Gorges du Todra Highline Guidebook Description of the area (basic info) : Gorges du Todra also known, as ‘Todgha Gorge’ is a canyon in the eastern part of the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco near the town of Tinerhir. The rock is a beautiful orange-red limestone. The canyon is about 24km long, although the last 600m of it are the most spectacular where the walls narrow and come really close together. The narrowest place is 10m and in the widest place it is about 1000 meters. The walls reach 160 meters in the highest point. It is a great climbing area offering multi-pitch climbing, single sport routes, lots of vertical technical walls where you have to move on sharp edges and pockets but you can also find overhangs in a sectors like “Gullich”, Elephant and others. For climbing definitely bring a helmet, at least 60 to 70m of single-rope and for multi-pitch routes I would recommend double ropes because of the sharp rocks. Also don’t forget trad gear and slings, as you will definitely need this for multi-pitch routes and also to access some of the highlines. There is no full climbing guide available online, but when you will get to the valley just ask for local climbing guide Hassan – he has been making climbing topos by hand and selling copies for a fair price – they are not perfect but it definitely helps a lot 

The easiest way I would recommend to get to Gorges du Todra would be booking cheap flight through easyJet to Marrakech and then taking a bus to Tinerhir – a city about 15km from the gorge. The bus should cost around 90 DH and the drive is between 7-12 hours. Once you’re in Tinerhir take a taxi to the gorge. It should be between 5-10DH per person. Be aware they will pack

this small car with 7 people (including the driver and all of your luggage on a roof) before they take off. Another thing you will have to learn really quickly is to bargain. The first given price is pretty much always too high and if you don’t want to bargain it can be taken as an insult.

There is a big hotel inside a gorge but every time I was in Todra I stayed with Moha and his family in a hostel called “Panoramique des Gorges / Chez Moha”. It is really cheap, neat and run by really friendly locals. If I remember correctly it was about 25DH per night. If you wish they could also provide with tasty meals and if you prefer to you can also cook there by your self. The hostel is located just before the entry to the gorge, which is really nice so you don’t have to walk too much but you can also avoid the everyday craziness inside the gorge (tons of tourists, noise, stalls etc.)

The best time to go to Todra would be spring or autumn/Winter. Some necessities you shouldn’t forget would be: sun cream, food poisoning medicine, a hat or something else to cover your head and shoulders and trekking poles (most of lines need some hiking for the approach). If you need to use Wi-Fi just walk down the road (opposite direction from the gorge) to the “Hotel les Roches”, buy something to drink or a tasty meal and chill with your laptop. The people living in the gorge call them self ‘Berbers’ – they are really nice and friendly folks, proud of their culture and heritage. I noticed they are a bit more open-minded and relaxed from the rest of the country. Be ready for some parties, drum music, singing – good vibes. Don’t forget to respect local habits and believes !

Shopping for fresh fruit and vegetables in Tinerhir (photo by J. Tybon) Don’t forget to bring the set of at least 8 hangers (12mm diameter) and a wrench – that is pretty much standard set for all of the highlines. If you want to set more highlines at the same time then you’ll definitely need more then that. Useful links: -

TOPO 1, TOPO 2, TOPO 3, “High Over Todra” Movie Trailer.

Highlines: There are 6 highline in the area with potential for more. All of the lines where established by team members of Somewhereelseland Team back in 2012. The idea to establish this place for highlining came from Jan Gałek and Jordan Tybon when they met together in Todra five years earlier. Most

of the lines are way more exposed then their actual height as they are located high over valley (with the exception of “Mama Africa” Highline). I can say they are all really spectacular and the “Berber Gold” Highline happened to be the first line established in Morocco in general. -

“Berber Gold” Highline (L: 45m / H: 60m, FA: Jakub “Kwjet” Hanuš – 14th Apr 2012), “Mama Africa” (L: 49m / H: 75m, FA: Faith Dickey – 19th Apr 2012), “Too Much Couscous in the Head” Highline (L: 47m / H: 80m, FA: Jan Gałek – 23rd Apr 2012), “Photo One Dirham” Highline (L: 16m / H: 60m, FA: Jordan Tybon – 1st May 2012), “Very Nice Eyes” Highline (L: 33m / H: 70m, FA: Jakub “Kwjet” Hanuš – 3rd May 2012), “Eyes of Fear” Highline (L: 61m / H: 100m, FA: Jan Gałek – 5th May 2012).

Highline BETA: 1. Berber Gold Approach: To approach this line you will have to walk through the gorge and then uphill towards ‘Con Gullich’ climbing area. You want to turn left from it and walk even more uphill until you will find sketchy goat trail going right and uphill the wall. It involves a bit of scrambling and unsecure hiking so stay careful. Once on top continue hiking right towards the gap with washed rock on the bottom of it (when it rains heavily, the gap becomes a waterfall) where the highline is located. The gap is visible clearly right above and a bit right of ‘Con Gullich’ climbing sector.

Depending on size of your pack and tempo the hike should take around 1-1.5 hour.

