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Sam’s broken arm recovered well. Pulling hard again #injury #recovery #training #climbing

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Cool music and hot rock

This 3 minute video condenses the essence of an adventurous, multi-pitch rock climb on a new route in the stunning location of Taskra East Pillars in the Moroccan Anti Atlas.

More information on this first ascent, the music soundtrack and climbing in Morocco can be found on the KragRags website.

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"Donkey" and "ice climbing" aren't words often spoken in the same sentence - but they are in North Africa. In fact Morocco is full of pleasant surprises for climbers seeking adventure off the beaten track. This short video captures the essence of an ice climbing trip to the Haute Atlas mountains. For more details and an insight into adventurous climbing in this beautiful, rugged destination see the trip report in our climbing blog at http://www.kragrags.com

The soundtrack "Funky Fna" was composed as a tribute to "Place Djemma al Fna", the exotic focal point for song, dance, snake charmers and delicious food, in the heart of the Medina, Marrakech. © Nigel Braggins 2014.

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Smile - The Intimate Duo (ft. Nadim Teimoori)

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Despite atrocious weather in Patagonia they did it! British climbers Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, Jerry Gore, Calum Muskett and French cameraman Raphael Jochaud climbed to the top of the Big Wall of the SE Face of the South Tower (tallest of the 3 famous Towers of Paine). This trailer gives an insight into conditions the team faced on the "Wall of Paine". Look out for the film when it is released next year.

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Twid on the Chockstone route, Afella, Morrocan High Atlas. Photo Nigel Braggins

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Bullet hard waterfall ice, clear blue sky - must be ice-climbing in Scotland. Not really. Nigel leading a pitch in the Toubkal region of the High Atlas in Morocco. Awesome ice climbing venue and interesting adventure. See other posts for more info and Follow us @KragRags Photo Twid Turner.

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View South from Tizi n'Ouagane (alt. 3735 mts, 12,254 ft), 3 hrs walk from the Toubkal huts, looking towards the Anti Atlas and Sahara. © Mike Twid Turner

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Donkey assisted approach to ice climbing. 14kms and 1460 mts above the village of Imlil, after 5 hours pleasant walk, we're approaching the Toubkal Refuges at alt 3200 mts. ©Twid Turner.

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Nigel following Twid up beautiful, steep waterfall ice on Afella, in the Toubkal region, Moroccan High Atlas. Pic by Chris © Twid Turner

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One night the massive boulder in the centre of this Berber village, crashed down from the summit of Adrar Tichki and entombed Chammharouch as he lay asleep.

The boulder has since been painted white and a shrine built next to it. Pilgrims trek here, from far and wide, sometimes with animals to sacrifice on the terrace behind the Marabout (holy tomb). It is believed that sacrifices at the tomb of Saint (Sidi) Chammharouch help cure mental illness and stress.

Visitors are warmly welcomed in this little Berber village but it should be noted that the holy shrine itself is only for those of the Muslim faith.

There are a few shops selling meals and drinks and traditional Berber jewelery and clothing etc. Items bought here, rather than in the Souks of Marrakech, cut out the middle men and provide a welcome boost to the local economy where many of the goods are made.

Don't expect to make a quick purchase. The customary ritual of negotiation, often accompanied by mint tea, can be a protracted affair. If you don't really want to buy anything it is best to be firm but polite, don't start negotiating for something you're not really interested in.

These tough, proud people deserve respect, it is hard to get a living from this harsh landscape. They are great hagglers and need to be. Potential customers on this trail can be few and far between out of season, so your approach is likely to be watched from afar and local will vie with each other to persuade you to visit their shop first.

Short of cash to pay for the donkey carrying our kit down to Imlil and the taxi back to Marrakech we were limited in our ability to make a significant  financial impact, but having purchased a few small items for family back home and enjoyed some good natured banter,  we made a gift of what little remained of our hill food, along with some zinc tape and dressings from the first aid kit.

Pictures of Sidi Chammharouch (alt. 2350 mts, 7709 ft) seen from above and the view NW from one of the rooftops in the village (Nigel looking for more loose boulders before we settled down for lunch!). Note the charcoal tagine on the left of the terrace and the mobile phone "cradle" on the right column (the only place for a signal). Photos by Mike "Twid" Turner IFMGA www.themountainguidingcompany.com

See our other posts for more stories about KragRags ice-climbing trip to the Toubkal region of the Moroccan High Atlas mountains.

