Tell me about the Atlas Mountains.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Following on from my Bolivia thread, I've decided that somewhere a little closer to home would be (a) easier and (b) cheaper, so with that in mind the idea of traversing the Atlas Mountains seems like a good plan :?

Anyone ridden through / over them? Seems to be quite a bit of info out there if you want to do it in a 4x4 but not much if you'd actually like to put some effort in . I've read Atlas Biker by Nick Crane which is about the only stuff I can find.

Ta.

[Taylor]

Zoe rode the Atlas mountains about 7 years ago.
Said she enjoyed it but I've no idea where in the Atlas mountains.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Can you ask for for me please. The plan festering in my head at the moment is pretty much one end to the other, somewhere around 1000k.

[Taylor]

Saddle Skedaddle springs to mind.
She's out with work for a curry at the moment but I'll ask when she checks in.

[slugwash]

I've offroad bike-toured the High Atlas & Anti Atlas Mountains. I'll try and scan some piccies up onto my flickr photostream in the next few days, I've been meaning to for ages. I was intending on going back there at some point in the next year or two. I'm off to watch Mock the Week now though.








Laters..........

[Bearbonesnorm]

Slugwash what type of maps did you carry? I've seen a few different types but I'm a bit unsure as to which would be most use.

[Singlespeedpunk]

Oh interesting! I was out in Marrakech last month and escaped some of the heat up into the mountains (sans bike sadly!) and there were some nice looking jeep trails to follow. Road side cafes / service stations at 10-20km intervals on main roads from what I saw and food / drink were cheap and the people really nice.

I really need to get back there with the bike and bikepacking kit to get some miles in

You might check out:

http://travellingtwo.com/resources/morocco for some good basic info.

http://travellingtwo.com/resources/moro ... -to-zagora
http://travellingtwo.com/resources/moro ... atafraoute

I am looking into a trip over there too so if you find any treasure trove of info let me know :)

Alex

[slugwash]

We used a Michelin map and the odd bit of info from locals we met along the way along with a bit of guessing based on the topograpghy around us and the way the trails/tracks looked like they were going.

I think I've still got the Morocco map in my bike touring souvernir chest up in the loft. I'm going up there now.

I'll report back later with further details

[slugwash]

Right, I'm back down from the loft after flicking through my archives, re-living bike touring memories and stroking my silky 4 season down bag for a few minutes or so (bloody mild October weather, can't wait for a bit of a freeze)


This was the map we used....



And the area we rode around was roughly what this section of the map covers, south of Marrakech and north from the lowest crease....



http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308384@N0 ... otostream/

We never got lost (or at least I didn't 'cos I always had the map and never went rushing off ahead). The pistes marked on the map were pretty accurate. You might want a slightly more detailed map for an Atlas Mountains traverse though. Maybe there's a French one or something?

[didnothingfatal]

I have a good map of Toubkal if you want a easy 4000er

[Singlespeedpunk]

You are a bad influence Started looking at maps and wondering what kit I would need and when to go!

http://danmilner.pinkbike.com/blog/xxxxxxxxxxxx.html

http://www.mapsworldwide.com/sku_33829.htm

Alex

[Bearbonesnorm]

Thanks fellas ... a definate plan is starting to form in my head