Jbel Toubkal 2010

So the day came for Morocco, weeks and weeks of planning, worrying, and packing all came to a finale! Overall the trip was a great success with all of the team summiting on 17th September at 11.05am. Whilst the trip was a slog and a half, and wasn’t without it’s issues, it was very enjoyable, and a trek I would definitely recommend.
The trek consisted of a long day from Imlil (1600m) at the edge of Toubkal National Park up to Refuge Du Toubkal Les Mouflons at 3207m. So 1600m in 35-40Degree heat, with full expedition packs on....what a day huh? The day went smoothly until exiting the small village of Amround via a dry river bed when Ruth tripped and dislocated her knee.

However being the hardcore adventurer type, we promptly relocated the knee and continued on. This leg of the climb just goes on and on and on, the most annoying part of the trek was seeing the large groups of amateurs on the backs of mules heading up with no effort on their part what so ever. While on the subject of mules if you ever do this trek be very careful of the mules and muleers, they make the broad assumption that no matter what the circumstances they have right of way, and will quite happily egg their mules on along the track knocking you out of the way, crushing you against rocks, and generally not considering trekkers along the trail. After continuing through the small shrine of Sidi Chamarouch the path zig zags upward and continues up toward the hut. Eventually we arrived at the hut.

The summit day began up a steep scree slope in poor weather. After reaching the col we continued on upward and up to a false summit before moving along the summit ridge to a giant Iron summit cairn. After enjoying being at the highest point in North Africa we heading back down and to the hut. The following day we descended back to Imlil thus completing our trek.







Equipment wise a brief look at the best bits of kit I had with me;
Leki Makalu Ultralite poles: Brilliant, simply brilliant, I have always highly recommended poles for mountaineering of all kinds, for descending they came in particularly handy really helping to take the weight off my knees on descent.
Marks and Spencers Microskin Boxers: Mark and Spencer boxers eh? Might seem like I’ve got mad but good god these are the best shreddies I have ever worn, so comfortable all day long, I highly recommend these for all outdoor activities!
Camelbak Unbottle 1.5L: Did very well up until I lost the valve for the drinking tube in the scree field. However when I did use it, it kept the water so cool in my back and was refreshing to drink from.
Scarpa Manta: My boots once again proved they are perfect for anything from winter climbing to high altitude trekking in high heat!



Big shout out to the rest of the team, a climb like this is what the team make it, and the our team made the trek for me. Cheers guys.

Toubkal preparations – First aid kit

Continuing on my theme of Toubkal preparations this post will focus on additions made to my first aid kit to accommodate issues we may experience at altitude. I will be sticking with my standard Mountain Leader kit by Lifesystems, and making some modifications and additions for stuff that I may require for altitude related issues. Also past experience of this type of trek has taught be carrying certain medications is very useful, below is a summary of the kit I will be carrying in addition to my standard gear:



Acetazolamide – Anyone who has done any altitude work will be familiar with Acetazolamide (aka Diamox). Diamox is a drug that is used to treat the initial stages of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). It is one of 2 drugs usually carried on expeditions the other being Dexamethasone (something I would never use or carry). Essentially I carry Diamox for use to treat initial AMS, I do not take it as a preventative measure. Diamox is a prescription only drug, and you should consult your GP in order to get this prior to a trek. The drug works by acidifying the blood, this means the blood functions more efficiently in its removal of CO2. In this way it minimise the effect of high altitude on the body.

Co-codamol – Co-codamol is the strongest pain killer available without prescription. It is essentially codeine combined with paracetamol. I carry it so that in a worst case scenario I have a strong pain killer to mask any discomfort I may be feeling. This came in particularly handy when I broke my collar bone at 18,000ft. This is available over the counter at most pharmacies.

Imodium – Imodium is an over the counter drug used to treat diarrhoea. I carry this because more often than not changing to a local diet when abroad can mean your body struggles a bit. Personally I try to avoid this my changing my diet over about 2 weeks before I go to help me. I am usually ok (touch wood), others I have been on expedition with have not been so lucky....

