Mountaineering in the Moroccan High Atlas. Des Clark

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      Deviation from normal south cwm route on Toubkal (Route 24)

      Morocco gained independence from France in 1956, and, with peace in the country, exploration, climbing and trekking in the High Atlas has slowly developed. Notables such as the Scottish climber and write Hamish Brown and the French Michael Peyron have been very active. Between them they completed a number of long-distance traverses and have written extensively about their adventures (see Appendix A). There has been more recent activity by the French on the huge rock walls of Taghia in the east of the range, and the Spanish, principally, have climbed in the Toubkal massif. In addition, in recent winters the climber-camerman Andrew Stokes-Rees has been responsible for some new extreme mixed routes on the 4000m summits in the Toubkal massif. Compared to the Alps, however, the High Atlas range is still very undeveloped, with acres of virgin rock and countless unclimbed snow gullies beckoning.

The Berbers

      The Berbers were the original Moroccan settlers, but with the arrival of the Arabs at the end of the seventh century, they lost their dominance. Today, the mountains are their preserve, while in the urban areas there is much more of a mix of Arab and Berber.

      After some early Jewish and Christian conversions, the Berbers adopted Islam, but still continue to practise some pre-Islamic beliefs. All mountain villages have at least one mosque. Some of these are just basic house-like structures, the only external hint of their identity being a loudspeaker on the roof to call the faithful to prayer five times a day. The more prosperous villages have a much more elaborate mosque with minaret.

      As is the case in many developing countries, rural emigration is prevalent – with young men and husbands leaving their mountain homes for the ever-expanding urban concrete jungles, many with little prospect of a earning a regular wage. Those that do find work either in Morocco or one of the larger European cities can be away from their mountain homes for ten months in the year, sometimes even longer. Playing catch-up with Europe and the West by leap-frogging into the digital age, Morocco is changing fast, particularly in the north of the country. Radical Islam, hashish production for Europe, large numbers of young unemployed graduates and the long-running wrangle in the western Sahara all continue to occupy the energies of King Mohammed VI and his elected government.

      Village houses in the Medlawa valley

      Away from the valleys in the Ait Bougammez and Toubkal regions, where tourism has brought about steady expansion and a higher standard of living, life in the majority of High Atlas valleys continues as it has done for centuries, but even here changes are afoot. Most accessible villages are now being connected to the national electricity grid, and richer households sport satellite dishes on their rooftops. New pistes (dirt tracks) are being pushed ever higher and further into once remote valleys, and longer-established pistes are being surfaced with tarmac. Travelling in the back of small trucks to and from the nearest town has become the local means of travel, but, tragically, the combination of poorly maintained vehicles and precipitous pistes and roads result in frequent fatalities.

      Baking bread in communal village ovens

      Despite the Berber people's often meagre possessions, they are on the whole a friendly and welcoming people. Men plough the fields, maintain the irrigation systems, thresh the barley (if mules are still used), build houses and discuss village politics. Women, who will often shy away from (eye) contact, are the carriers in the majority of villages, where they can be seen bearing huge loads of firewood, bundles of barley to be threshed or animal fodder on their backs. This workload, on top of home-making, cooking, making bread, cutting animal fodder, bringing the family cow out to graze and child rearing, generally means that women live shorter lives than men in these villages.

      Most children attend school to the age of 12, after which (depending on their gender) family finances and ease of access to second-level schooling dictate who stays at home and who continues their education. Historically, the elder son has continued, while his sisters and younger brothers have helped with home duties, worked in the fields and looked after the sheep and goats. Girls can marry legally from the age of 18, but often they are married younger in an arrangement agreed between the families.

      Most mountain villages originated from a core family grouping – indeed, some remain organised on this basis, particularly the more isolated ones. Some valleys have quite a community-based approach to development, while others continue to maintain inter-village rivalries and jealousies. While primary education is freely provided, with most children attending, access to health care – both in terms of financial affordability and physically getting to a clinic or hospital – is much less comprehensive. What would be simple accidents and straightforward injuries in the West can often lead to complicated or tragic outcomes in the mountains.

Language

      Until a few years ago the Berber languages could not be taught in schools, but this has changed under the present king, Mohammed VI. A particular valley's relative wealth and isolation will determine whether some of the male inhabitants can speak Moroccan Arabic as well as their native Berber tongue. More educated and travelled men will also speak French. Women from the mountain villages will usually just speak their native Berber tongue.

      Berber women carrying firewood

      Over the entire High Atlas range there are significant linguistic variations. Tashelhayt СКАЧАТЬ