Three more recommended routes in the Verdon

As a companion piece to N routes worth doing in the Verdon Gorge here are three more routes worth doing in Verdon, selected from among those I have done/tried over two short trips this autumn. This text has been added to the original article, in order to make it as complete as possible, but for those who just want to read the new recommendations, here is the update:

Sector ULA

Au-delà du délire 7a/A0 (6c mandatory) 120-200 m Amazing climbing on good pockets. Fairly generously bolted. This ultra-classic route is not done often despite being featured in Parois de Légende. And as it protected by an awkward access it will likely stay free of polish for many years to come. 

Either access via the route ULA which requires a full rack with a double set of cams or by rapping down Tranxène 5. The rap of Tranxène 5 is found about 50 m downstream from Les Marches du Temp on a small ledge one metre below the rim (Tranxène written on the rock at the rim). The rap of Tranxène is very airy.

The third pitch of Au-delà, counting from the traverse

Au-delà du delire was first ascended ground up and follows an impeccably natural line up a very impressive wall, where you would be hard pressed to guess that there was room for a route of such amiable grade. The price for this is a short section of A0 on bolts (no aid-gear needed) through seven metres of friable rock. On the last pitch there used to be an arrow pointing to the right at the second bolt, now the arrow is gone and you have to figure this out by yourself. (Hint: the grade of the last pitch is likely not correct). 

Au-delà du délire is an album by the progressive rock band Ange (1974)

La demande 6a (6a mandatory) 350 m The first route on L'Escàles is still very much worth climbing. The route requires a small rack (cam 0.4 to 2, a set of medium-large wires and some slings – possible but not at all necessary doubling of the 0.4 and 0.5 cam). Every pitch has a few bolts, usually protecting the hard bits. (As such, they are sometimes placed in “illogical” places. Both me and Johan missed bolts while leading.) The route offers a veritable smorgasbord of cracks from fingers via hands to back-foot chimneys, interspersed with normal face climbing. Do not get discouraged by the enormous amount of polish on the first pitch (with its slightly disgusting layback moves on soapy holds) as seemingly a lot of people have been discouraged enough to rap off after that pitch. The rest is quite polished but never to the extend of the first pitch. In fact, due to the polish the jams are very comfortable, and despite not having climbed a route with sustained sections of jams for six years prior to this route I did not get any abrasions on the back of my hands.

Me exiting the chimneys and nearing the top

The line is impeccable and follows an ever widening crack in the middle of the highest wall. The last two pitches offer full-on chimney climbing for 80 m or so without much respite, so climbers who are not quick up 5.9+ chimneys (if you are not sure you are quick, you aint) should count on 8 hours, or even more if they are not confident putting in gear or at climbing easy but run-out terrain.

As we were stuck behind a cosmically slow team from the dolomites and finally had the chance to pass them at the sixth belay I went off route at pitch seven, despite having read the very same morning the explicit warning on camp to camp to

Ne pas suivre la fissure au-dessus de relais (coin + sangles et piton avec maillon rapide), au contraire traverser à droite (flèche gravée dans le rocher), remonter un dièdre, franchir un surplomb par la gauche et traverser immédiatement à gauche dans la dalle pour arriver au relais

guess who followed the crack above the belay... and did not see the arrow carved into the rock? In this way we got to do a nice bit of off-width followed by 30 m of very-hard-to-protect chimney climbing, completely free of polish! Including this little episode of deviation, and the finger crack version Johan did on the previous pitch to by-pass the second of the team ahead of us, we did the route in about five hours, having a lot of grade in hand on all styles the route has to offer.

Johan Hasslow leading the second to last pitch, stemming above the void

After having returned to Marseille, having done the first ascent of the wall of L'Escàles, one of the members of the team proposed to his beloved, hence La Demande

Baume aux Pigeons

A very impressive wall with some aid routes and lots of free climbing potential. Not futuristic, because the future is now. 

Dame Cookie 8a+ (6c mandatory) 120 m + 60 m scrambling  Very modern route up the middle of the imposing Baume aux Pigeons. Makes up in the quality of climbing for what it perhaps lacks in line.

Neither I nor my climbing partner were in sufficiently good shape to have a chance to redpoint in a week-end trip from Toulouse, so we hung like dogs whenever we felt a bit tired. In this style, it is definitely a less challenging proposal than one might think even if it is quite difficult to link the pitches.

The first pitch is OK, and the long easy dihedral that follows is sub-par for the area, but what follows is truly great modern climbing on positive holds. Especially the third pitch (8a) and the fifth pitch (8a+) has some really high quality climbing on it. For teams punching above their weight class, I think that it would be a good idea to break the fifth pitch in two as the leader is out-of-sight and out-of-hearing on the crux bulge. At leat that is what I plan to do if I am going up this with plans of working it with for a future  complete red-point ascent.

