The High Atlas. Hamish Brown
valley is dominated by kilometres of cliffs (paradise for climbers) on vast Aroudane, while a pleasing back-door ascent opens it up for the walker.
Aroudane
The name-change from Aioui to Aroudane at least makes this hill one that can now be pronounced with some confidence. It presents a north face of several kilometres, with endless rock climbs of up to 800m, yet has had little in the way of visits from British climbers. The base is Zawyat Ahancal or Agoudim, where there are gîtes, and beyond which lie even more spectacular climbing opportunities in soaring buttresses and canyons with vertical walls. This is the Chamonix of the Atlas, but with decent weather. As Aroudane dominates a major east–west trekking route we had admired its array of crags often enough to want, at least, to stand on top of the mountain. Easy enough; a bit like Ben Nevis in Scotland, where walkers photograph the impressive cliff side and then go up a tourist path. Not that Aroudane has a tourist path. Its neglect by climbers is perhaps due to its one-time inaccessibility. Now there are good roads and/or pistes up to Zawyat Ahancal or in by Aït Mhammed, making the approach run impressive in itself.
Taking a sheep to the weekly souk, Zawyat Ahancal
From Azilal through Aït Mhammed the old route for the Bou Guemez valley is followed for 25km, a good road today and not the horror described in Route 15. At a junction, below the snowy sail of Azurki, a good piste heads north-east to flank this mountain, crosses the Tizi n’ Tselli-n-Imanain (2763m) and descends to Assemsouk (2400m), which really is a souk in the middle of nowhere that comes alive on Tuesdays. The piste climbs again to the Tizi n’ Ilissi (2606m) and snakes down the crest north of the Ilissi valley, on whose other side is arrayed, in Peyron’s words, ‘one of the most awe-inspiring mountainscapes in Morocco’ – Aroudane.
Oujdad, above Agoudim
Charles, Ali and I headed for Aroudane from one of my favourite camping spots. We had reached it by following the mule track up the Ilissi valley after a pleasant stay in one of the dramatic old tower houses in Agoudim. Valley and tizi gave endless superb views. Not far down on the west side of the tizi we took a path left over a crest to reach a cheery stream with a bluff (Waousramt) above, and camped on flowery greens (c2830m). The stream, the Tagragra, ran down and joined a larger branch descending from the Tizi Yllaz under Azurki to reach Assemsouk. We knew it as the ‘Azurki view’ campsite. Coming in by road, it could be reached easily enough from Assemsouk.
From the camp it was just a matter of circling the bluff to the left (east) to gain the high ground. Aroudane is just a long, wide crest thereafter, with no indication of what lies on its northern flank, the 3359m being merely the highest spot. The long, long Tazaght gorge flanks it to the south (what untouched climbing must lie there!) and beyond lies a high, great plateau-tableland which had fascinated for years and would give some of our best lonely wanderings, described later in Route 12. To the east we could see the canyon-held Jbel Timghazine and Azellah, peaks from which we descended to Zawyat Ahancal after making the high-level route denied us on GTAM95. We did it after a visit to the Brides’ Festival at Imilchil and torrential rain fell most days. But we camped at Timit (‘navel’, the centre of the world).
Azurki is not far away and could be done after Aroudane in the same trip – more or less what we did on GTAM95 with a high camp near the Tizi Yllaz between.
ROUTE TEN
Jbel Azurki 3677m
| Commitment | A day’s drive in and a long slog of an ascent to follow; the mountain catches snow and offers the best sport for ski mountaineering. It has a long summit crest or, from Tizi Yllaz (S), the easy but rotten rock scramble we climbed. |
| Maps | 100: Zawyat Ahancal; 50: Zawyat Ahancal. MM would be adequate alone. Or, observe and go. See Route 9 for route map. |
| Texts | All the French old hands describe Azurki, always on ski raids, and give routes/illustrations accordingly: MP2, AF, AFC, HG, BD. |
| Travel to start | Goudron then piste from Azilal through Aït Mhammed on the Bou Guemez old road, turning off for Azurki. If trekking, from the Tizi Yllaz, reached from either the Assemsouk/Zawyat Ahancal east, or Bou Guemez/Lac Izoughar, west. We climbed c777m from the Tizi Yllaz; the northern flanks would be longer, ± 1000m. |
| Local assistance | Mules, guides and gîtes in the Bou Guemez. |
Above the rolling waves of green foothills this hill rises like a fin on the southern horizon – a great peak at any time, a noble objective and a superlative viewpoint.
Azurki’s south flank from the lower slopes of Ouaougoulzat
Azurki is the only major peak in this book where I’ve not stood on the actual summit. On GTAM95 Charles and I did make what we called the East Top. The peak is seen well in winter/spring from the Azilal–Bin el Ouidane road, a graceful fin of snow beyond the rolling foothills. As with Aroudane, it can be reached from the Azilal–Aït Mhammed–Assemsouk road or going up to Zawyat Ahancal and over the Tizi n’ Ilissi to Assemsouk.
The bliss of a stream on a hot day
We had camped by a stream (the Tagragra) up from Assemsouk, ascended Aroudane and then climbed to the Tizi Yllaz to camp near the pass, where there was water. Heavy snows meant that we only just got mules up to the pass (2 May), but even with this the south flank of Azurki was largely free of snow. We set off from the pass (c2900m) up the obvious crest descending to it – easy going, but on endless loose layers of rock. The angle steepened higher, but following one rising stratum led us on until we were confronted by cornices overhead. We had only one old ice axe, carried in order to level camp sites and for other imaginative uses rather than for climbing. We took turns whacking out bucket steps to destroy a bit of cornice and gain the crest. And that was it.
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