Larcher, Oviglia and Paissan establish Sul Filo della Notte, Gorge of Taghia, Morocco.

From the 6th to the 27th October Rolando Larcher, Michele Paissan and Maurizio Oviglia have opened a new route on the mountains of High Atlas, in Morocco. It was the first time that Italians went climbing in the Gorge of Taghia, an area of great beauty and mountaineering interest, bur relatively little known in the international alpine circles. Taghia is a little farmers’ village, lost in the mountains, two hours walk from the nearest road, a bad dirty road possible only for four-wheel drive. There is neither electricity, nor telephone, you are completely isolated, without possibility of rescue in the case of an accident, but you are perfectly integrated in the peasant life of the small Berber village. In short, a little corner of paradise!
The gorges are located just after the oasis of the village, that exists thanks to a few incredible springs, and penetrate into the watershed of the Atlas range (in this point about 3500 meters high). The gorges are flanked by kilometers of big walls, almost 900 meters high. The rock is an orange limestone of exceptional quality.
From the mountaineering point of view, the area was discovered by Spaniard Manuel Punsola in 1974. The first routes, however, were climbed the following year by a group of French climbers, among them Bernard Domenech (at the moment one of the best connoisseurs of African mountaineering) and Eric Dechamp. The French climbed the most logical routes, 600 meters in complete isolation. In the ’80s and ’90s the area was sporadically visited, especially by Spaniards, who established several big walls, spending up to a week on the wall.
Good first ascents were later made by a French group, led by Remi Thivel and Christian Ravier, hard routes, protected by rare bolts, always on walls between 400 and 600 meters.
The first modern routes were established by Spaniard Toni Arbones (they were opened from the ground up and in artificial climbing). Other lines were opened, in May 2003 by the trio Michel Piola, Benoit Robert and Arnaud Petit. Among their routes in Taghia there are Les rivieres pourpres, 7b maximum, 6c mandatory, 600 meters, Canyon Apache, 6c, 300 meters and several one-pitch routes with difficulty up to 8a+ (Arnaud Petit). Nevertheless Taghia is unknown to almost all European mountaineers. It’s enough to say that beside French and Spaniards (almost always the same climbers) no other European has ever come to this area, to leave a sign on the rocks.
The report
As soon as we arrived in Taghia we tried to discover the climbing possibilities, but even in two days of frantic hikes we weren’t able to see everything. Some parts of the gorges are hard to reach, but it hasn’t been hard to find something suitable for us. Our objective was to equip a modern route, therefore we have looked for the smoothest faces, suitable for this style. We found a line on the Oujad, longer than 600 meters, and we carried our gear to the base with difficulty. Frenchman Alain Bruzy, whom we met there, invited us to take a look at the Akka’n Taghia gorges. After another hour walk we reached the huge red face of Tadrarate: an impressive vertical wall, with severe look and apparently without a small ledge or even a bush. It was like a lightning stroke, and we fell in love with it straight away! After retrieving our packs we started the route, (that didn’t seem easy at all), under a summery sun.
The time at our disposal was enough to make at least a try, and in case it hadn’t worked we could have gone back to our first project. As the time went by we became always more tired, the wall seemed not to have an end (on the contrary, it became always more difficult) and also the weather began to trouble us. We started the climbing days at 5 A.M. and finished at 8 P.M., after a difficult return to the village in the night, on dangerous terrain, where a wrong step would have meant a 200-meter fall in the gorge. Two times a deluge of water caught us, high on the wall and our psychophysical energy was further depleted. At that point there was no doubt, we had to gain the route with a big effort, and it surely was neither a hike, nor a relaxing holiday.
High up the rock was less articulated. This factor slowed down the progression even more, but at least the difficulty of the route was high and homogenous, and all pitches were of incredible beauty, always on high quality rock. We needed five days for the first ascent: 12 pitches, 570 meters long, almost 450 meters above 7a.
48 hours of well deserved rest and we started again to try the redpoint ascent (first free ascent, ndr), on a cold day with clear sky. After climbing the first pitches, with the stress that I wasn’t allowed to make mistakes if I didn’t want to fall several meters, I gave Larcher the sharp end. Rolly made a good job, although it was impossible to remember all the sequences of so many technical meters (without having rehearsed them), and he even redpointed the crux pitch (7c+). Unfortunately he fell in the next pitch, (7c), by then totally spent. We were also exhausted. Our moral and the skin of our fingertips were worn out, and we were obliged to give up and renounce to the redpoint ascent in one day.
Another rest day. After 24 hours we were ready to try again. At that point the deluge caught us and it poured with rain for 14 hours without interruption. Unfortunately we had no more time left and the following day was the very last possibility. Looking at the menacing clouds we decided to change strategy. To gain time we rappelled from the top to the pitch we had not yet free climbed. Good move, because a few minutes later it began to rain again. Rolando gave his best and with his incredible level he fired the 7c straight away, without warm up, in order to free climb at least all pitches. Just in time, before still another thunderstorm.
The return to the valley, the same evening, was a real adventure. The streams had become rivers of mud, in the dark night. After several risky crossings and misadventures we arrived totally wet to the mud houses of Zaouiah, hoping that somebody would open the door. Another time the hospitality of these wonderful people surprised us, because they friendly let us in and offered us hot mint tea, the so-called Berber whisky.
We named the route Sul filo della notte (Sur le fil de la nuit, in French) to remember the moments spent running after the thin thread that divides day from night. Taghia has been a really nice story, committing and stressing, because it is particularly strenuous to establish a route in this style and in this environment. We believe that we have given something beautiful and engaging to the climbers who will repeat this route, and who will be able to enjoy an “engagèe” sport climb and experience it in a more relaxed way than we did.
Further I wish to thank for the technical support La Sportiva, Kong, and for the clothing The North Face for Rolando and Mello’s for me. Special thanks also to my partners Rolando and Michele for having helped me in the hardest moments with power and loyalty. Thanks also to Said and Ahmed with their families, for having given us hospitality in their homes and let us in at impossible hours.
Maurizio Oviglia

TADRARATE, 2803 m, parete SW
Sul Filo della Notte (Sur le fil de la nuit)
570 meters, 7c+ maximum, 7b mandatory. Fully equipped with stainless steel bolts, 10 mm, bolts far apart. First ascent: Rolando Larcher, Maurizio Oviglia and Michele Paissan, October 2003