Photos of Imlil, Aroumd and Ait Souka villages in High Atlas mountains (Morocco)

Last week I stayed in Aroumd village where had several days exploring the area before my climb of Mount Toubkal (4,167m). The day before my arrival to Aroumd there had been large snowfall in the mountains and all the way down to village level so I decided to leave it a few days to allow time for snow to consolidate before heading to the summit of Toubkal.

As I wondered around Aroumd, Imlil and Ait Souka villages I took some photos as the scenery looked wonderful with this fresh snow. I also visited the superb Hotel Kasbah du Toubkal, this would be a wonderful place to stay with stunning 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.

I will write a trip report on this blog about my climb of Mount Toubkal shortly needless to say it was well worth waiting for!

Photo: Imlil village (1,740m) with Tizi n'Tamatert behind

Photo: view of Toubkal massif from Aroumd village

Photo: Imlil village and surrounding mountains

Photo: muleteer and his mule near Imlil

Photo: Hotel Kasbah du Toubkal

Photo: inside Kasbah du Toubkal

Photo: sherpherd and his flock near Ait Souka village

Photo: view from near Tizi n'Tamatert

Photo: Aroumd (or Aremd) village (1,945m)

Photo: trail to shrine of Sidi Chamharouch

Photo: mules on the trail

Photo: Muslim shrine of Sidi Chamharouch (2,300m)

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Winter walk in the Jebel Sahro mountain range in Morocco

I just got back to Marrakech after a short walk in the Jebel Sahro mountain range in Morocco. Jebel Sahro is south of the High Atlas and is ideal for winter trekking during months from November to March. I must admit it is rather nice escaping from London at this time of year for some winter sun with most days temperatures around 25C. As these mountains are quite low in altitude this area gets far too hot over the summer months so not possible to trek at that time of year.

The Jebel Sahro is a stunning mountain range with strange sandstone and conglomerate formations containing isolated Berber villages, please take a look at the photos below to get an idea of the scenery. It is worth pointing out that I have no photos of the first two days of this trek as my new camera decide to reformat the memory card on afternoon of second and deleting all of my photos!

After flying to Marrakech with Easyjet (£90 return, bargain!) I spent a few days exploring the city before travelling over Tizi n Tichka pass to Ouarzazate. This town is the gateway to the south and located near to the Draa, Dades and Ouarzazate valleys. Due to its strategic importance during French colonial times was a garrison town for the French Foreign Legion. However these days Ouarzazate is better known for the legendary marathon des sables race that is organised from here every year.

Photo: Ali, Berber muleteer from Ihrazzoun village

After one night in Ouarzazate I travelled to the small town of Nkob where I met my muleteer, Ali, a Berber from the nearby village of Ihrazzoun. We went to the Alimentation General to buy the food for the trek then set off early next morning. The first section of the trek crosses a flat plain following a “piste” (jeep track) and passes a few villages before a short climb then descent to a Hanedour village overlooked by a derelict kasbah.

Photo: Tassigdelt

The first night on the trek we stayed at Ali’s house in his village called Ihrazzoun. It was interesting seeing a Berber house and their way of life of course shortly after arriving we were offered a cup of mint tea with dates and almonds. I was a little surprised when Ali’s father ask me to make the next round of tea, so with some help I learnt how to do this following the various rituals and it is certainly more complicated than make a cup of tea back home!

Photo: Camel's Head from Igli village

On second day of the trek we walked past two superb conglomerate towers of Bab n Ali.

On third day we walked past two more striking rock formations known as Camel’s Head and Tassigdelt. We started to gain altitude and later on we scrambled up to the highest point called Kouaouch at 2,592m. From the summit there are superb views back to Nkob and also northwards to the snowy peaks of Mgoun in the High Atlas. That evening we camped at Tizi N’Ouarg at 2,200m in a high meadow with several goat herders living nearby.

