On May 23, 2024, we decided to try climbing at Petite Gorge Right. We wanted to try a new area and this one seemed to have many climbs in the difficulty ratings we wanted.
We drove up through the main gorge and continued up the road until we found an area of cliffs that matched the photos in our guidebooks. For more information about the guidebooks we used, visit my Rock Climbing in Morocco page, link at the bottom of this post.
The distinguishing feature of this cliff is a large bush that grows slightly off the ground. It divides this cliff into left and right sides.
For scale, here is a photo of me looking up at the cliff. The bush is unmissable above me.
We parked just off the road at a spot where we could easily hike down to the dry riverbed. The climbing is across the riverbed.
After perusing the guidebooks, we decided to climb on the left side of the big bush. The far left had the easier rated climbs so we decided to start at the left and work our way to the right. However, we skipped the first three which seemed a bit too easy.
The climbs on the left are shorter, ending at the ledge about three quarters of the way up the cliff. These climbs are well bolted with good anchors at the top set up for rappel.
Again, our guidebooks differed in the number of routes here. The local book shows eight climbs and the Oxford book shows seven. We climbed five routes here, all interesting and fun.
The sun hit the wall here earlier than at the other crags we had climbed. It started heating up around 10:30 am but we climbed through the heat until almost noon. This is not the best time of year to climb here. It’s ok but ideally, a climbing trip should be earlier in the year, not so close to summer.
Find more information about the climbing season and other trip-planning advice on my Morocco page.
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