Spelling of place names in the Moroccan Haute Atlas can vary considerably ie single or double "m" in Chammharouch. I've used the spelling shown on the 1:50,000 Toubkal & Marrakech "waterproof" map published by Orientazion www.orientazion.com bought from Stanfords, the excellent map shop in Covent Garden, London www.stanfords.co.uk for £13.95.

Useful guide books to the region include Des Clark's Mountaineering in the Moroccan High Atlas covering Walks, Climbs and Scrambles over 3000mts, published by Cicerone and available from www.nomadicmorocco.com and Moroccan Atlas, The Trekking Guide by Alan Palmer, published by Trailblazer www.trailblazer-guides.com £12.99 or US$22.95 available on Amazon www.amazon.com

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The Mouflons and Nelter huts are just visible in the top right corner of this picture. In the absence of a guidebook, we referred to this route as "The Trousers" - clearly visible from the hut, the ice-fall looks like a pair of trousers. This picture shows Nigel approaching the belay at the top of the left leg of The Trousers. Photo by Twid Turner.

From the next belay we traversed right and then dropped into a gully for a nice route that passes under a large chock-stone. After that we abseiled two rope lengths to a snow slope that we descended back to the hut.

We got some good video of this route from the GoPro (seen here mounted on Nigel's helmet), as well as Twid's HD camera and a Sony DV. The video is currently being edited for inclusion in future blogs.

If anyone knows the actual name of the route please leave a comment.

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Twid placing an ice screw into brittle waterfall ice during our ice climbing trip to the Toubkal region of the Moroccan High Atlas mountains.

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Chatting to Des Clark in Imlil whilst loading the donkey with our ice climbing gear for the 5 hour trek up to the Toubkal Refuges. Des is a UIMLA, lives in Morocco and has a wealth of knowledge about the Haute Atlas mountains and its people. His book "Mountaineering in the Morrocan High Atlas", is a very useful guide and is published by Cicerone. We weren't climbing with Des but he is a mate of Twid's, was very helpful and freely shared his local knowledge and contacts. He runs a trekking business www.nomadicmorocco.com 

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Cheese on the summit of Jbel Toubkal (alt. 4167 mts, the highest peak in North Africa). UIAGM Mike "Twid" Turner, KragRags founder Nigel Braggins and Chris McL ticked the summit on their recent ice climbing trip to the Haute Atlas mountains of Morocco. Awesome views of Algeria, the Western Sahara and the Atlantic from up here.

Mike is a British Mountain Guide (BMG), lives in Switzerland and works all over the world as an international mountain guide (UIAGM) and instructor (MIC). Having climbed and skied with him for years I would recommend him to anyone seeking to develop their climbing and mountaineering skills (no matter what level they're at now).

Mike has worked in the outdoors all is life, qualified as a UIAGM guide in 1993, and was Senior Instructor and head of rock climbing at Plas y Brenin for 15 years  before starting his own guiding business. He has climbed ice, rock and big walls for over 20 years, more than 75 routes graded at E7/8 and many at 8a.

Mike has established over 20 major new lines in the greater ranges and has climbed some of the hardest mixed and rock routes in the Alps. As for winter climbing, he has over 20 seasons in Scotland under his belt, plus first ascents, such as Scrabble VIII 7 on Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glen Coe. He also has extensive experience of alpine icefalls and has climbed up to WI 7. Whilst Sport routes may not have been his main focus he has still ticked numerous F8as.

Just a few of the highlights on his climbing CV include the first ascents of Supa Dupa Couloir VI ED4 in Alaska (for which he was nominated for the Piolet D’Or), The Good the Bad and the Ugly A3+ E3 on the South Tower of Paine in Patagonia, Endless Day VI A3+ on Baffin Island and Grains of Time, a 16 pitch E3 on Suro Tondo in Mali. He has accrued more than 100 mountain bivi nights living on portaledges, many with his wife Louise! (who is also a BMG).

You can find out more and contact Mike at www.themountainguidingcompany.com

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The first sequence down the Hornli Ridge of the Matterhorn gets the heart racing, the rest is a wild rush - landing???.....

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"Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what may be the end."

Edward Whymper, 1st ascent of the Matterhorn 14th July 1865