We had a relative early start today at
around 0400 where we had a quick breakfast before we slowly started the ascent
of the mountain. It was still (very) windy, but after getting onto the path
going up we were sheltered from the wind which made it all much more tolerable.
In the beginning we were walking on
large rocks, making the footing much more stable than what I would have
expected. We had a couple of breaks on the way up – some of us used the first
break to get rid of some of our layers. It was very cold (relatively) at the
camp in the wind, but here where we were ascending out of the wind the temperature
had suddenly gone up.
Slowly, like any other summit day, we
could see the sun coming up behind the mountains, spreading some light over the
environment we were walking in. Just as barren as we had gotten used to, but
after the first hours of big rocks things started to open up and soon, at
around 0830 we reach a plateau at around 3940m called Tizi'n'Toubkal from where
we had a direct view to the top. But as there was a gaping hold between us and
it we had to circle around to get there.
But continuing on we reached the summit
less than half an hour later. Clear weather, almost no wind and when we arrived
only two other tourists. Our summit was as successful as it could be. Our guide
said that usually it’s windy, cold and poor visibility which means that after a
couple of minutes and quick photos the group hurries down again. Instead we
relaxed, took a lot of photos and had a walk around for half an hour before
deciding to go down again. Not being as taxing as some of my other summits
throughout the years, it felt nice not feeling as if I was dying.
We descended the same way as we came up,
but passing the large rocks towards the bottom proved harder than expected –
especially for me. Some of the gravel being easy enough to walk up on resulted
in a couple of falls on the way down, too. I think it is the first summit where
the descent took as long as the ascent. But we were in no hurry, getting back
into the camp we would just be relaxing the rest of the day.
And yes, getting back into camp it was
just as windy as it had been when we left in the morning.
View from Tizi'n'Toubkal.
View from Tizi'n'Toubkal.
Looking at the summit from Tizi'n'Toubkal. The small speck you can see on the top is the marker.
View from the summit.
View the opposite direction from the summit.
Summit!
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