Mountaineering Expedition ‘Vectis Vanguard (Tiger)’, Atlas Mountains, February 2008

Cowes High School Combined Cadet Force

After 10 months of planning, the expedition to Morocco finally began very late on the night of Friday 15^th February 2008 and concluded on Saturday 23^rd February 2008. There was great excitement and anticipation as we crossed the Solent to link up with the coach that took us to Gatwick Airport.

15 cadets from the Army and RAF Sections of the CCF and 5 Officers boarded the Airbus 319 at 0630hrs. Three and a half hours later we were looking out of the windows of the plane at a terra cotta coloured landscape with uniform rows of buildings and lines of olive groves. We had arrived in Marrakech!

Arriving mid-morning gave us time to explore the city, and we were taken to the Djemaaa el Fna (the city square) for lunch. En route we passed the beautiful building of the Koutouba Mosque with its stunning minaret. The sun was shining and the city was bustling with life. Musicians, snake charmers, acrobats, storytellers and numerous horse drawn carriages for the tourists lined the square, together with a huge variety of market stalls selling everything from fruit, vegetables, plants, shoes, handbags, pottery to a stall selling false teeth, to name but a few!! That evening we sampled a real Berber meal - the restaurant was decorated to look like a large tent and we sat around the table on cushions. The food was interesting, mildly spicy and made with a mix of unusual ingredients. The cadets thought the meat, cooked in tagines, was the best they had ever tasted – and it was only later that we told them it was goat!

We were up early the next morning as we were being driven out to Oukaimeden 2630m, a place that is being developed as a ski resort. We travelled through the most amazing scenery, gradually getting higher and higher into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. As we wound our way up some fairly precarious roads we got our first sight of snow covered mountains, a sight that would become familiar over the next few days. At Oukaimeden we met our Berber Guide, Mohammed and chef, Hussein. They, together with the muleteers, would be accompanying us over the next five days. In the afternoon we were taken on our first trek up to a col at 3200m. It made us realise that we had a tough few days ahead!

We trekked the next two days, travelling between 10k and 15k each day. At night we would descend down into the valleys to stay in refuges at the small Berber villages of Tachddirt and Aroumd. The paths were strewn with rocks and occasionally we had to pick our way through deep snow, which made it quite tricky walking. Excitement was mounting on the fifth morning at the thought of reaching the summit of Toubkal when the day dawned bright and sunny. This was to prove the hardest trek gaining 1000m in 2/3 hours. We reached Sidi Chamarouch where a large white rock is the focal point for Moroccan pilgrims. After a brief respite here, we followed the steep path to the Toubkal refuge at 3207m. Other groups had been waiting to attempt the summit for 4 days but had been thwarted by weather conditions.

To our surprise, when we awoke the next morning about 80cms of snow had fallen during the night. The wind was howling and the skies looked very grey. Our Berber guide and Instructors deemed it too dangerous for us to attempt the summit and so reluctantly we had to make the return journey down to Aroumd. Our final trek was down a steep path following the course of the Mizane river to Imlil. There we were met by transport and taken back to Marrakech.

Despite not having reached the summit of Toubkal, we all feel that the trip has been an amazing experience and it has given us food for thought, when comparing the cultural differences between the two Peoples….but that is worthy of a separate report which we will save for another time!

Sqn Ldr Liz Mead RAFVR(T) – Expedition Leader