Alex follows the third pitch of Dame Cookie

The last pitch has one move (protected by a bolt) just above the belay followed by 55 m of steep bush-whacking through a near vertical forest making it complicated to access the route from above. As the route has a gazzilion bolts it is very easy to work for someone who finds a motivated belayer. But I do think that the route should be possible to onsight or do very quickly from the ground for anyone capable of onsighting 8a on the single pitch crags, as this route was put up with a very modern sensibility towards grades. In fact, I would be more impressed by teams onsighting the neighbouring Les Naufragés (a route with a hard to read crux with less modern style of climbing and way less modern application of free climbing grades).

Zauberberg 7a, Parois de Gramusset

Zauberberg is a Piola route on Parois de Gramusset near Annecy in the French alps. Excellent rock, and airy climbing that avoids the ledges. South east facing, so sun in the afternoon. The route tops out at about 2600 masl, so even in August it was better to climb in the sun.

Only five pitches, we'll do that quickly, we said... 🐢🐢😂. After the approach from Col des Annes, which took almost 2 hours, we decided to climb the first pitch of Sens Unik [sic] to warm up. That worked ok, but the penultimate bolt on Sens Unik's first pitch is a retarded place for climbers shorter than 165 cm (too far to the right).

P1 7a. Well tricky.

P2 7a. “Attention chute possible et pas conseillée au niveau du deuxième point” (Warning, fall possible and inadvisable at the second bolt) the description on camptocamp read... I had a hard time finding a good hold to clip the second bolt, and afterwards my head was shot and it took me forever to finish the pitch.

Julia seconding P2, which she thought was the easiest pitch of the route.

Very happy that Julia took over the leading responsibility for the third and forth pitch.

P3 6c+/7a. Thin at the start. Julia cruised this section, but I was at the limit. Then steep athletic climbing.

Julia leading...

... and me following P3.

P4 6c at least surely? Steeper still!

P5 7a. Oh my! Do not stop to think, just do it.

Overall, I am well proud of having onsighted P2 & P5 and flashed the rest seconding. The route felt a lot harder than it looks on paper.

We rapped the route clipping a few bolts on the steep/traversing parts. There were quick links on all belays and old slings between the bolts. We should have brought an adjustable spanner and a few new quick links as two of them were in a bad state. Particularly the quick link on the second belay.

Gear: 11 draws. It should be OK to haul, if needed. We just clipped a small water bottle to the harness.

Homeward bound....

Der Zauberberg (The magic mountain) is a novel by Thomas Mann.

Patent Ochsner, Pfaffenhut, Wendenstöcke, ED- 7a>6c

While sightseeing in Milan, I saw that the weather looked great in Wendenstöcke and acceptable in Tre Cime. J. has already done Comici so was not so interested in the North face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo but I was, however, unreasonably psyched on doing the Hasse-Brandler direttissima, and forced a 7 hour trip by car to the parking at the Auronzo refuge. By 11 pm we had sorted gear and thrown out the sleeping bags on the ground. Naïvely, I set the alarm for 5 am, so that by 6 am, when we were at the base of the route, there were already a German team on the route with a Catalan team waiting on the ground.

I had a very bad feeling about the first team as both leader and follower had rucksacks. (Preparing for benightment = making absolutely sure benightment happens). The first team took nearly three hours to climb the first two pitches of a seventeen pitch route, which also happens to be more-or-less the two easiest pitches on the entire three hundred meter wide North face. By 9 o'clock we decided to leave the teams in front of us to their sure fate (benightment or bailing) and bailed ourselves without having done a single move.

After another seven hours in the car we were at the parking below the fabled Wendenalp in Switzerland. Because of a reasonable forecast so were quite a few teams. From the selection in Parois de Légende Caminando, Sternschnuppe and Patent Ochsner looked like perfectly sensible options. Caminando being on the long side after two nights of rough sleeping and Sternschnuppe a bit on the runout side we opted for Patent Ochsner on the Pfaffenhut.

Patent Ochsner goes up smack in the middle of Pfaffenhut

Patent Ochsner is an absolutely amazing route. Top ten, surely. Stellar rock with perfect holds: like stacking eight of Céüse's better routes on top of each other, but with unpolished rock and in an even more beautiful setting above a small cattle far in a peaceful alpine valley.

Pitch notes

P1 6b.   The route is easily identified by a sling at waist hight at the start and the trashcan lid on the second bolt with “Patent Ochsner” stamped on it. Scary pitch, maybe mostly because we're unskilled at climbing water runnels. 

The lid on the second bolt. Pictured borrowed from here

Julia past the water runnels on pitch 1, up to normal climbing.

P2 6c+  I remember nothing of this pitch, so I assume it was not demanding.

Near the second belay.