Oximeter – I carry a small oximeter. This allows me to accurately check my own (and others) oxygen saturation rate (SP02). Oxygen saturation is a measure of how much oxygen is in the blood in a given sample. It can be a useful tool in an emergency as an indication of weather altitude is hitting someone hard.

You should always consult a medical professional when using/buying any of these drugs. I have been revising all my expedition medicine skills by using the Royal Geographic society expedition medicine book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Expedition-Medicine-Royal-Geographical-Society/dp/1861974345/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282077807&sr=8-2 very worthwhile if you aspire to learn first aid abroad.

I have been on a number of courses that focus on first aid and emergencies in remote areas, in particular I can highly recommend High Peak First aids expedition medic and wilderness level 2 courses http://www.highpeakfirstaid.co.uk/. They really helped increase my existing first aid skills to include remote care and emergencies.

More prep to come.....

Toubkal 2010 trip preparations

So there is a month and a half until I head out to Morocco. The main objective is obviously Toubkal (4167 m) via the North Col route (PD*). However hoping to tick off 2 other 4000m+ peaks in the area; Timesguida (4.089 m) via the East ridge route (F***) and Ras n'Ouanoukrim (4.083 m) via the North Col route (PD*). Ambitious perhaps to climb North Africa’s 3 highest Peaks in 7 days but I’m confident it’s very achievable.

Naturally my thoughts have been running over what equipment I should take, and what equipment should stay behind. I have made a number of purchases lately which should hopefully allow me to adapt to the climate in Morocco a little easier. First off I have bought 2 new pairs of trousers:

The Mountain Hardwear Canyon trousers and Craghoppers Kiwi convert trousers. I bought these specifically as they were lightweight, light coloured and UV protective. My current trousers are (for the most part) heavier weight trousers more suited to UK climate. I have also bought a Mountain Hardwear Canyon Long Sleeve shirt. I chose this shirt as it will make a happy change to the base layers I usually wear, and because most of my current set of base layers are short sleeve. These recent Mountain Hardwear purchases are the first of this brand I have bought, hopefully they will perform as well as I’ve heard they do!

I have also bought an MSR miniworks water filter. This will be ideal for providing me with a clean source of water throughout my trek. Review will be coming soon! However a number of features appealed to me about this filter over the many others on the market including the ease of maintenance in the field due to its simple design, and it's efficient filter unit that gives around 2000 litres of water before needing replacing

















I have also finally completed my Memory Map Morocco file. It is now fully georeferenced and good to go. It is also working fully on my GPS so that should be ideal for emergencies and the like!


Other preparations have not been going so well, my eating habbits that had got much better have now disapeared and returned to the ways of old, my fitness has not really changed, and my lung training to help my asthma hasn't been moving at all. However from today (1 Aug) I will be resuming all of the above more positive than ever. I have set myself the goal of losing another stone and a half before I go. I have also been continuing with my French training so we will see how that progresses!

More information soon...

Morocco trip - Toubkal 2010

Well I've put off writing this post until I was sure this was going ahead, and I'm now sure it's going to happen :)

Myself and 5 others are heading off to Africa to climb Toubkal 4200m (13,700ft). It's the largest Peak in the Atlas mountains, and a mountain I've wanted to climb for a while now. I was sat with Atko the other day and we said "lets just do it man". So having rounded up our team for the trip (which we capped at 6 people) we are now in the planning phase.

Now for me that means letting all my current tech take a step up. I've already scanned and Georeferenced a map of Toubkal, which has intergrated fully with my PDA. To do this was a bit fiddly to be honest. I had to install Memory Map navigator (which I discovered was different to memory map OS5). This allowed me to scan in my new Toubkal 1:50k and calibrate it for use with GPS. To do this I tried taking GPS lat/long co-ordinates from Google earth however this was less than effective, and the first prototype of my map informed me it was 200miles to the summit of Toubkal. So I scoured the internet and eventually found a GPS track of the route. I managed to identify various points in the track and put the co-ordinates into memory maps calibration system. Time will tell if it works but I'm optimistic!

All in all watch this space, I've got a few new bits of kit on the way, reviews up soon!

Overall I am so psyched for this trip, back to high altitude with a great group (including my baby bro) on a peak I've wanted to do for months!!

WOOOOOO