Peter Lemon travelled with Tourdust on a 7 day custom trek in the Atlas Mountains in August 2011. Read on for his take on the trek: 

Five middle aged fathers and their teenage sons headed to Morocco in high spirits for a 6 day trekking trip culminating in an ascent of Mount Toubkal. Despite 4 members of the group missing the Saturday afternoon flight we were soon re-united due to an early Sunday morning flight and some quick planning by Mohamed. We met our guides Ibrahim and Mustapha and headed into the high Atlas. We had researched the trip and designed our own bespoke itinerary to include less walking on tracks and more ridge walking and summits. This worked really well although we were a bit over-ambitious, and we had to adjust things to suit the capabilities of the bulk of the group. I would strongly recommend the more adventurous trekker to consider following a bespoke route. We spent the entire week in glorious isolation, not seeing another tourist between the first night and the last night on the mountain. We camped in some surreal places, up to 3456m in altitude, and our only interaction with other humans was with the wonderful Berber people.

Our chef Samir provided us with plentiful, healthy food as well as helping the guides during the day. None of us suffered from any tummy troubles which pays tribute to his skill and cleanliness. He also provided us with copious amounts of “Berber whisky” otherwise known as mint tea. The muleteers did a great job of looking after the camp and moving our gear from site to site with total efficiency. 

The fact that it was Ramadan (and the tough daily sectors) meant starting at 5:30 most mornings and our longest day lasted 11 hours. We worked really hard with most people struggling at least once with the altitude or fitness. However the boys all performed really well with winging at a minimum. They just got on with it despite the hard work, long days and some scary scrambling sections.

After the Toubkal ascent we headed back to Imlil and then onto one night in the luxurious Chez Momo which came as a real treat after such a hard week before returning to the UK still in high spirits and totally fulfilled by our tremendous experience.

I have nothing but praise for Tourdust and Mohamed who did everything possible to make this holiday one to remember by five very proud dads and five inspired teenagers.

If you are interested in arranging a trek in the Atlas Mountains, start your research at our trekking in morocco page which includes all our trekking itineraries (1 - 6 days) as well as guides to the Atlas Mountains and climbing Toubkal. If you want to get in touch about a custom trek in the Atlas Mountains, email Ben on help@tourdust.com.