Toubkal by the Azzaden Valley

Transfer ends where the road does. Walk over the Tizi Mzik into the Azzaden valley — quieter than the Imlil side, walnut terraces, mule traffic only. Kit check on the lodge roof at dusk. Boots reproofed, crampons still packed. First entry filed at 1,740 m.

Long, steady gain up the Azzaden headwall past the Tamsoult waterfalls. The trail thins to cairns above the last azib. Reach the Lépiney hut below the Tazaghart plateau by mid-afternoon. Altimeter reads 3,207 m. Slow deliberate pace all day — this is the acclimatisation working.

Pre-dawn start over the Tizi n’Melloul, then the west cwm to the summit frame at 4,167 m. Snow conditions logged hourly; crampons from 3,800 m in season. Descent by the standard voie normale to the Neltner hut. Summit register signed. Wind moderate, visibility to the Sahara.

Knees day. Down the Mizane valley past Sidi Chamharouch, its shrine painted white against the scree. Gîte in Aroumd at 2,320 m, terraced above the floodplain. Kit dried on flat roofs, ropes coiled and inspected. Debrief notes drafted over mint tea. Nothing to report — the best kind of entry.

Short morning leg to Imlil at 1,740 m, mules ahead with the duffels. Final gear count against the manifest, transfer to Marrakech by mid-afternoon. E-01 closed in the log: five days, one summit, zero incidents. Grade F confirmed as fair for the line taken.