Marrakech - Asni  -  Imlil   -   Toubkal base camp lodge

Your mountain guide will pick you up from your raid or hotel in Marrakech in the early morning with a driver.  You will travel up through Tahanoute and Moulay Brahim Gorges and Asni. Asni is a town in a very green valley which has a big market every week on Saturday that people from all the surrounding villages attend; it is a very traditional market.  Imlil is a Berber town in the high atlas, here is where the road ends after your 1.5hr car ride and where we will meet the mules to carry your bags.  From Imlil we will start our walk through the villages of: Ashain, Targa Imoulla, Armed and the shrine of Sidi Chamarouch, the shrine for the King of the Jinns (ghosts), a 1hr hike. A lot of people visit the shrine to make a sacrifice of sheep, goats, and chickens and sometimes cows so that the King of the Jinns may grant their wishes.  1hr after Sidi Chamarouch we will have a break at a beautiful place in the shadow of Mount Toubkal above the river facing numerous waterfalls.  Our chef will prepare a good lunch with some mint tea.  After lunch we will continue our hike to the Toubkal base camp lodge among massive stone ridges and grassy fields, nearly 3 more hours of hiking.  Here you can enjoy a nice hot shower and delicious dinner. The Toubkal lodge is a five hour walk from where your private motorized transportation drops you off in Imlil. 

Toubkal Loge - Mount Toubkal - Toubkal Loge - Armed or Marrakech

  From the Toubkal lodge we will start hiking very early in the morning, at about five o’clock, with head lights so that we can beat the bad weather common in the afternoons in the Atlas Mountains.  We will make our ascent of the summit at a reasonable pace so that there is no problem with altitude sickness and so that you don’t run out of energy too fast.  It takes approximately 3hrs to climb Toubkal and an additional 2hrs to descend back to the Toubkal lodge.  First we will cross a boulder field and head up into a gorge between two ridges that run off the peak of Mount Toubkal.  There is quite a lot of loose rocks and scree below the summit.  If there is good visibility you can see the rest of the High Atlas Mountains and a lot of the villages on the other side of Toubkal.  After enjoying the good view at the top of North Africa at 4,167m/13,671ft we will descend back to the Toubkal lodge where a hearty lunch will be waiting for us.  You have the option of spending an additional night at the Toubkal lodge to soaking up the splendor of North Africa’s highest peaks or attempting to summit the other high peaks surrounding Mount Toubkal.  If you are short on time then we can head back down to a guesthouse in Armed with a traditional sauna and massage or straight on to Marrakech.  To climb Mount Toubkal and descend to Imlil will take 9hrs, and if Marrakesh is your destination then add an additional 1.5hrs in private transportation.  (If you are coming to climb Toubkal in the winter then be aware that crampons and ice axes are necessary.  These are available for hire here.)