The Tizi n'Tichka is the high road across the Atlas, the route that takes the main Marrakech to Ouarzazate highway over the crest of the mountains at about 2,260 metres. Below you, valleys of red earth and green terraced fields drop away toward the Sahara, and above you the bare slopes are patched with snow until late spring. In the Berber language tizi means pass, and the name has the sound of the wind itself.
Culture here is Amazigh, or Berber, a mountain people with ancient traditions of building in mud brick, weaving and farming on tiny irrigated terraces. Villages cling to slopes like extensions of the rock, their kasbahs flat-roofed and towered, in the same colour as the soil. Close to the pass a side road leads to Telouet, a huge kasbah of the Glaoui family, who ruled the region in the early twentieth century with French support, and whose crumbling halls still hold intricate plaster and tile work. Further on, the fortified village of Aït Benhaddou has featured in countless films.
The road itself was built by the French in the 1930s and is a delight and a trial, with continuous bends, hairpins and drop-offs on the southern side. Lorries crawl and sometimes block the narrow sections, and surfaces can be broken by frost and rockfall. Weather on the pass is serious: snow and ice can close the road in winter, and fog and rain can make it treacherous, so check conditions. Spring and autumn offer clear air, though a cold wind blows even in summer. Roadside stalls sell minerals, fossils and rugs.
Fuel is available in Marrakech and Ouarzazate, with some stations on the road between, but the stretch over the pass can be thin, so fill up before climbing. Small cafes at the top serve mint tea and tagine, and stopping for a warm drink is a good way to take in the views. Bargain gently with stallholders, who are friendly and persistent, and start early to avoid the afternoon lorries and the heat of the southern slopes.