I think it’s fair to say that the climbing scene in Morocco is rather less developed than in Europe. There is to my knowledge one indoor climbing gym in Morocco, in Marrakesh, and that’s your lot. With regards ‘proper’ climbing (ie outdoors) there are two main areas - the anti Atlas mountains for Trad climbing with Tafraoute as the main hub, and Todra gorge for sport climbing. Caiat in the north of Morocco has also been recently developed for sport climbing with quite a number of bolted routes now, and there are two smaller sport crags between Casablanca and Marrakech which are certainly not without charm.

 On this trip we did manage to at least visit each of these areas although failed at the last hurdle in the attempt to climb at every one. Still, at least that saves something for the next trip!

Ain Belmusk & Gagou

The first bit of climbing I managed to get done in Morocco was at these two small sport crags off the A3 half way between Casablanca and Marrakech. Driving there required a fair bit of rough road driving and some studious ignoring of the googlemaps directions. Ain Belmusk wasn’t too bad, we found it pretty easily and got there in the motorhome in one piece to find a lovely parkup area right next to the gorge itself. Gagou though is less motorhome friendly and we were fortunate to be driven there in a hire car by a fellow climber we met up with (Hi Alex!), even so we almost got well and truly stuck on the way in but followed a much better road on the way back out! Still wouldn’t advise it in a large vehicle though. The best road is the one that turns off the P3615 further north (near Moualda) and runs mainly north-south, don’t attempt to turn off the P3615 further south, it is not a shortcut! There is also a connecting road between Gagou and Ain Belmush which was in pretty good condition as well.

Both crags are gorges with dried up riverbeds (Morocco is in a 6 year drought so there are an awful lot of dried up riverbeds around). Access is very easy from the parking at the gorge entrances and they are really nice places to chill out between climbing. There’s around 60 or so routes between the two crags with quite a few in the lower grades - F5-6A including one of the best 6A routes I have ever done right next to one of the best 5+ routes (Friente party and 27 gr. avec ou sans ame - the sort of climbs where you’re smiling the whole way up). Most of the climbing is very similar in style - roughly 25m vertical routes, blocky first half and more technical second half but fantastic fun if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

Gagou gorge

Cragside parking at Ain Belmusk!

Flawless technique as always

And a well deserved tagine afterwards

However we had places to be and so after just 3 days of actual climbing we headed off for a month or so of non climbing related activities before getting to….

Tafraoute and the Anti Atlas

Now this is more like it! Forget your little sport crags with your 60 or so piddly 25m ‘climbing’ routes. Try over a thousand single and multipitch trad routes, some of which stretch for over 900 metres of proper climbing (alright maybe with some scrambling thrown in). People are setting new routes here all the time, in fact I briefly met up with a group including one of the guys who literally wrote the guidebook on the area, they’re all out trying new routes, variations on existing routes and just experimenting with different ways to get up the huge variety of mountains, gorges, ravines and rocks spread out over this whole area. The quality of the routes is highly variable, it’s very common to encounter loose rocks as well as painfully spiky vegetation, but the awesome more than makes up for the awful and there’s enough to keep any trad climber entertained for a considerable number of winter trips.

I was fortunate to meet up with a couple of other climbers (Hi Colin, Hi Maira!) via facebook groups and was able to get some good routes in at Palm tree gorge, Tizgut gorge, and a mix of trad and sport climbing on the granite rocks to the south of Tafraoute. Although to be honest climbing a 30m slab with a single bolt half way up and pulling loose holds off on the way was not a personal highlight.

The van parkup area near Tafraoute however was amazing. Even with well over 100 vans there we were able to park miles from anyone and enjoy the space and calm for the princely sum of 1 euro 50 per night. We even had daily doorstep deliveries of fresh bread and pastries from local bakers. Perfect!

Palm tree gorge - stunning

A view from the top at Tizgut gorge

Somewhere near Tafraoute

Enjoying the winter weather

And some colourful rocks

Todra Gorge

After a decent ten days or so we felt a change of scenery was needed so opted to drive up to Todra gorge, the premier sport climbing venue in Morocco. After a brief diversion to visit a couple of film sets and drive along some dried up river beds (bridges appear to be optional in Morocco) we set up camp at vanlife central in the middle of the gorge. Around 20 or so other climbers were parked up at the same spot so we got to know most of them and had regular group dinners at Dar Ayour (Hi… everyone!)

The climbing at Todra is mostly very good (although the via Ferrara is only really worthwhile because it's the only one in Africa), some sectors have rock sharp enough to rip through your fingers in no time, others allow them some much needed recovery. The variety of long multipitch routes makes it ideal for multipitch novices and experts, just make sure to factor in the walk back afterwards! I was a little disappointed in the 6a multipitch Hannah something or other - most pitches felt more like scrambling than climbing tbh. Still, plenty more to have a go on and some really enjoyable single pitch too, especially at the sector near the gorge entrance. Oh, and Hassan at the car park is a very nice, helpful guy, even getting us a discount at the cafe and pointing out some of the routes when we first arrived.

View from the top of a multipitch

Watch out for falling rocks!

View in the other direction!

Caiat

Gods bridge, or arch

Plenty of water up north!

Moody monkey

Hmmm, what have we here?

That left only Caiat in terms of Moroccan climbing areas, so after a short trip to merzouga for some sand dune bodyboarding (our own invention) we headed back north over the mountains. From desert to snow to rain in just a couple of days (via a forest full of monkeys), we arrived at Caiat ill, wet and in no condition to climb anything! We just about managed the walk to God's bridge which to be fair looks pretty cool, and then decided to sit out the rain and illness at an Airbnb. Sadly although the illnesses eventually passed the rain did not and we had to leave Morocco with Caiat unticked. But since Morocco has been suffering with 6 years of drought I guess we can't really begrudge them a few days of rain. 

Onward to Spain for some sunny climbing days please!