“There should be snow by the side of the road so it really feels like we have driven in the Atlas mountains” I said. Be careful what you wish for, Holden.
As we had climbed over the highest road in Morocco a few days earlier, we had certainly seen the remains of snowy peaks, and there was even some of the white stuff still clinging on by the side of the road. So, we could tick that box.
Snow by the side of the road – tick!
The High Atlas sure is pretty!
The day before, sugar-coated mountain tops and sunshine!
However, just a few days ago – long after the mountain passes had been declared “snow-free” we were driving from Midelt, in the Mid Atlas range, to Fes over a lower pass, we had our customary roof-off-whatever-the-weather approach, despite a few spits and spots of rain.
“Hang on, ” we said, almost in unison “that’s not rain, it’s snow!”
The first few flakes were fun, fluttering down in soggy splats on the windscreen, but as we climbed higher, at around 1900m, it started to come down so thick and fast that the roof was definitely going back on and that was the least of our worries!
The visibility when it was still okay
Visibility was closing in fast – this is a mountain road!
Suddenly our colourful Moroccan world become monochrome
We were 60km from our destination, on a winding mountain road in a virtual white-out!
Honestly – there is a mountain over there
An almost total white-out
Three times we had to stop to clear the windscreen. So much snow had packed across the front of poor old Charlie Charleston that no air could get to cool the air-cooled engine and it was in the bizarre danger of overheating in the snow, the headlights where virtually blanked out with the white stuff and at one stage the wipers simply stopped in mid-swing, too jammed with snow to cope.
The third stop to clear the windscreen and headlights
Geoff is standing at the front of the car and is barely visible
Finally as we descended into Ifrane – ironically one of the top ski resorts in Morocco (no, we didn’t know there were ski resorts here either!) – the snow stopped.
A white-knuckle ride we didn’t expect, but all part of the adventures. By the snow on the side of the road measure, we have driven across the Atlas mountains in style!
