reached easily enough from Assemsouk.
From the camp it was just a matter of circling the bluff to the left (east) to gain the high ground. Aroudane is just a long, wide crest thereafter, with no indication of what lies on its northern flank, the 3359m being merely the highest spot. The long, long Tazaght gorge flanks it to the south (what untouched climbing must lie there!) and beyond lies a high, great plateau-tableland which had fascinated for years and would give some of our best lonely wanderings, described later in Route 12. To the east we could see the canyon-held Jbel Timghazine and Azellah, peaks from which we descended to Zawyat Ahancal after making the high-level route denied us on GTAM95. We did it after a visit to the Brides’ Festival at Imilchil and torrential rain fell most days. But we camped at Timit (‘navel’, the centre of the world).
Azurki is not far away and could be done after Aroudane in the same trip – more or less what we did on GTAM95 with a high camp near the Tizi Yllaz between.
ROUTE TEN
Jbel Azurki 3677m
| Commitment | A day’s drive in and a long slog of an ascent to follow; the mountain catches snow and offers the best sport for ski mountaineering. It has a long summit crest or, from Tizi Yllaz (S), the easy but rotten rock scramble we climbed. |
| Maps | 100: Zawyat Ahancal; 50: Zawyat Ahancal. MM would be adequate alone. Or, observe and go. See Route 9 for route map. |
| Texts | All the French old hands describe Azurki, always on ski raids, and give routes/illustrations accordingly: MP2, AF, AFC, HG, BD. |
| Travel to start | Goudron then piste from Azilal through Aït Mhammed on the Bou Guemez old road, turning off for Azurki. If trekking, from the Tizi Yllaz, reached from either the Assemsouk/Zawyat Ahancal east, or Bou Guemez/Lac Izoughar, west. We climbed c777m from the Tizi Yllaz; the northern flanks would be longer, ± 1000m. |
| Local assistance | Mules, guides and gîtes in the Bou Guemez. |
Above the rolling waves of green foothills this hill rises like a fin on the southern horizon – a great peak at any time, a noble objective and a superlative viewpoint.
Azurki’s south flank from the lower slopes of Ouaougoulzat
Azurki is the only major peak in this book where I’ve not stood on the actual summit. On GTAM95 Charles and I did make what we called the East Top. The peak is seen well in winter/spring from the Azilal–Bin el Ouidane road, a graceful fin of snow beyond the rolling foothills. As with Aroudane, it can be reached from the Azilal–Aït Mhammed–Assemsouk road or going up to Zawyat Ahancal and over the Tizi n’ Ilissi to Assemsouk.
The bliss of a stream on a hot day
We had camped by a stream (the Tagragra) up from Assemsouk, ascended Aroudane and then climbed to the Tizi Yllaz to camp near the pass, where there was water. Heavy snows meant that we only just got mules up to the pass (2 May), but even with this the south flank of Azurki was largely free of snow. We set off from the pass (c2900m) up the obvious crest descending to it – easy going, but on endless loose layers of rock. The angle steepened higher, but following one rising stratum led us on until we were confronted by cornices overhead. We had only one old ice axe, carried in order to level camp sites and for other imaginative uses rather than for climbing. We took turns whacking out bucket steps to destroy a bit of cornice and gain the crest. And that was it.
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