900 miles (1440 km) would be a more likely total distance (two hours of zigzag path could cover only a mile as the crow flies). The distance is for the basic route and side trips; peak-bagging, etc., is not included. The Spanish visit at the end of May was to comply with the 3 month tourist limit. The traverse could have been done within that time but that would have introduced an element of racing.
The first month (as the R symbols indicate) gave some miserable weather: rain on 19 out of 37 days. From 4 May to 10 July (end) there was no rain but occasional wicked winds. 31 nights were spent under roofs and 66 camping or bivouacking. The apparent discrepancy for the 96 nights is due to 16/6 when CK was in the Neltner Hut and HB and Ali (and GH) were being wind-blasted in a tent on top of Toubkal!
In the first half, the heavy snowfalls ruled out the planned Imilchil-Zaouia Ahancal route. Ayachi was magnificent but off-route and the upper Tessaout/Mgoun simply unreachable. The diversions proved just as entertaining, however. The high-level western traverse was a fitting climax. In all, about 25 people played an important part on the journey quite apart from our various hosts, our Hotel Ali base in Marrakech and Aït Idir Mohammed who managed affairs off the mountain.
The following statistical summary was produced after GTAM and rather brought home the scale of the traverse. Symbols used:
Heights are in metres and distances in miles