P3 5b    After the first sling Julia went up right in the dihedral (very easy) then to the belay without any intermediate points. There is a bolt straight above the first sling forcing a slightly harder pitch on better rock. Whatever. Very comfortable belay. 

P4 7a.   From the belay, slightly to the right and up to the first bolt (far, pretty easy - around 6a) then with increasing difficulties to a crux at the roof. Then easier climbing to the comfortable belay. 

P5 6c.   Magic! Slightly overhanging start, then vertical climbing on the best limestone imaginable. Belay in a small cave to the right. 

Patent Ochsner, pitch 5. The best 6c pitch I have ever climbed? Maybe.

Near the fifth belay

P6 7a.   Start with a somewhat demanding and exciting traverse back out to the left, then three bolts of technical climbing on very small crimps indeed. Be you still, trembling heart, and all will be fine. Then slightly easier to the top of the pitch. Took more effort than usual for the grade.

Pitch 6.

P7 6c+   Keep something in reserve for this pitch: it is somewhat tricky to find the easiest way up the steep part. I ended up doing some big slaps, and my second did not find a better way either. A sandbag, surely? 

P8 6a+ Another steep pitch, overhangs a few meters on mostly good crimps. The route book should be on the belay but the box was empty.

There was a fast German team on our heals all day, i.e. we held them up pretty badly. But they were super chill, so it was cool

P9-P12 A traversing 3a pitch followed by three more pitches at around 6a up Sternschnuppe

Descent: We were told that the rest (P9-P12) is a bit nondescript, pretty wet and that the cable down to the second rap of the standard descent was missing (making it necessary to rap down Stars away) so we rapped the route from here. Not ideal. With 2x60m it should be possible to rap directly down to R6. I didn't have the cojones to try as I wasn't absolutely sure that the belay was were I thought it was (it was). Rapping from R7 to R6 involves quite a bit of traversing. Rapping from R6 to R5 or R4 requires clipping the top two bolts (steeply traversing, some freeclimbing required to reach the bolts, big pendeldums for the second on the rappel). With 2x60m you reach the R4 from R6 (the Germans did this). From R5 you easily reach R3, and from R3 you reach the ground with a metre to spare. (All this assumes 2x60 m rope)

With 2x60 m rope, rapping down Transoceane seems like a nice option.

Practical stuff

Guide book/web sites

The guide book Schweiz Extreme Ost covers Wenden and other areas in Central/Eastern Switzerland. The Extreme West covers Rätikon and other areas in western Switzerland. There are also Plaisir Ost/West for easier areas.

If you can read German, Marcel Dettling's blog has a lot of very useful info. Start here

Camp to camp has some coverage (in French), but less than in more classical French destinations.

Gear etc.

We had eleven draws and one green camalot (#0.75) and wires 4-8 as recommended in the guidebook. Only ever used the draws, the gear might be needed for pitch 9-12, but if you manage to place any of those on the first eight pitches: well done you.

Hauling was easy.

The route is well protected by bolts. On the easiest parts of the routes the distances between the bolts are significant. The rock is bomber, and has high friction, so falls on easy terrain are very unlikely for solid climbers. The principal leader should be able to lead 6c obligatory without problems, and it is a good idea to have some solid margin on 7a as well. For pitches 1, 3, 5 and 8 being able to climb 6b obligatory suffices.

The treads were generally in excellent condition as of August 2020. The bolts as well.

A thread in worse condition. Found on the ground on the approach... Psyche!

Approach

Approach from the parking

The guide book gave 1 h 40 min. We are less than average hikers, but fairly decent on steep grass and required 1 h 41 min. From a pure fitness perspective, the approach should take about 80% longer than the normal approach to Céüse. 

From the parking take an ill-defined path on the east (or left, facing towards he crag) of the creek. The path quickly becomes well trodden as you approach the first small grassy knoll, where it leads right towards the second knoll (big cairn on top of the knoll) were it splits. Take the left fork and continue up on switchbacks, then left just below the cliff band and up in the notch. Keep high below the second cliff band. When we were there there was a running stream were we filled up water along the cliff band. Cross the steep scree (a bit exposed) and find cairns leading up the steep grassy slope on switch backs. Very little scrambling, I used the hands a handful of times at most.

Getting there

Gadmen > Obermaad > Small concrete access road, first road on the mountain (left) side after the campsite to Wendenalp (cattle farm). Park on the large parking before the cattle farm.

Coordinates for the parking: North 46°44'58", East: 008°23'10" (46.749539, 8.386166)

For ten Swiss francs you can access the road and are allowed to park for 24 hours. For twenty you can stay a week. The parking meter where the road starts only accepts 5-CHF coins. The cattle farmer regularly checks the parking tickets!

