The Todra Gorge in Morocco is a good place for multi-pitch rock climbing. There are not many single-pitch bolted routes, but you can find something for yourself, on a different level.
I included general information about climbing in the Todra Gorge in the article Climbing in Morocco: Todra Gorge. Here I will describe in more detail what sport climbing looks like in this area.
We were interested in routes in the 5b – 6c range, so we visited sectors where you can climb at this level.
Sport climbing: Plage Mansour sector
The main photo of this article is Plage Mansour. The sector is located right at the entrance to the gorge and offers almost 30 routes, most of which are in the 5a – 6b range.
Many routes in this sector are over 30 meters, and a few of them are even 48-50 meters long. Yes, one pitch. Vertical and slabs dominate, and the bolting is good. I was most pleased to climb the Coeur de Palmier route that was listed in the topo guidebook (published by the Oxford Alpine Club) as 6b or 6a. That means it was marked as 6a in the list of routes, but as 6b on the rock photo. As I mentioned in the previous article, many things in this guidebook are inaccurate ;) Anyway, I felt like I was on a 6b route at one point. The climb was interesting because it started with a slight overhang on jugs, then transitioned to a slab, and continued on a challenging vertical section. I like such varied routes.
In the morning the sector is in the sun. The shadow appeared around 2 – 3 pm.
Sport climbing: Dalle Hollandais sector
In the topo, the sector looked very attractive. A lot of routes on our level, the sun only around noon and a cooling river flowing next to it along the road. Unfortunately, it turned out that almost the entire sector is occupied by Moroccan souvenir sellers. They invite you, say you can climb, they can move… but how?
We only entered one route in this sector, one of several that was available. According to the guidebook, Guitonet 5+. From the beginning it seemed more difficult than 5+ and at the end there was a surprise in the form of an unscrewed bolt. That is, the screw itself in the rock, run-out to a belay of about 7-8 meters. There is a 6a+ running next to it, I was wondering if I should switch to it, but I didn’t really see a way to do it. So I looked down, wondering if, in case, I’d make it to the ground, my imagination told me I shouldn’t, so I finished my route. But not without emotion ;) Especially that it is more 6a, maybe even with a plus.
Sport climbing: Petite Gorge Right sector
The sector is located about 5 km from the entrance to the gorge, it can be reached by car. We went there on the first day because there are some fives and some sixes. It seemed just right for a warm-up, but that was a mistake because the sector is in the sun until late afternoon. We warmed up too much ;)
Sport climbing: Kours sector
Another sector that looked just right for our level, and it’s on the side of the gorge that’s in shadow until the afternoon. According to the guidebook, there are several 5a – 6a+ routes in the sector with a length of 25 – 35 m. There are several 6b routes in the adjacent Tacos Sud sector.
Kours to the right of the chimney, Tacos Sud to the left.
In the Kours sector, the routes are nicely signed with Polish names on the pebbles located on the rock, unfortunately it turned out that most of them have unscrewed bolts. Only the two longest ones were available: Faka, graded at 6a, and Żaba at 6a+. We did both and Żaba has an adequate grade in my opinion, but Faka is more like 5b/5c.
The place for belaying is moderately safe, because 10 m above the road. We made a belay there by our trad gear.
Sport climbing: Petite Gorge Left sector
Sevens difficulty prevails in the sector, but there are also some 6b’s. I even managed to send one in flash (Corprino), but it’s quite easy as this grade.
We have not visited more sports sectors, but also not much else in Todra is at our level. Maybe 2-3 more would be found, but in the sun, and we found just the weather, which encouraged more to look for shade. We did not visit many sectors because the routes were too easy or too difficult for us. There are a few sectors where there are only sevens and single eights, and a few sectors where climbing is at the level of fours and fives.
In the next article, multi-pitch climbing in Todra. There will also be a few surprises ;)
Thank you :)
Telkom University
How does the difficulty level of climbing in Todra Gorge compare to other climbing destinations?
maja
It’s hard to tell. There are easy and difficult routes, like in other destinations. The difference was, that in Morocco we were using a guidebook with many errors, so we never knew what was the real grade of the route that we were planning to climb. But there is reportedly a better guidebook, that you can buy there.