Founder / Zakaria Basraoui
Belgian, with
Moroccan
roots
I grew up in Belgium — a country with no mountains — in a family from Morocco, which has plenty. I found mountaineering as an adult and it took over completely: the altitude, the early starts, the quiet, the way a long climb rearranges what you think you are capable of.
My first attempt was a December ascent, in full winter, and I did not make it. Not because I was unfit and not because the mountain was unfair — because the day was built wrong. Snow on the upper route, too little margin, a pace that was never mine, and a turnaround that arrived before I did.
Two months later I went back and summited — same mountain, same season, one difference: I was prepared. I knew what the day asked for, what to carry, how to pace it and when to be honest with myself. Nothing about me had changed except the preparation.
That is the gap I want to spare people. Nobody should have to fail once, go home, and buy a second set of flights to learn what could have been told to them beforehand. Atlas&Ocean is that preparation, handed over in advance: the honest brief, the right kit, the acclimatisation night, the margin it buys, and a pace that is yours.
Three days instead of two, eight people instead of twenty, an acclimatisation night before the climb, and a pace set by the slowest person in the group rather than the schedule. Certified guides from Imlil who grew up under this mountain lead every summit day. The number on this site is mine, and I answer it.
The mission
Everyone summits,
whatever their
limitation is
About half of the people who attempt this mountain fail on their first try, and in my experience it is rarely fitness that stops them. It is an unsynchronised group: one pace imposed on everybody, a two-day schedule with no margin, and someone quietly turning back because the plan had no room for them.
The other thing I noticed is that visitors and Moroccan climbers never walk together — foreigners in one group, locals in another, same trail, same morning. Moroccans climb at the weekend, which is precisely when we run, so our groups are mixed on purpose. It makes for better weekends on both sides.
So nobody is pushed and nobody is left behind. I ask about your fitness before you book, we split summit morning by pace, we start early enough that slow is still fine, and the Friday night at 1,900 m means the mountain never has to be rushed. Reaching the top at nine instead of eight is not a problem — it is the whole design.
What that rules out
- Two-day versions that skip acclimatisation entirely
- Groups of twenty in a minibus
- A fixed summit time you have to keep up with
- Guides flown in for the season
- Being back in Marrakech before you have stopped grinning
- Foreigner-only groups walking past local-only groups
- Group cap
- 8Small enough that the guide knows everyone's pace by lunch.
- Days, not two
- 3Aremd acclimatisation night, refuge night, summit at sunrise.
- Local crew
- 100%Guides, cooks and drivers from the valley itself.
- Reply time
- < 4 HUsually faster, and always from me, not a template.