Staying there

The camping in Obermaad, ten minutes from the parking is very affordable for being in Switzerland. https://www.camping-gadmen.ch/camping/

It is illegal to camp at the parking. Many do, either in vans or by putting up a small tent for the night only. Needless to say, squatting would be pretty catastrophic. If you break the law, do be discrete about it.

More useful information

A descent in rain should be well epic. Count on rock fall, water falls and walking down unstable grassy steep slopes. Do not put yourself in a position where you would have to do this. I don't particularly think you can count on helicopter rescue either as it is often foggy.

Wine bottles that are sealed at sea level and left in a car in hot weather at high altitude can achieve such a high pressure differential that the cork spontaneously pops, spraying wine all over.

Keep cool Raoul and La 7ème Leffe in Gorge de la Jonte.

My partner has been gone since mid September, and I have had a horribly full schedule of teaching, so apart from a half-day visit to Auzat in September I have not climbed outside since August. Just a bit of bouldering in the gym, with some attempts to keep a bit of endurance by doing a few fifteen-minutes sessions on the hang board.

Just about when I was about to have a break-down I got Thursday-Tuesday free from teaching. Luckily my friends Erik & Paulina was in Gorge du Tarn for a two week trip. Unfortunately, they are both injured. Paulina so bad that she cannot climb, and Erik bad enough that he has decided not to climb anything above 6c or so.

After a short visit to the sector Zebra in Gorge du Tarn, Erik decided that it's more fun to climb easy multi-pitch routes than single-pitch moderates. I had no objections.

Keep cool. Erik on the second belay, vulture below.

Keep cool Raoul, 6c+>6b (5 pitches, 150m)

Despite having climbed quite a bit in Gorge du Tarn, this is the first route for me in the neighbouring Gorge de la Jonte. It takes a pretty direct line on the left side of the big vertical face of sector Fusée, one of the taller walls in Jonte. The route is well equipped with plenty of glue-in bolts, giving the route a low mandatory grade. On the other hand, the pitch-grades are not at all generous, and the climbing is very sustained and technical.

1. 6c. Start on a bit crumbly rock up to a vague grove that is climbed at surprisingly great difficulty using all available techniques for thin face climbing. Not to be underestimated. Take your time.
2. 6b. Another sustained pitch. No fluff.
3. 6c+. A short and difficult boulder problem followed by very nice climbing up and across a grove. Belay out to the right of the line after about 35m. I had maybe 13 draws or so, and had to skip two bolts to get to the belay, so bring plenty of draws for this slightly meandering pitch.
4. 6c. Good climbing on terrain similar to the very best pitches in Tarn. Up the overhang and the arête to a reasonably comfortable belay. This pitch is also sustained.
5. 6b+. Start easy on a juggy traverse leading rightwards up to an overhanging grove with a short but pumpy crux. After the steep groove, there should be a belay up and to the left, according to the topo.
6. 2. A short pitch of easy climbing leads to the top.

I did not pay much attention to the topo and missed the bit after the crux on the fifth pitch, and all of sixth pitch. Instead I went straight up after the crux, climbing about 15-20m of crumbly rock at around 5a or so, directly up to the top ledge. Not at all recommended.

Descend by rappel. There is a rap-route on the left side of the face. You have to lean out to clip the first rap, then three fairly long raps lead to the ground (we had 2x60m of rope). According to camp-to-camp it is possible to rap the route on a single 80m, using intermediate belays.

Erik close to the end of the third pitch of Keep cool Raoul.

As both members of the team were in pretty bad shape for long routes our opinions probably don't count for much, but the route took much longer to climb than expected judging from the pitch-by-pitch grades. This was down to the route being incredibly sustained and technical thorough. Well worth doing.

Lesson learned: check the topo even if the route is fully bolted. Failing that, “Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end”

La 7ème Leffe 7a+>6b+/A0 (5 pitches, 120m)

The second route we did was another three star choice. La 7ème Leffe (The seventh Leffe), wrongly called La 8ème Leffe in the Rockfax guidebook, climbs the steep Roch Decollée. Good bolts all the way. Very generously bolted also. More sport-climbing over several pitches then multi-pitch that is on fixed gear, if you get my drift.

Erik on the second pitch of La Septième Leffe

1. 5+. Start on a detached black pillar to the left of a big crack line, via a bolt to a crack leading up to a niche above a roof. Quite polished at the crux.
2. 7a+ Climb the right-slanting crack with increasing difficulties, very cool climbing in a good position on slightly overhanging but not totally bullet rock. At least 15 draws, if you for some reason want to clip every bolt.
3. 6a+. A fantastic pitch up black rock. Still steep.
4. 6c. Would be a three star classic on any single-pitch crag in the world. Steep and very sustained. Technical as well.
5. 6b+. Another magnificent pitch. Traverse right, around the arête and out in space... Exposure straight out of Verdon. Some tricky crack-climbing finish off this spectacular pitch and route.