Photo: conglomerate rocks

Photo: Ali riding on his mule

Photo: view towards Nkob

Photo: view from summit of Kouaouch to High Atlas mountains

Photo: isolated tree

Photo: Draa valley and High Atlas in distance

Photo: looking back to Jebel Sahro from Tagdilt village

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

K2 & Gondogoro La in August 2011 now a guaranteed departure

Photo: K2

The Mountain Company's K2 & Gondogoro La trek in August 2011 led by Roland Hunter is now guaranteed to run. There is still availability so please get in touch if you would like to join the group, for more information on our K2 & Gondogoro La trek

This will be my seventh trek to K2 Base Camp and as usual I am looking forward to returning to Pakistan this summer.

Please get in contact with us soon if you would like to join this group

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Mother Earth: new lodge in Lobuche on Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal

Photo: Mother Earth lodge in Lobuche

When trekking to Everest Base Camp with a group in December 2010 I noticed a brand new lodge in Lobuche called Mother Earth. Construction of this building had just finished and after knocking on the door for a while we woke the security guard who agreed to show us around.

I was very impressed with this new lodge, there is a large dining room and bedrooms are well designed with carpets on the floors. Apparently the roof is made from special material (imported from Europe) that insulates the building when cold at night but cools the building when heats up during the day.

For those of you who have stayed in Lobuche you will be aware there is a lack of quality lodges in this location, up until now the best one was Eco Lodge however their service level and standards have dropped over the last few years. There is no doubt that the Mother Earth will be the best lodge in Lobuche when it opens at the end of February, however of course it is also far more expensive.

At The Mountain Company for our Everest Base Camp trek we use the best teahouse lodges in each location therefore we have decided from now on to put all of our groups in the Mother Earth lodge. You will be glad to hear this is a free upgrade as we have decided not to increase our selling price, for 2011 it is still £1,045 (or US$1,695) land only from Kathmandu.

Please get in touch if you would like further information on our treks to Everest Base Camp, we organise six fixed date treks each year and also several private departures.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

The Mountain Company's camping treks guaranteed to run in 2011

Photo: Mount Makalu at 8,462m

The Mountain Company has the following camping treks already guaranteed to run in 2011: Dhaulagiri Circuit in April, Makalu to Everest in April, Lunana Snowman in September/ October, Mera Peak in late October and Kanchenjunga Circuit in November.

Dhaulagiri Circuit trek starting on April 24th 2011 will be led by Lee Farmer. The Mountain Company has successfully organised this challenging trek on three previous occasions and over the years has developed a good knowledge and understanding of this itinerary. If interested in this trek I suggest you read our Trip Reports on our website

Makalu to Everest starting on April 23rd will be led by Roland Hunter. This is a reconnaissance trek exploring this remote region of Nepal crossing three high Himalayan passes: Sherpani at 6,135m, West Col at 6,143m and Amphu Laptsa at 5,850m. We have a strong Sherpa team coming with us on this expedition who have completed this challenging trek many times before. There are currently only two places available in this group.

Lunana Snowman trek in Bhutan starting on September 23rd 2011 will be led by Roland Hunter, he knows this trek well having led a group who successfully completed this trek in 2008. The daily permit fees in Bhutan are scheduled to rise by 25% in 2012 so if you are thinking of doing Lunana Snowman than you should do it in 2011! If you are interested in this trek I suggest you read our Trip Report from Snowman in 2008.

Kanchenjunga Circuit trek starting on November 2nd 2011 will be led by Gary Pfisterer, he knows Kanchenjunga very well after having led three expeditions to climb this mountain from both the North and South sides. His late wife Ginette Harrison was the first woman to successfully climb to the summit of Kanchenjunga and survive the descent.

Mera Peak expedition starting on October 30th 2011 will be led by Roland Hunter, this is his sixth expedition to this mountain and is looking forward to his sixth summit! For more information on these previous expeditions please take a look at our trek report page on The Mountain Co website

We are also very close to getting enough people signed up for Stok Kangri in July, K2 & Gondogoro La in August, Dhaulagiri Circuit in October and Mera Peak in October. Please get in touch with us soon if you are interested in joining one of these camping groups later this year.

