Jebel el-Kest

Jebel el-Kest rises to 2,359 metres along the northern side of the Ameln valley, a long massif of quartzite - hard, rough, grey-purple rock that gives exceptional friction - and since British climbers began developing it in the 1990s it has accumulated something well over a thousand routes across its buttresses and side valleys, most of them long moderate lines on immaculate rock, climbed in winter when Europe is frozen. That is the reason most foreign visitors come. For walkers the same terrain gives long days on rough ground with no marked paths, and a traverse of the summit ridge. Along the foot of the mountain the Ameln villages - twenty-six of them, built of stone and mud with irrigated terraces and almond groves - are strung on a road, and several have guesthouses. Water is scarce and many villages have lost population to emigration, largely to the grocery trade in French cities.

What you actually see

• Quartzite buttresses - over a thousand climbing routes on rough high-friction rock.
• A winter climbing season - the reason foreign climbers come here in January.
• Twenty-six Ameln villages - stone and mud settlements with terraces and almonds.
• Rough walking - long unmarked days and a summit ridge traverse.

When to go

October to April; winter is the climbing season. Several days.

Honest expectations

There are no marked paths and no rescue service - navigation is on you. Climbing here is remote and committing, with long walk-ins. Village guesthouses are basic. Summer heat makes the mountain unusable.

Nearby

Tafraout is south-east; Aït Mansour gorge is south.