Descend by walking across to the north face and rap down from a big tree with slings. A 20m rap takes you down to a ledge, where a path with fixed ropes takes you down to a second rap. I doubt thee second rap is more than 32-33 m, and quite possible to do on a 60m rope with some easy down climbing (we had a single 80m). 

On top of the third pitch of La 7ème Leffe

Season

Spring and autumn. Most of the climbing is on south facing or south-west facing walls.

Getting there

Gorge de la Jonte is found north of Millau within walking distance from Rozier. If you get to Rozier by public transport you can probably do quite well without a car, but then you wouldn't be able to visit the close by climbing areas like Gorge du Tarn, Boffi, Cantobre etc.

Guidebook

The local guidebook is quite expensive, considering the low production values, but some of the proceeds goes toward bolting. Gorge de la Jonte is also covered by the Rockfax Languedoc-Roussillon guide. On the two routes we did, the Rockfax was an obvious copy of the local guidebook, with some novel errors. So the Rockfax has better photos but showed the belays in the wrong place for the first route we did, and was totally wrong on the rap for the second route. None of the guidebooks has descriptions of individual pitches.

Taghia Valley Marocko. Various Routes

TAGHIA: The limestone valley

Team on Zebda, 7b+.

The climbing

It is the world class multi pitch limestone climbing, from 7 to 20 pitches that make climbers travel all the way to Taghia. Some routes have no bolts, most are partly bolted, and some are fully or almost fully bolted. 

Some of the older routes follow ridges and are lower in the grades, but they are rarely repeated. To get most out of a one week stay, climbing the easy popular routes, you’d have to be at least a 6c climber, in the sense that seeing the 6c-grade (or 6b obligatory) on a big multi pitch route do not strike fear into you. There is nothing much harder than 8a/+ (or 7b obligatory) in the valley (One 8b and one 8c afaik).

The climbing is technical, steep and fingery throughout. The grades felt in line with Verdon, maybe a tad more generous. Bring good shoes. Unfortunately your good shoes will not last long as the rock is very abrasive.

There is also some single pitch climbing around Taghia, one crag with some 4s and 5s, one with 7s, and one rather nice looking tufa wall with some low eights. Kris Erickson, an american guide living in Zaouia Ahanesal, has bolted a number of sport routes around Zaouia Ahanesal with grades from the low sixes to mid eights.

Taghia Valley

When we went we were the only climbers in the valley, possibly due to the perceived terrorism threat after this summer’s spectacular strike in neighbouring Algeria. (Talking to the Taxi-driver in Marrakesh and to people in Taghia, the consequences for Moroccan tourism has been catastrophic) . There was in other words no hope of rescue if things went bad. Even if there are other climbers in the valley, who are likely to be competent, I would not count on timely rescues being possible—and how would you call on rescue in the first place? Yosemite or the Alps it isn’t.

The trekking

The hiking in the High Atlas in general, and around Zaouia Ahanesal in particular, is spectacular. There are donkey trails that criss cross the mountain range between the villages, but very few roads. Some valleys and canyons can be accessed by “Berber ferratas”, where a certain trust in goat-herder’s engineering skills is required.

Kris Erickson in Zaouia Ahanesal can arrange everything around a trekking trip.

On the path across ... Photo: Julia Sni

Gear

Depending on what you wish to do of course. We went for a sport climbing trip and brought 19 draws, of which 5 where tripled 60 cm draws, one set of wires and one set of camalots from #0.3 to #2. Those who want to do the longest and most serious sport routes probably wish to bring a #3 and doubles in #.75-2. To repeat the less bolted routes a normal mountain rack is necessary, and possibly a handfull of pitons as well.

If the bolts can be accessed by grade 3-4 scrambling, the Berber might find better use for the nuts and hangers than being protection for climbing tourists: thus there are reports of missing bolt hangers on the first belay of some routes on Parois de Cascade. Bring a hanger or two and some M10 nuts, or M10 nuts, washers and some wires to thread the bolts.

Two ropes, at least 50 m. Most teams probably wish to haul the pack on the harder pitches.

Guidebook

The only printed guidebook is Christian Revier’s beautiful 2009 book “Taghia, Montagnes Berbères” (French) available directly from the author, or through internet retailers. An update would be more than welcome, considering the amount of routes put up since the publication.

A print-out of the topos from Taghia on Luichys site is an almost complete Spanish language guidebook for the routes in the area (up to ≈ 2009 or so) http://lanochedelloro.com/monografs/taghia/index.htm (Spanish)

There are also topos for some of the popular routes on Remi Thivel’s site http://www.remi-thivel.com/topos/topos.html (French)

Parois de Legende, (Bodet & Petit) (french) also list a number of routes with topos and some useful info. 

