New multipitch on Jebel Oujdad in Taghia (Morocco) by Iñaki Marco & Iker Pou

Iker Pou has had a highly productive climbing holiday in Morocco’s Taghia Gorge. Nestled deep in the High Atlas massif, these huge limestone peaks were visited by the Basque climber in 2018, during which he established Agur (8a+/400m) on Jebel Tadrarate with his brother Eneko, and in 2019 during which he forged the aptly named Honey Moon (7b+/300m) with his wife Neus Colom.

This season Pou teamed up with Iñaki Marco and, after four days of effort, established Bihotz Handi on the SW Face of Jebel Oujdad. Pou established the first four pitches solo while waiting for Marco to arrive, and after the first ascent the 320m climb was freed with difficulties up to 7c. Described as being "100% recommended", the new climb is dedicated to Carlos Doval.

After this new route, Pou made a solo repeat of Babel, the difficult, exposed and extremely beautiful multipitch established by the famous French climbers  Stéphanie Bodet, Fred Gentet, Nicolas Kalisz and Arnaud Petit. 800m high and graded 7c+, this line was climbed by Pou in 2 days; after having climbed non-stop for 12 hours, the 47-year-old bivied alone halfway up the face, and fell twice during the ascent. Unperturbed, a few days later he made a solo repeat of A little Less Conservation (7c+/300m) before teaming up with Marco once again to repeat Fata Morgana (7c/500m) and Fat Guides (7b+/250m).

Link: FB Hermanos Pou, La Sportiva, Petzl