With an early morning departure from marrakech for a pleasant drive south, winding our way up through the moulay brahim gorge and upper valleys to arrive at the higher foothills of the western high atlas mountains. Our trailhead of imi oughlad(1450m) with the jbel toubkal, at 4167m the highest peak in north africa, aglzim 3650m and aksoual 38847m ,looming before us. Here, we alight from our vehicle and meet up with berber muleteer crew, always a fun part of our treks. We set off up in a north-westerly direction for a 2hour acclimatisation hike up switchback mule tracks, passing by cornfields, woods of pine and juniper, to the tiz n’tachete (2000m), where we shall stop to look back down on the Imlil and Ait oussaden valleys before carrying on for another half hour to Imi n’ifri and our field picnic. Then a slow hike for about 2 and half hours south-west down along a dirt track to assif n’ ait oussaden and the red clay terraced village of Tiziane(1750 m)for our accommodation in gite d’etape or bivouac.

After breakfast we now set off on our hike up along the Assif n’ait oussaden valley, passing through the walnut groves, up to tizi n’taghrhourte (1995m)and through to a rare almost flat stretch to arrive at Assaka spring, where we will stop for our field picnic amidst an awesome silence after some 2 and half hours relatively easy walking. Our afternoon’s hike takes us down along the edges of the forest until we reach the berber village of D’knt (1870m) where we will have our dinner and spend the night in a family‘s home or in a bivouac.

We set off for our morning 3 hours hike up through groves of walnut trees, fields of corn and barley to greet the many sheep and goatherders – and women and children bent over with 20kg loads of Dates and dried herbs. We traverse the Tizi n’tagdalte to the descent amongst the juniper trees till we come to a small spring set amongst the trees, where we will stop for our picnic. Once refreshed, we are off down winding tracks of upper slopes for some 3hours to come to a small river at the beginning of the valley of Assif n’ait oussaden. From here we enter the village of Tizi oussem (1850m) for our dinner and accommodation in a mountain hut in Tamsoult.

Today is a planned acclimatisation day. We leave Campearly morning and our aim for today is the summit of Aglzim (3500mt).Once on the summit we will have time to enjoy the stunning views over the High Atlas before starting our decent into camp. Finally arriving at camp (3206mt) in the Mizane Valley at the foot of Mt Toubkal late afternoon.7 hours walking.

Early in the morning we make our attempt on the summit of Jebel Toukbal (4167mt), the highest peak in Northern Africa. Our route takes us up the south cirque, crossing the stream above the refuge. The walking is relatively straightforward, but the scree and the altitude will make the going quite difficult in parts. The views along the way make the journey more than worthwhile. When you reach the the summit you will see that the vistas across the surrounding landscape are quite breathtaking. From here there are unrestricted views in every direction, from the Marrakesh Plain to the High Atlas in the north and as far south as the Anti-Atlas and the Sahara. We will retrace our steps when we return down the mountain and head back to Toubkal Refuge for lunch and. After lunch we walk back from the Toubkal Refuge to Imlil via different route to Sidi Chamharouch and Armed,then we contine to Imlil Valley where you will be picked up to Marrakech, 10 hours walking,