Winter Toubkal and Ouanakrim Climb (Experienced)

For experienced winter trekker’s only. Climb North Africa’s two highest mountains with a local guiding team. Toubkal is Morocco’s highest mountain and the highest peak in North Africa. In the winter months the ascent route sits under a permanent blanket of snow, making for a fantastic winter trek.

Note: If you do not have any prior experience with crampons or ice axes, we recommend an alternative Toubkal climb with qualified expat International Mountain Leaders

Toubkal National Park plays host to several peaks over 4,000m and is the perfect winter playground for trekkers with stunning scenery, reliable snow cover, great food and often great weather. With a cheap ticket from Ryanair or Easyjet to Marrakech, you are only an hour and a half’s drive from the mountains around the trailhead at Imlil.

The trek attempts the two highest peaks in North Africa, Toubkal and the twin peaks of Ouanoukrim, both stunning climbs in their own right. After a 6 hour walk from the trailhead at Imlil to the Toubkal refuge on the first night your first day is spent tackling the twin peaks of Ouanoukrim. The climb affords stunning views of Toubkal and the surrounding range. The next day, you’ll tackle Toubkal. Toubkal is a 7-8 hour round trip from the refuge. On the final day, you’ll head back down to Imlil and transfer back to Marrakech.

This trek is only for those with good prior experience using crampons and ice axes who accept the risks associated with this kind of winter mountain activity.

The local guide will have completed a six month training school in Tabant with the Royal Moroccan Federation of skiing and mountaineering. This training is a pre-requisite qualification for any Mountain or desert guide in Morocco and qualifies the holder to lead treks anywhere in Morocco (at any time of year). The qualification is the equivalent to the British Mountain Leader summer scheme and whilst it does include a qualification for rope work and some training in snow techniques, it is not equivalent to the British Winter Mountain Leader qualification or the International Mountain Leader qualification.
(For those unsure of your experience we also offer this trek through a team of experienced International Mountain Leaders with similar levels of liability insurance and qualifications that you would expect of an operator in the UK. Necessarily this alternative option is correspondingly more expensive. See LINK)