Goodbye Marrakesh, on to Okaimeden

The last thing I would expect to find in Marocco is a ski resort, and yet,
Okaimeden is just that, a ski resort!
The village, at 2609m is full of chalets and typical french ski resort hotels. Okaimeden peak reaches 3255 meters with a view on the high altlas chain of mountains all over 4000meters, among other, the 4167 meter Jebel Toubkal.
And now the sad part.
The village is empty, with exception of a few locals and sheep, the fancy hotels are falling apart and the lifts are broken.
Everywhere decay!
One small cozy Gite, "chez Juju" is still open, but not even they have guests. "Juju" founded the gite in 1946 in the days when they still had 4 meters of snow and you hiked up the mountain with skins under your skis. Modern lifts followed, hotels sprung up.
Today average snow in winter is 50cm, the tourists are gone and everything is falling apart. Listening to locals talking of the "old times" is agonizing! They speak of constant mountain streams of water, all summer long, today everything is dry.Leggi altro