African sun and a howling blizzard: trekking through Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains
March 12, 20245:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageJuniper forests and orchards planted by the Berber people frame the lower Toubkal valley in Morocco. Even in winter, the trees are full of songbirds.
Brian Mann/NPR
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Brian Mann/NPR
Juniper forests and orchards planted by the Berber people frame the lower Toubkal valley in Morocco. Even in winter, the trees are full of songbirds.
Brian Mann/NPR
HIGH ATLAS MOUNTAINS, Morocco — When we set off on foot from a tiny mountain town called Imlil, it was still early, the sky purple. The peaks towering above the valley were just visible in the dim light, with rocks and crag outlined in sharp blue shadows.
The High Atlas Mountains run roughly east to west through central Morocco. They’re some of the wildest, most remote places in North Africa. I first glimpsed these soaring, snowcapped summits nearly 40 years ago.
In the 1980s, I was little more than a hippie kid hanging out in the nearby city of Marrakesh,..