Every winter, when the Valais goes under snow, we load the bus and drive down to Morocco. We have been doing it for fifteen years, and it is not an exotic gap in the calendar: it is where Exoride started.
Here is what we go looking for, what we ride, and why we always come back to the same people.
What Morocco offers in winter, and the Alps do not
From November to March the Alps are closed to mountain biking. Morocco is entering its best season: the ground is dry, the light is low and golden, it is warm by day and cool at night at altitude. No mud, no snow below 2,500 metres, and days that hold up from sunrise to sunset.
The scale is nothing like what people imagine. The High Atlas rises above 4,000 metres, the passes are crossed above 3,000, and a descent down to a valley village routinely runs more than 1,500 metres in one go. The terrain is mineral, flowing, cut by centuries of mule traffic: these are not trails built for bikes, they are paths that are still in use.
That shift is the real luxury. Two and a half hours of flying, three hours of road, and you are in another world with your helmet on.
This is where it all started
In the late 2000s, long before Exoride existed, I went riding in the Atlas. I expected trails. I found the trails, and I found something else: the Berber welcome, a simplicity and a humanity I had not met anywhere else, mixed in with paths that never seemed to end.
That trip turned me around. It is where the urge to do this for a living came from, to take people out and show them that. The Morocco trips are the first ones we ever organised; the Valais, Iran and Georgia came afterwards.
Since 2011, more than fifty groups have travelled there with us, always with the same local team: the same drivers, the same cooks, the same hosts. They are not suppliers any more, they are friends, paid a fair price. If you want to know where Exoride comes from, it is told here.
Three programmes, three moods
Endu'Rock the Casbah. Eight days of enduro in the central High Atlas, south of Marrakech. 4x4 shuttles to swallow the passes, endless descents down to the villages, nights in Berber guesthouses and tagine in the evening. Technical 3 out of 4, fitness 2 out of 4, from CHF 1,890. This is the one for descenders.
Zagoride. Eight days crossing from Ouarzazate to Zagora, from the High Atlas to the edge of the desert. Kasbahs, palm groves, the first dunes, flowing and luminous terrain. Technical 1.5 out of 4, from CHF 1,890, and it is the best e-bike terrain in the country. Morocco the gentle way, without losing any of the change of scenery.
M'goun Hike & Ride. Nine days for the second highest summit in Morocco, at 4,000 metres: two days climbing on foot and by bike, a descent that does not end, and gorges on the way back. From CHF 1,990. That one only runs in summer, more on this below.
The day-by-day, the accommodation and the kit list are on each trip sheet, from the Morocco page.
What happens between the trails
Half of the trip is not on the bike, and that is deliberate. We sleep in village guesthouses, not hotels. The meals are the ones the house eats: tagine, bread baked over a wood fire, vegetables from the garden. Mint tea is taken on the roof in the late afternoon, when the valley falls into shade.
The bikes go up to the passes in 4x4s, and where the 4x4 cannot go any further, they go up on muleback. That is the logistics of the country, not a show put on for tourists, and it has always worked.
Mechanical support on site and a spare bike in the vehicle, as everywhere we go. What people say about it is on the reviews page, 5 out of 5 across 361 reviews.
Yes, it works on an e-bike
Two options. Either you rent an e-bike from our own fleet on site, which spares you all the battery transport paperwork. Or you bring your own bike and your battery travels down by road in our bus, which is possible subject to dates and space, since we make the drive anyway.
Zagoride is the ideal terrain for it: flowing, long, luminous. Endu'Rock also works on an e-bike. If you are still torn between assistance and a normal bike, we wrote a whole article about it.
When to go
Early October to the end of March: Endu'Rock and Zagoride. This is the winter season of the Atlas and the south. Dry ground, ideal temperatures by day, cool at night at altitude.
Mid-May to mid-September: the M'goun. The only window for the 4,000 metre summit, when the passes are clear and the days are long. Available as a private trip across the whole period.
April and May: in between. We put the Morocco kit away and open the Valais season. No scheduled departures, but a private trip is still possible on request.
Who it is for
Endu'Rock asks you to be at ease on rocky mountain trails with exposure in places: technical 3 out of 4. Zagoride opens up much wider, from 1.5 out of 4, and suits someone who rides regularly without chasing technical difficulty. In both cases the fitness demand stays reasonable: the shuttles do most of the climbing.
If you are not sure where you sit, our levels page tells you in two minutes. And if in doubt, write to us describing what you usually ride, and we will answer straight.
The dates, and how you get there
Meeting point in Marrakech or Ouarzazate depending on the programme. Two and a half hours of flying from Switzerland, then the road to the start. The bikes, the mules, the 4x4s and the team are waiting there.
The next dates are online, on the Morocco page. A departure is guaranteed as soon as the group is formed; if a trip does not gather enough people, it is postponed or refunded. And if you would rather come with your own group on your own date, the trip can be privatised.
Morocco in winter is not a fallback while you wait for the thaw. It is the best season of the year, somewhere else.
Chris
