1st of October - Morocco - Acclimatization trip around Imlil

Our day started a tad earlier today than yesterday. The plan was to be finished with breakfast and have our day-packs packed at 0830, in order to be on our way early for a short acclimatization trek. So, prepared for anything after yesterday's rain and cold, we packed for a strenuous day in the mountains. I was wearing a t-shirt, merino wool sweater and had a fleece sweater, gloves and several buffs in my backpack. Oh, and the rain set of course. The Kasbah made lunch packs for us containing fruit, a boiled egg, a can of tuna and a piece of bread. I brought my own bread of course. Aside from that I grabbed some dried fruit with me from the breakfast buffet.

It was quite chilly in the shade, but as soon as we entered sunlight the cold dissipated. The sun was quite sharp and burning. Actually I found my grade 4 sun glasses quite comfortable in that bright sunlight. Usually I find them to be way too dark.

We walked in the two groups into which we had been divided earlier and practiced navigating with a map and reading the landscape around us - orienteering. We walked along mule paths and talked about navigation, flexible solutions in case of accidents and injuries, how to transport an injured person in the simplest way possible using trekking poles or backpacks and how to create simple slings and bandages for broken limbs.
I totally love this kind of simple pre-hospital way of thinking, and some day I wish to be the teacher, strolling along a path in a forest or on a mountain, giving others tips and tricks for easy fixes.

We had our lunch packs sitting on a slope of scree, in between fields of thistle and low, gnarly, very green conifers.

We were out for about 4-5 hours this day and our walk circled around the side of the north facing mountain, heading west, crossing a few rivulets and then crossing over to the south facing mountain side back down in the village of Imlil.

Imlil is by the way a little town at 1800 m altitude. It has more or less been created by the increasing mountain tourism. The area has several old communities, though that still exist. The area used to be known for its walnuts, apples and cherries, but now the tourism is a leading source of income.

On arrival in Imlil we were divided into three groups, each receiving 300 Dirhams, just about 30 EUR. The plan was to buy lunch for 2 days for each of us and our group leader, Nigel. This is part of the expedition thinking, how to get food that works with everyone with a limited budget.

The groups hit the streets of the village and we started bargaining for good prices. We ended up buying local bread for 2 days (I have my own of course), cheese and 800 grams of almonds, 11 eggs, 3 turkey sausages to share, two bags of apples, a whole lot of bananas, dried figs and a few cookies. So more than enough for a couple of lunches for our group. A bit too much actually.
So, first test passed with flying colours, everybody got more or less what they wanted.

The day carried on with some lessons. Barry started with an introduction to the use of a GPS. I don't use GPS a lot, not even on my smartphone, but it is quite handy. You just need to remember to get to an open space, preferably high up, so as to have as many satellites as possible in range of the GPS.
We had another lesson on simple temporary orthopaedic fixes, such as femur fractures, ankle sprains and fractures, wrist and forearm fractures.

We had a quite intensive session on frost injuries, hypothermia and heat related injuries with Duncan. After that we finally got something to eat. The main course this evening was lamb tajine. Really nicely prepared with prunes and almonds. The dessert was fresh fruit served at our evening session which started with Charlotte sharing her experiences on how she became an expedition medic through just showing interest and having some free time from her education in order to go on trips and expeditions.

Last of all Barry chose to share his experiences and activities throughout the years with us. He told us the story of climbing mount Everest in 2004. After that he shared what had happened to him last year while paragliding. I have met him before, in 2015 in Chamonix and I thought he was a bit different since last time. A bit thinner, with some scares and uneven areas in his face. It turns out he crashed last fall while paragliding at 4 km altitude. The fall was about 50 meters as he was crossing the crest. He smashed his face, chest and hurt his knees. Somehow he managed to activate his emergency GPS and the first person to find him stayed with him until the helicopter could come the next day as it had gotten too dark for a rescue. They slept under a bush until evacuation.

It's fantastic to meet someone who has come so far after such a serious incident and to see the will to continue.
After his talk it became very still and I think all of us had some reflecting to do. I would've asked him some questions as I feel his experience has so much to teach, especially as I sometimes meet people who are very hurt... Didn't feel like the right moment though.
Anyhow, we went to bed after this and I think my reflections kept going on all night... I can't remember what I dreamed of, just that my mind was mulling things over.