretty pleased.
On the right: Descent Couloir, Narrow strip in the middle: Hidden Couloir, To the left of Hidden Couloir: Route that wasn't connected, On the left: Diagonal Couloir
The
next day, we intended to ski a couloir right next to the Descent Couloir that
looked like it would go. Unfortunately,
halfway up the couloir we realized that there was a rock cliff in the way, and
what we thought was the upper part of the couloir happened to be the upper
reaches of yet another couloir. We skied
down what we could and ended up at the base of the Diagonal Couloir, which was
right next door to our intended route.
As we
booted up the Diagonal Couloir we found a snow ravine in the middle of it that
ran the vertical length of the route. In
places it was between five and six feet deep.
I had never seen anything quite like it.
We were hoping at some point it would end, but it just kept going. We reached a small rock step in the couloir
that would have been a piece of cake to climb with no snow on the rock and
running shoes but was a different story with ski boots and snow covered
rock. With a little work, we were able
to get over the rock step, but much to
our chagrin, the snow ravine continued upward.
We decided to continue on but shortly came to yet another rock step that
looked even larger. With the thought of
having to downclimb the previous rock step in our minds, we decided to call it
and head down. The snow ravine cut right
through our already narrow couloir and we had to ingloriously walk down the
route. Once again we had been denied the
chance to reach the top of Tazaghart.
Hidden Couloir
After
two days in the Lepiney valley, we had done a pretty good recon and had picked
out two other couloirs to attempt that looked promising. The next day, we were ready to try a hidden
couloir we had spied previously. It
looked like a very thin strip of snow plastered to the north face, just what we
had come all the way here for. Again, we
skinned to the base of the route before having to boot. Just as we had suspected, the couloir was
moderately steep and extremely narrow.
We took turns in the lead and made good time reaching the top of the
couloir. Of course, the top of the route
wasn’t quite the top of the ever elusive summit of Tazaghart. This didn’t matter much to us, we were
psyched on our descent. We downclimbed
about 10m from the top where we carefully put on our skis on a precariously
steep slope, not wanting to kick a ski down and have it sail down the length of
the couloir. The route being so narrow,
jump turns were mandatory the whole way down.
Between the energy-sapping jump turns and the elevation of between
11,000 and 12,000 ft, we were breathing hard and skiing in short pitches. Couloir skiing being perhaps my favorite type
of skiing, I was loving it. There was
one section too narrow to even side-slip down and had to be downclimbed. Our legs were aching when we finally made it
to the bottom of the route. Once again we
skied down the valley, taking a chance to look up behind us at the proud route
we had just completed.
Hidden Couloir
From
our vantage on the north face of Tazaghart, we saw another steep, narrow couloir
on the opposite side of the valley. It
looked like it would be a go and we would attempt it the next day. The next morning we woke to some extremely
high winds and decided to wait a while in the morning to see if they would calm
down. Towards afternoon, the winds had
still not died down and it looked as if we would just have to call this a rest
day. Luckily around 1:30, I went outside
and saw that finally the winds had abated and we quickly got our gear together. Happy we were able to make it out that
afternoon, we made quick work of the couloir and were on top in about 2
hrs. Being a south facing route, we were
actually climbing in the sun for once.
The view on top was spectacular, mountains surrounded by the arid desert. Since it was later in the day and with the
sun hitting the route all day, the snow was heavy and slushy. This made it even more energy consuming to
make jump turns in the tight couloir.
Never the less, we skied down and only had one short section that was so
narrow we had to side-step down. At one
point during the side stepping, I actually got my ski stuck between two rocks and
had to reach down and use my hand to wiggle it free. We skied back down to the refuge, feeling
lucky we were able to get out that day despite the wind and the late start.
Booting the south facing couloir
Having
spent the last 5 nights at the Lepiney Refuge, we were ready to move on to the
Toubkal Refuge in the adjacent valley.
We would have to traverse over a mountain pass and despite not having to
carry all the food we had ate, our packs still seemed to be quite heavy. A mix of skinning and booting finally brought
us to the top of what was the first false pass.
Just as we were looking across the cwm at our route, we saw two large wild
cats chasing each other around the slope opposite us. They were absolutely sprinting up, down, and
across the snow and rock covered face at an unbelievable speed. They would then catch up to each other and
one would take off, with the other following.
Then they would let out their loud cat cries that reverberated around
the cwm. We would later read that there
are two species of cats that are found in the Toubkal region; the rare lynx and
the even more rare Barbary Leopard.
From our vantage it was hard to tell what they were. They looked to be larger than a lynx and if I
were in the western US, I would have guessed they were mountain lions. I’d like to think they were the Barbary
Leopard, but I don’t think we will ever know.
With some trepidation we continued the traverse around the cwm knowing
the cats were below us and could be on us in seconds. Luckily, we didn’t see them again, but I
wouldn’t have been surprised if they were watching us the whole time. Finally, we surmounted the mountain pass and
skied down to the Toubkal refuge.
South facing couloir
We took
a much needed rest day the following day and planned to climb Toubkal, the
highest peak in Morocco, the next day.
Talking to a few climbers, it didn’t sound like there was much snow on
Toubkal to ski and the next day that was confirmed within the first 20 minutes
of our ascent. We ended up ditching our
skis low down on the route and made quick time up the peak, reaching the top in
a little under two hours. On top of the
highest peak in northern Africa, we were afforded an amazing view of Morocco
and the High Atlas Mountains. We made
quick time getting back down to the refuge and packed our things to head down
to the town of Imlil. We skied a little,
walked a little, and then skied a little bit more down the trail until finally
having to put both skis and boots on our back to walk down. About halfway down, we came to a small
village where the snow on the trail was completely gone and were able to hire a
mule to carry our gear down the rest of the way. Getting our gear carried was quite a luxury
after about 9 days in the mountains. We
reached the mountain town of Imlil in late afternoon and were able to
de-crustify with much needed hot showers and clean clothes.
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