A few of the new hard routes put up after the publication of Revier’s book have topos on planetmountain.com, (French and Italian) but generally speaking, for routes put up after 2009, the new route book and guest book in Said’s gite is the best bet.

Camptocamp.com (French) has some information of course.

Staying there

There are a number of gites in Taghia offering half pension. Said’s and Youssef’s Gite among them. Said was the first to cater to climbers, and his Gite has a new-route book and guest book full of impressive stories by climbers of all abilities, from 6c-punters to some of the biggest names in European multi-pitch climbing. Said's gite has consistently good reputation, and I have never heard of anyone having a bad experience.

Most French climbers stay at Said’s Gite. Said speaks French, his son Mohammed speaks good French and a bit of English, and should be able to help you out if you have no French. We paid 120 Dh per person per night at Said’s place (September 2015)

Chez Said Messaoudi, Douar Taghia, Zaouia Ahanesal 

22010 Azilal Maroc

Cellphone +212668246536 (intermittent coverage)

Fixed line +212523 459 290 (directly to the house)

e.mail: gitesaid@yahoo.fr (if you speak no french it is probably best to e-mail them in English. Mohammed will be able to reply)

http://www.climbingtaghia.com
https://www.facebook.com/Gite-Tawajdat-taghia-organization-of-travel-198075623567735/

Chez Youssef Rezki, Douar Taghia, Zaouia Ahanesal 

22010 Azilal Maroc. 

Tel : 00 212 668909843

Shopping

La Boutique Jamal is always open, or so they claim. Holler for them and they come. They had bottled water, Coke, threaded gas canisters (the smallest size), canned sardines, gigantic bags of couscous, some nuts, candy, soap, and internet access for sale (requires a subscription to Meditel). The woman who runs the shop has limited numeracy, so be prepared to do some addition.

There are two other shops in the village. But we only frequented this one.

La Boutique Jamal

Weather

http://www.yr.no/place/Morocco/Tadla-Azilal/Taghia~2531726/

http://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/week/31.783N-6.067E2083

Getting there

Book a gite in Taghia beforehand. Fly to Marrakesh—plenty of low cost carriers traffic Marrakesh—and let the gite arrange the transport from Marrakesh to Taghia. We took taxi all the way from Marrakesh to Zaouia Ahanesal, where the road ends (around 6-7 hours with a lunch break in Azilal) (1200 Dh, October 2015). From Zaouhia, hike in with donkey/mule (100-120 Dh per donkey). One donkey will bring up to 70 kg.

Another option is to get from Marrakesh to Azilal by public transport, than get to Zaouia with taxi.

Yet another option would be to rent a car and drive to Zaouia Ahanesal yourself.

On the donkey trail

Hygiene

More or less everyone who’s ever been has been reporting stomach bugs. We put aquatabs in all water or boiled it before drinking, including the water used for brushing the teeth. We also washed the hands and used  antiseptic spray like a couple of OCDs. Still both of us got diarrhoea. 

Season

Mid-april to end of October. July and August likely too hot (and travelling in and out of Marrakesh would be a nightmare at that time of year). May and October being the most popular months, with up to 40-50 climbers in the village. In the autumn of 2015 the gites are reporting very few bookings, and we were by ourselves in mid September, having very good conditions for climbing in the shade with daytime temperatures in the low 20s. In May it reportedly rains quite a bit.

Modern life is rubbish?

Since 2013 there is electricity in the village Taghia. There is also cell phone coverage, but only through Meditel,: no other Moroccan provider will work. There’s also intermittent 3G coverage, but even though our French sim cards could access Meditel for SMS & MMS, we could not get data roaming (which was probably for the better since they ask 3€/Mb for traffic…). We bought a code good for 800 Mb (200 Dh) in the store in Taghia and Mohammed, Said’s son, set up his phone as a wifi-router for us.

The upshot is that it is possible to get up-to-date weather forecasts. We found the one-day forecasts from meteoblue.com to be reliable.

Vaccines

Hepatitis A. Two shots, separated by six months, some protection after the first shot.

Diphtheria. A single shot protects for three years

Lockjaw/tetanus. (This is included in the vaccine program for children in most EU countries)

What to bring

Climbing gear

Two pair of shoes. The approach/decent shoes will get wet, so it is nice to change to dry shoes after returning to the village

Toilet paper

Head scarf (for women who want to pay respect to local customs)

Aquatabs

Possibly a small gas stove for tea

A small medical kit including diarea tabs, penicillin, antiseptic cream, antiseptic spray and painkillers.

PERSONAL NOTES ON ROUTES

À boire ou je tue le chien ** (A drink or I kill the dog) 280m 6c (6b+ obligatory)

Julia on À boire ou je tue le chien

Nice climbing on excellent rock. A bit engaged in places. Has been onsight soloed (Alex Honnhold). Possible to combine with Au nom de la reform for a great day out, if you rap after pitch six. The sun hits the wall around noon beginning of September. 