The Mountain Company

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Islamic Relief Everest Challenge successfully reach Base Camp on December 12th

Photo: Mount Everest

All fourteen members of of the Islamic Relief Everest team successfully reach Base Camp on December 12th 2010, so congratulations to everyone in this group for completing their challenge while raising significant funds for charity.

This is the fourth Everest Challenge trek that the Mountain Company has had the privilege of organising for Islamic Relief. Each of their Everest treks has been during the month of December, like previous years we experienced sunny and clear weather for thirteen days in a row.

In my view this is one of the best times of year to trek in the Khumbu as there are very few other trekkers so there is no problem getting rooms in the lodges for a larger group, easier to secure flights to/ from Lukla and the trail is much less busy than peak months of October and November.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Trip report for Mera Peak expedition in November 2010

Photo: summit day on Mera Peak

Our Mera Peak group safely arrived back to Kathmandu yesterday, we were very fortunate to fly out of Lukla as planned as for the last five days the weather has been cloudy with only a limited number of flights operating to and from Kathmandu.

Yesterday there was a back log of over two thousand people waiting in Lukla to fly out to Kathmandu so our group was very happy to hear through our connections and ongoing relationship with Tara Airlines that we had confirmed seats for the first flight; we got back to Kathmandu around midday.

In spite of the cloudy conditions in Lukla towards the end of the trek we had good weather for the rest of the time and experienced no precipitation during eighteen days of trekking. In fact for most of the days when Lukla was cloudy we were walking high above this level with the poor visibility confined to the lower valleys. My view is that November is the best time to climb Mera Peak, the weather is more stable at this time of year as by then well into the post monsoon period also far fewer other expeditions than during the month of October. Personally I would not want to climb Mera Peak in December as it would be too cold up high on the mountain and with fewer daylight hours resulting in more time walking in the dark before sunrise.

Our summit day was November 15^th, we were very lucky to have clear weather with great views from Kanchenjunga in the east to Makalu, Lhotse, Everest and Cho Oyu further to the north. On leaving High Camp at 3.20am we experienced high winds with strong gusts however all twelve in our group carried on with admirable determination to successfully reach the summit of Mera Peak. Congratulations and well done to everyone.

Compared to last year the Mera glacier has clearly undergone a number of changes, firstly there are now more crevasses along the section to Mera La as well some large crevasses opening up before High Camp. However there is still an established trail on the glacier winding its way between these slots making the risk of glacial travel still quite low risk at this time of year. It will be interesting to see how the glacier changes over the next few years if these crevasses open up more then perhaps it might require ladders to cross over the snow bridges in the near future. The second change is the large amount of rock sitting on top of the ice on the entry ramp onto the glacier, there has been significant rockfall from the ridge above. The presence of these rocks on the ice makes it more challenging for climbers walking onto and off the glacier and of course especially awkward while wearing crampons.

This is the fifth year in row that I have led The Mountain Company’s Mera Peak expedition in November and our groups have successfully summitted every year. I have been very lucky to work with the same team of fantastic Sherpas for each of these expeditions; I would like to mention a very special thanks to our sirdar Pemba Tamang (double Everest summitter plus Manaslu and Shishapangma) and his brother Nurbu Tamang as well as Ngima Dorje Tamang and Rana Magar. Thanks also to Saila Tamang and Kumar who, as ever, worked very hard in the kitchen providing an endless supply of tasty meals.

The Mountain Company is organising two expeditions to climb Mera Peak in 2011, the dates for our first trip is from April 10th to May 1st 2011 and second one from October 30th to November 20th 2011. Lee Farmer will lead our April departure and I will lead our November departure. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining one of these expeditions to climb Mera Peak.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk