The Elephant Cloud » climbing http://elephantcloud.net tena yesteleng Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:40:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Moroccan Crags and Mint Tea http://elephantcloud.net/2009/10/moroccan-crags-and-mint-tea/ http://elephantcloud.net/2009/10/moroccan-crags-and-mint-tea/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:24:57 +0000 Darlene Nastansky http://elephantcloud.net/?p=519 belay slaveClimbing Magazine rates The Todra Gorge number one in North Africa, as does Hassan, a stocky 38-yr-old Berber who created most of the routes. “You know Lynn Hill?” he asks, “she put up an 8+, we call it Nice, Nice, because she is so very nice.” Organized tour buses loop retired tourists from Germany, Israel and Spain through the gorge. We emerge from a rusted out Mercedes Benz taxi, circa 1960s, with backpacks and dirty clothes, and immediately discern hundreds of bolts caressing the rock.

Before we even know what we are looking for, Hassan has found us. For several days we join his world oleadingf beautiful sport climbing. Decades of experience, he needed few draws, skipping multiple bolts, I could hardly keep up the belay. Jay would lead and I would clean. So went our days. Around Berber women working terraced gardens, we had access to awesome cliffs. Technical cracks, ridges, sharp crags and overhangs worked our unconditioned, lazy bodies.

base of cliffA days end, fingers sores, we would retrace our steps back to Hotel Valley and share stories over steaming Moroccan tea. Hassan taught us the formality of pouring from the silver teapot 2 or 3 feet above the first cup, then dumping its content back into the pot. Three times was tradition. Finally, the tea was poured evenly into small glasses and passed around. He has smoked his entire life, doesn’t want children, no need for a website or internet, “I know already too many people…” He has traveled, France was too expensive, Morocco is preferred.

]]> http://elephantcloud.net/2009/10/moroccan-crags-and-mint-tea/feed/ 0 Outclimb the Goats http://elephantcloud.net/2009/10/outclimb-the-goats/ http://elephantcloud.net/2009/10/outclimb-the-goats/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:00:48 +0000 Jay Wright http://elephantcloud.net/?p=475 For this particular climb you go under the phone cables on the way up, but you lower down over the cables for clean rope management. Meanwhile the busses and tourists line up behind you for some blatant showmanship.

Gratuitous as that is, most of the Todra Gorge’s crags are further upstream and much more peaceful, some climbing right out of the river-side gardens as local women harvest their crops. The goats will beat you up any climb, but they prefer a much more precarious route over the scree fields that seem foolish to me.

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