Gear: 12 quick draws, a few wires (Wallnuts #2-#7). Four cams if continuing to the top after pitch 7.

Approach: From Taghia to Taojdad. Go up in the channel between Taoujdad & Oujdad. 30 min after the village, pass a big block on the left. Continue up until a path (cairns) left lead to the two obvious ramps that mark the start of Au nom de la réforme and À boire respectively.

P1 5c. Climb the crack (4) protected by wires or small friends. Then a mixture of wires and bolts to the belay. A bit engaged. Many teams report that this is at least 6a, but if you’re used to climb low-angle cracks 5c is probably fair.

P2 6c. Really good climbing, morpho.

P3 6c. I did something wrong on the start of this pitch. Did a 7a-sequence straight up between the first and second bolt, where a fall would have been unpleasant. My second told me it was easier more to the right rather than straight up, probably 6c.

P4. 6a+ Nice face climbing.

P5. 6b+ Steep and awkward dihedral. Don’t worry, a bolt will appear when needed.

P6. 5c. Reasonably well bolted face climbing. This is the last steep pitch and the last independent pitch as well.

To climb to the top of Taoujdad, change to your approach shoes and climb the top pitches of La Reform:

P7. 4+ Trekking along the ridge. Then some face climbing past a bolt (4+), then some trekking again past a big tree to the last steep face. (75 m or so)

P8. 5a. Two or three bolts. Two-three finger sized cams useful (40 m)

Decent from Taoujdad: From the top, head south-east on a path (plenty of cairns), diagonally skier’s right. Find a tree with slings and rap 40 m to a col, or 55 m down skiers right. Walk diagonally left and cross the ridge, then follow cairns down and right. Aim for the white water streak in the intermittent creek. Close to this, carefully follow the switchbacks on the right side of the couloir. About 1 hour down to the point where you took off towards the start of the routes and 2 hours down to the village.

Taoujdad

Belle et Berbère *** (The Beauty and The Berber) 300 m, 6b+ (6a+ obligatory)

Very good climbing on a contrived line. Extraordinarily sustained 6b climbing, with most pitches around vertical on good to excellent rock. Very fingery throughout. Probably the most frequently climbed route in Taghia beside La Réforme. The sun hit the face around 12.30 in September.

13 draws. (And possibly a finger sized friend to protect grade 3 scrambling if necessary)

Approach on the left side of the creek to Parois des Sources. Two ledges on top of each other, climb up to the lower ledge further to the right with cairns on top of it (3+). There is a route (bolt) starting on the right side of the ledge, Belle et Berber start further right, just around the corner. 15 min from the village if you find the route straight away…

Me on Belle et Berbère

P1. 6b Traverse right (three bolts) into a right-facing overhanging dihedral with tufas-in-the-process of growth. 

P2. 6b Follow the bolts. Hard slab boulder in the start, then easier. Mind the rope drag.

P3. 6b Sustained low-angle face climbing

P4. 6b+ Sustained 6b climbing with a boulder move in the middle. 

P5 6a+  Short easy pitch, very contrived line where the bolts are placed to force you away from the natural line.

P6. 6b+  Long pitch. Vertical climbing, just when you think it is over, there is a slab crux, then face climbing to the top.

P7 6b  Walk across the ledge and then climb a bolted face. The careful climber move the belay to under the face, or just don’t fall. Belay with one bolt and a tree.

P8. 3. One bolt, then hiking diagonally right and scramble up (3b, unprotected or bring a finger sized friend) right to a red big face. Belay in one bolt or stretch up and clip the first bolt on the next pitch as well.

P9. 6b+ A crux on slopers off the first bolt, then easier climbing diagonally right to a steep finish.

P10. 6b+ Hard sequence across the fin, the rest is easier.

Decent from Parois des Sources. Scramble diagonally up left until you see the cairns on the ledge system to the left of the top. Follow the well marked path on the ledges for a few hundred meters, and then track back towards the village along the path. (45 min). Sticks or  stones might be useful to fend off aggressive dogs on this side of the village.

Zebda *****, 260 m, 7b+ (6c obligatory)

Second of the top the line. Better than The holy War in Wadi Rum, and slightly worse than Alix, punk of the Vergons in Verdon. Steep climbing on immaculate rock for 280 sustained meters. One of the most popular and recommended routes in Wadi Rum. Deservedly so.

The sun hit the route at around 13:00.

14 draws + belays.

Approach: Walk to Parois des Sources, past the sources and cross the river and track back. The name of the route is written in big letters at the base. 20 min from the village.

Julia on Zebda

P1. 7b+ Tough warm up. Well bolted face climbing (7a) with decent rests up to a short boulder crux at the tufa.

P2. 6a+ for the tall. Morpho. Worst pitch on the route.

