Anti-Atlas: Jebel Lkest Rock Climbing

A fantastic 'winter sun' trad climbing destination. Mountainous but with a 'cragging' feel. Varied routes on predominantly solid quartzite. Approach times from 2 minutes to an hour. Single pitch to multi 8+pitches long. All aspects though many north faces (a relief at times for escape from the hot Moroccan sun!). Descents mainly by easy scrambling off the back of peaks, though many abseil descents on the shorter routes.

Developed mainly by Brits and originally on the south side of Jebel el Kest - see Claude Davies' guidebook Moroccan Anti-Atlas, from 1991 onwards, but activity since 2007 has taken place mainly on the north side and on Jebel Taskra north (at a rate of knots!) - Still plenty of scope for new routing, with many of the routes also not having seen repeats as yet. An area still in its infancy...

Must do routes: Tusker 5.6, Sisters of Mercy 5.8, Voyage of the Beagle 5.9, La Linea D'Ombra 5.9, Em's Cleft 5.9, To Teo 5.9, Black Beauty 5.10a, Firesword 5.10a, Shruikan 5.10b, Titan's Chimney 5.10b, Golden Compass 5.10b, Sungold 5.10c, Leaving Las Vegas 5.10c, Crackerjack 5.10d, Arctic Monkey 5.10d, Orgasmatron 5.11a, The Mighty Logan 5.11b, Hammer Finger 5.12a.

For lodging, the Kasbah Tizourgane near Ida Ougnidif is popular and all areas are between 10-40 minutes from here. However, another great and cheap option is the Ksar Rock Guesthouse in the Afantizar valley. It's within walking distance of many routes and is cheaper than the other options. Only place which serves alcohol is Les Amandiers hotel in Tafraoute, though it is possible to stock up in duty free before departing (or in Agadir) and take this to the Kasbah, who are most accommodating about the use of alcohol (please respect this).

Multiple guidebooks are available for this region. The newest version is available here: https://www.climb-tafraout.com/ (Sept 2024). Another version is available here: https://moroccorock.com/.

A note on names: you'll sometimes see this region referred to as "Jebel el Kest", "Jebel Kest", or "Jebel Lkest". I (TJ Brumme) have edited the area name here to the one more similar to that used by locals (Azrou Lkest). Most of the sub-area names aren't actual place names used by locals, rather names that the guidebook authors made up or names that they tried to (roughly) transcribe after hearing the local names in ararbic or tachelhit.