Ascent of Toubkal (circular route)

Ascent of Toubkal (circular route): 2 Nights / 3 Days

Trip Grade : Moderate to Strenuous

Day 1: Imlil to Lipeney Hut (3,000m)

Start of a 6 hour trek up via long, winding mule tracks to Tizi Mzik (2,664m) giving an awesome panorama of the Imlil Valley and of Jebel Toubkal (4,167m). From here you descend to Aazib n'Tamsoult (2,145m) for a picnic by a stream. Thence, on up to the Tamsoult Cascade, also known as the Irhoulidene Cascade (2,200m) and on to dinner and overnight in a basic refuge - Lipeney Hut (3,000m).

Day 2: Lipeney Hut to Toubkal Refuge (3207m)

After breakfast, we now set out eastwards on a moderately difficult hike up winding mule tracks to the Tizi Aguelzim (3,104m) with our picnic taken en route, thence a further 3 hours south-east via the Agelzim mountain pass 3,560m to the Toubkal (ex Neltner) Refuge which marks the spring snowline at (3,207m). (About 5 hours' walk.)

Day 3: Neltner hut to Toubkal Peak and Imlil

We leave the Toubkal Refuge (3,207m) before dawn, following a well-worn route to the summit. If conditions are good it should take no more than 2-3 hours to reach the summit, where we enjoy expansive views of the entire Atlas range and the Marrakech plains beyond.

Returning to base, we then descend fairly rapidly to the villages of Sidi Chamharouch and Aremd, before following the Mizane River, along a well-forested trail, to the trailhead at Imlil. (About 8 to 9 hours' walk.)