So to pop the Blog cherry I
thought we should do a post on getting to Morocco.
We actually, believe it
or not had a minor epic getting there, it had snowed in Gatwick. Yes
it had snowed in London and as expected everyone was running around
crying and waving their hands in the air,
this meant that I had arrived fine and on time,
and managed to find a pub, by the time Will phoned and told me he
wasn't coming and would have to get me in Morocco. Being a little fresh by
this point I might have blamed southern fairies... (loudly) got some funny
looks in that pub... anyway a nice Irish lady approached me and asked
me what was wrong, I explained that apart from the fact
that I could see two of her my climbing trip
was potentially ruined, she then replied, “don't worry he can stay at
my B&B tomorrow night at a discount price”, sweet! phone number and address
in hand I went outside to phone Will, read out the phone number and
address fine(ish) He then asked what the names of the lovely couple
were, I told him that they were called Mary and Joseph,
this had not even clicked 10 minutes ago in the pub, he was going to stay at
Mary and Joseph's inn! The only thing missing was a pregnant bird and
a donkey.
Anyway I arrived, Will
arrived eventually (turns out the phone number was wrong, oops!), and we
went climbing!!! More funny stuff happened, such as the hotel disaster in
Marrakesh (this might have been my fault again) but I don't was to give it all
away at once,
Here are the route descriptions of the two new routes we climbed out
there, more pictures to follow once Will gets back in the house
III
680m we climbed the right hand start of the left hand gully line.
120m.
follow easy snow to below a chock stone, belay 15m below in a bay on the
left
Pitch
1
30m
(Crux) tunnel under for the through route, will be harder if the tunnel fills
in but easier if banked out. Bring some lube and breathe in. steep ramp on the
left also possible. Belay after the squeeze.
Pitch
2
60m,
leave the belay and descend into the gully proper, and
follow it, chock stone belay before next step.
Pitch
3
60m,
follow the left slanting gully to a traverse (short) behind a spike to join the
main gully line, belay below an ice step.
Pitch 4
60m,
climb the step and follow snow to a sh**e belay
Pitch
5
50m,
trend right on snow, ice and choss, several belays possible.
Pitches
6-8
150m,
come back left between two rock bands (escape possible to left)
150m,
traverse up and right to summit ridge.
Decent:
Multiple
options, we descended back to pitch 6, and continued traverse to the
col (Tizi Ouanames) (route finding hard) it is also possible
to descend the ridge in either direction.
Fox on
a Spit area
Stand-geblasen
(pronounced shtund ge bla zin)
WI 4+,
5 pitches
The
photo just does not do it justice, there was so much ice!!!
Pitch 1
20m, (crux) start on the
lowest ice fall which is climbed direct
Pitch
2
At the
back of the terrace (40m) climb the ice fall 20m
Pitch 3
Climb
the short ice pitch directly above at the back of the terrace, this leads
to the first amphitheatre which gives many options,
Pitch
4
On the
right there is a long steep ice fall left of a gully. This leads to another
large amphitheatre.
Pitch
5
After
crossing easy ground there is an easy ice ramp on the right hand side of the
amphitheatre which leads to another terrace
Decent
Traverse
down and left on easy snow into the first of 2 gullies, one 50 or 60 m abseil
from a huge block in the gully leads to the start of pitch 4. Descend steep
snow down and right to the top of pitch three, to the far right a steep down
climb of short abseil takes you to the terrace at the top of pitch two,
traverse left or right to easy ground and the start of the route.
