Toubkal National Park

Toubkal National Park is a national park in the High Atlas region of Morocco. It's best known for Jbel Toubkal, the continent's highest mountain outside East Central Africa.

Climate
Toubkal's climate is pretty cold and snowy in the winter and up to April, and from then it gets a kind of hotter and the snow starts to melt. You'd better take enough warm clothes. In the summer, like elsewhere in Morocco, expect hot temperatures at lower altitudes.

Get in
From Marrakech take a shared taxi to, cost 40 dirham per seat. The journey takes 75-90 minutes. The taxis leave from a small market 1 km (2 blocks) south of the Bab-er-Rob, bus 35 from the Medina goes there. Taxis can be scarce after about 11:00. There should be no need to change transport at Asni as suggested in some older guide books or websites. In Imlil there is a mountain guide agency right next to the car park where the grand taxis are parked. Here a number of people will approach you either proposing the guide you to the refuges or to sell you a map. The maps are not very helpful and are quite expensive! It is perfectly simple to make the walk without a map or guide and to simple ask for directions on the trail if unsure.

From Imlil walk to the, about 6 hours, straight up the valley through Aroumd and Sidi Chamharouch. A more interesting route crosses the low pass to the west of Imlil to Azib Tamsoult (keep high and head south once across the pass, 4 hr). Camp or stay overnight at the gite there. Next day continue up the gorge past an awesome waterfall and turn sharp left at a path junction (1½ hours). Go right at the next path junction about 30 minutes further on. Zigzag up an enormous scree slope to a pass with superb views of Toubkal (3 hr). Descend easily southeast to the refuges. This route may not appear on older maps.

Get around
The ascent is on a good, well-marked path all the way. From the refuges cross the river below a waterfall (difficult after heavy rain). Scramble out of the gorge and follow a good path across a scree slope. Continue across boulders to a stream. Cross the stream and scramble up some rocks (cairned). The path makes a loop to the left, then a steep section threads through some massive rocks. The path continues up the corrie and zigzags up to a col at about 4000 m. Turn left at the col. You can cut the corner here, but the views are better if you stay close to the ridge. After a couple of false summits you see the true summit with its steel surveyors' tower. Towards the top, the ridge is difficult, so the path stays on the left (west) flank. Takes about 2½ hours if you're acclimatized.

Do
When you get to Toubkal National Park, don't miss the opportunity to climb to its highest peak. The mountain seems to be hard to climb but, is significantly easier than most mountains of comparable size. It is typically done as a two or three day guided hike with meal stops at the Sidi Chamharouch shrine and overnight stops at the Toubkal refuge. Most guides will take you up to the summit early on your second day so you can catch sunrise from the mountaintop before descending to either the refuge or back to Imlil.

Stay safe
Two European women were killed in December 2018. The offenders were caught and their motives declared to be terrorism. Inform yourself of the current situation.