P3. 6c+ A fantastic pitch. Steep face climbing.

P4. 7b Sustained climbing straight off the belay. Then a bit easier to the roof. The mantel shelf move above the roof is OK. The belay is hanging and in the middle of a non-trivial sequence. Strong climbers with good ethics are advised to bring plenty of quick draws and a 70 m rope and link it with the next pitch.

P5. 7a+ Another mind blowing pitch. Steep crimpy face climbing. Engaged and not trivial (6c-ish) near the belay.

P6 6c. Face climbing straight from the belay, and than a tricky traverse on good holds but mediocre feet.

P7 6c+ Steep climbing. At least a grade easier than previous pitch.

P8 6b (50m). Major pitch. Steep stemming up the corner. Belay on a single bolt + a tree.

Scramble 5-10 min to the top and descend as for The beauty and the Berbere

Approach to Canyon Apache/North face of Taojdad

Walk past Parois des Sources, and access the canyon to the left by scrambling up on its right side. A bolt around the corner is used to make the passage 4/A0 (expo). Keep walking up-river with a short passage of scrambling. 

After a while you come to a narrow passage where there are two options: either an exposed slab traverse to the left (5, one bolt) supposedly leads to a Berber bridge at a delicate river crossing (this bridge was either under water or gone when we where there) or three bolts on a bulge can be aided and then a short passage of 4+ climbing (one bolt) lead to a glue-in bolt (belay). From this traverse left and up and scramble along ledges until the river can be accessed again-

Further upstream there are some gigantic boulders blocking the canyon. If the water level is very low it is apparently possible to walk up to these and climb up and under them (very exposed) to approach the north face of Taojdad. Again we had to high water for this to be possible, instead we did the more common approach by way of the first pitch of Canyon Apache. Climb up three bolts on the left side of the canyon (the third was really loose) then traverse right 30 m to a delicate passage (6a) leads to a ledge. On the right side of the ledge the second pitch of Canyon Apache can be found.

To approach the north face of Taojdad downclimb from the start of the second pitch of Canyon Apache to the riverbed.

To get from the north face of Taojdad back to the village it is supposedly possible to rap down the passage with the gigantic boulders mentioned above. The water was to high for us and we had to reverse the first pitch of Canyon Apache.

The Canyon, not accessible from the village side without one and a half pitch of climbing

Classe Montagne Épinal **, 185 m, 6c+ (6b obligatory)

Approach: Scramble up the ledge system from right. The route follows a big pillar system.

P1 6b+. A very good vertical pitch

P2 6b.  Another good pitch

P3 5+

P4 6c+ Good vertical face climbing with a hard sequence straight up from the belay.

P5 6a+ dihedral. Not so good. A shoulder length sling can be used around a tree at the top of the pitch

P6 6b Straight up to a ledge, then traverse far right on the ledge then straight up. Two ropes useful

P7 6a+ Many bolts. Finish on the ledge with belay on one bolt + tree.

Untie and scramble up diagonally to the left to the ledge system that traverse the mountain on the south east side. Follow the cairns.

Julia on Classe Montagne 

Fat guides ***** 250 m, 7b+ (7a obligatory)

Start to the left of Zebda

For the grade it does not get much better. Dead vertical wall of perfect limestone. Will only improve as a few more ascents clean it up further.

P1 7b+ Hard start for the first few bolts, then steady climbing until a physical traverse out left. Finish up a very thin slab. This pitch probably sees some seepage as it was quite dirty. Felt like 7c/+ in the conditions we had.

P2 6c+ Nice short pitch.

P3 6c The same. The 3rd bolt is quite tricky to clip for short climbers (bring a stiff draw or a medium sized climbing partner).

P4 7a+. Magnificent pitch, not alway totally obvious to find the best sequence. Semi-hanging belay. Felt like 7b/+ to me.

P5 7b? Easy climbing up to a short two-bolt crux to a good hold, then some pumpy climbing lead to a comfortable belay. Either I missed something, or this is more like 7b+/c. A bail biner on the bolt before the hardest part told me I’m not alone finding this difficult.

P6. 6c. Another very nice, short pitch to a good belay.

P7. 7a+  An absolutely superb pitch. The first bolt is put in a bit too high, then there are 18(!) bolts in 50 m. It’s possible to shuffle draws in a few places, in which case 15 draws should be enough

P8. 4. 15 m. No bolts. Climb a bit to the right, than back to the left to a two-bolt belay, Two shoulder length slings can be used for protection, tying off some shrubs.

P9 3+ Traverse straight left on the sloping ledge. A rope can be nice for the first 15-20 m. 

Continue to traverse the ledge and exit like Classe Montagne Épinal, or why not finish with the last two beautiful pitches of Belle et Berbère (6b+ and 6b+), if you haven’t climbed that before.