Oukaimeden : une station qui mérite le détour in marrakech marrakech marrakech Travel Marrakech

After the birth of the station ski and mountain in the province of Ifrane Mischliffen which was the subject of our article published on this page as of January 23, 2005, the site of the Oukaimeden in the province of El Haouz in the High Atlas according to the magazine "Mountains Moroccan" published by the FCA in Casablanca, has sparked the interest of the montagnards from the birth of skiing in the Morocco in the 1930s and thisDespite the difficulties of access once when it was 6 to 7 hours back of mules from Asni to invest the plateau when first snow.

According to the same source, the section of the Club Alpin Français of Marrakech has built a modest shelter in 1936 at the Oukaimeden helped, however, a more regular attendance of the site and the Organization of the first skiing courses. In 1938, was established the military centre and, in 1941, a more spacious cabin is built by the French Alpine Club. The Morocco ski Championships are organized for the first time at the Oukaimeden in February 1942.

In 1948, the first travelled track linking Marrakech to Oukaimeden via Tahannaoute and Sidi Farès was opened and, five years after (circa 1953), two hotels and some 30 private cottages are built at the Oukaimeden, roads and water and electricity systems are carried out and the first two lifts - Chouka (long of 1100m with a declivity of 380 m) and of the "average" (long with an elevation gain of 78 m 297 m) - are implanted in the station which has also two jumps of ski jumping.

In 1963, the Oukaimeden resort is seen building a lift with a length of 1960m with a drop of 620 m and a speed of 600 skiers per hour, a new ski lift and the connection to the national electricity grid which has encouraged the resumption of the building construction and tourism.

In 1965, the new road by the Ourika valley is open and allowed to join easily the station of the Oukaimeden which was equipped with two other additional in 1967 lifts and related to the automatic telephone network in 1970.

1992. Finally, Oukaimeden Summit was arranged and the ski lift of the uppermost combe with an orientation table and a chalet-restaurant there were built.

In the early thirties, the section of the High-Atlas du Club Alpin French has been launched in Marrakech near the site of the Oukaimeden and this is until the season 1941-42 that the section of the Club Alpin Français in Casablanca has emerged.

In the aftermath, a League of ski of the French ski Federation (FFS) has emerged to the Morocco to coordinate and organize the activities of all these clubs and many others who have seen the day after 1942 and thus contribute to the promotion of winter sports at the Morocco in the thirties.

The ski area in the Oukaimeden station currently covers approximately 300 hectares concentrated on the northern flank of Mount Oukaimeden, it lies between 2620 and 3270 m elevation.

In moderate snow years, the ski area is practicable of mid-December to late March or during a period of about one hundred days.

Given its relatively modest maximum altitude relative to its latitude (31 °), the station to Oukaimeden ski does not ensure a snow quality throughout this period, which hinders its marketing especially abroad.

Similarly, we stated our same source of information, too much technical difficulty of the site is a handicap: indeed, 75% of tracks of the station to Oukaimeden turn to for good skiers and only 25% average skiers and beginners, while in theory proportions should be inverted.