Crazy goat-path (photo by J. Tybon) Rigging: The line has 4 bolts per anchor (3 main bolts + one back-up, so bring 8 x 12mm hanger). The tensioning side is located on gap’s left side (looking from the bottom). It is easy to bring the line across as you can walk around although you will have to move in a steep terrain and you will need a short rope (15-20m – you can use one from tensioning system) to rappel of a single bolt (it is safe – 15cm expansion Hilti bolt) to the actual anchor, which is located below. The rappelling bolt can be used as a back up. You will need 2m spanset to equalize the anchor with sliding-X method for the tensioning side and a 3m one for the static side. Because the place tends to be windy in general it might be a good idea to rig with rope back up or use wind-dampeners to keep the line steady.

Jakub Hanuš putting up the FA on the 1st highline in Morocco (photo by J. Tybon)

2. Mama Africa Approach: This line is really spectacular. It hangs right over the main valley just at the end of it where it opens and you see “Con Gullich” and “Elephant” climbing areas. It is right over the road, gets lots of attention and it is really photogenic. The tensioning side is easier to get. You just need to go around the corner in direction of “Jardins” climbing sector and the climb/hike really easy but steep terrain up and right. The static side needs to be climbed and the anchor is located on the vertical wall. You will need some trad gear, rope and helmet to climb to the highline anchor. I believe there’s no existing climbing route up there.

Rigging: You will need on extra big shackle for the static side, as the anchor is vertical (in order to make the line flat). For that side bring 4 hangers (3 for main anchor and one for back-up) and a 3m spanset. For the tensioning side you will need the same amount of hangers but only 2m spanset to built sliding-X anchor. The line is super easy to bring across – just drop it down on one side and pull it up to the other anchor. Be careful about people below. The street is really busy so make sure you have one person at the bottom to keep everyone safe during the process.

3. Too Much Couscous in the Head Approach: This is one of the four lines, which are located in the same alcove so the approach will be the same for all of them. The approach is a bit long. It might take 1.5 – 2 hours, but you only have to do it

once with the gear. Once you have everything up you can safely stash it there and rig the lines over next few days. If you don’t want to do the hike without gear you can also camp there but that requires bringing even more gear, food and water. Just before the entrance to the gorge you want to turn left and go up following a path. It goes up and around the “Pilier du Couchant” – BTW, I recommend climbing the route called ‘Chibania’ – it’s truly great! You have to follow the path to the certain point. You don’t want to go up to high – we did it on the first time and got lost. So hike up until characteristic rock cairn and then start hiking left back towards the edge of the cliff. Soon you should reach the alcove between “Pilier du Couchant” and “Hollandaise” climbing sector.

That is where you take a turn lef Rigging: The rigging side for all the lines located in the alcove is on the “Hollandaise” side and all of the static anchors need to be approached by a rappel. You will need some extra slings and trad gear to built rappelling anchors. You can bring the line across by walking a longer piece of rope around the alcove (it is a bit tricky though). To get to the static anchor for this line you will need to fix a sling around big boulder on top, rappel down to the re-direction bolt (which is also a back up), fix your rope there and rappel further to the highline anchor. You will need 3 hangers for the anchor as well as 2m spanset. Back the whole anchor to the bolt above and go back to the tensioning side.

On the tensioning side you will also need 4 hangers in the same configuration as well as same length spanset. Make sure to pad everything really well. The rock there is extremely sharp.

Faith Dickey on the “Too Much Couscous in the Head” Highline (photo by J. Tybon)

You can’t see all of the anchors but that is how the lines are located in the alcove (photo by J. Tybon)

4. Photo One Dirham Rigging: It is the shortest line located in the alcove between “Pilier du Couchant” and “Hollandaise”. You will need 1m spansets for both anchors and one big extra shackle for the static side as it’s placed on a vertical wall. You can climb down to the static anchor. If it’s too sketchy just built an anchor from the pro and rappel down. The line is pretty high and offers nice exposure walking back towards tensioning anchor. You will need three hangers for both sides (2 per main anchor and 1 for back-up).

Author free soloing “Photo One Dirham” (photo by J. Tybon)

5. Very Nice Eyes Rigging: You will need to built an anchor from a trad gear and take few smaller pieces (like yellow alien, one green and purple BD cams) to position your self while rappelling (there is a risk of swinging on a side of the pillar and possibly cutting or damaging the rope). You will need a 1m spanset, three hangers and one extra big shackle for connection point. For the back up just pick one of the bolts below (old, misplaced anchor). For the tensioning anchor you will need the same amount of hangers and as well 1m spanset. It is pretty easy to get the connection. It is a really nice and chill line.

Faith Dickey sending “Very Nice Eyes” Highline (photo by J. Tybon)

6. Eyes of Fear Rigging: The biggest line in Morocco so far, although there is possibility to go a bit longer (probably around 75meters to the far edge). Rigging is similar to the rest of the lines in the alcove. You need to build an anchor and rappel to the static side. You will need 4 hangers (3 main, 1 back up), big extra shackle and 2m spanset. The same gear goes for the tensioning side. The line is really high and really exposed, pretty scary too.

Author prepping for the OS-FM first ascent on “Eyes of Fear” Highline (photo by J. Tybon)

Jan Gałek is the author of this guidebook. If you have any more questions you can contact him directly under this e-mail address: [email protected] or FB Balance-Is-Key 2014