HAUT - High Atlas Ultra Trail

HAUT — the High Atlas Ultra Trail — is an annual trail-running and endurance-hiking event based in the Tizi Oussem valley, a dramatic tributary of the Ourika Valley system in the High Atlas. The race offers 25 km, 50 km and 80 km distances that push participants across some of the most challenging and beautiful terrain in Morocco. Even outside race season, the routes that HAUT follows make for exceptional multi-day hiking itineraries, connecting Berber hamlets, high mountain passes and the remote Azzaden Valley.

The courses are carved into the mountain flanks, using ancient shepherd paths and mule tracks that traverse steep scree slopes, cross crystal-clear streams and climb to passes above 3,000 metres. The 80 km route, in particular, is a brutal but breathtaking tour: it starts in Tizi Oussem village, climbs to the Tizi n'Mzik pass (3,035 m), drops into the Azzaden Valley, loops through the Ouaneskra plateau and returns via the Tizi Oussem ridge. Runners and hikers alike are rewarded with ever-changing panoramas — terraced barley fields in the valley floors, juniper and holm oak forests on the mid-slopes, and bare rock and alpine flowers above the treeline.

The HAUT event typically takes place in September, when the post-summer weather is stable, the days are long and the mountain air is crisp. For hikers who want to tackle the routes independently, April through October offers the best conditions. Tizi Oussem village has basic gîte accommodation and is accessible from Marrakech in about 1.5 hours. Whether you race it or hike it, the HAUT corridor offers some of the most technically rewarding and scenically dramatic terrain the High Atlas has to offer.