Adad Medni (a.k.a. Adrar Medni, 1,405m) is a high summit in the western Anti-Atlas whose 1,000m south face rises steeply above the narrow Amaghouz Gorge. A trail sometimes used by pilgrims or shepherds leads to the top from the east, with many stone steps easing the way, but no technical climb had been completed on the south face.

In 2015, Anti-Atlas guidebook author Steve Broadbent (U.K.) and friends attempted to climb the complete south face, but after finding their way into the gorge and scrambling about 500m up the most prominent ridgeline, they became lost among “steep walls of unclimbable, euphorbia-ridden orange quartzite,” as Broadbent wrote at his Climb-Tafraout.com blog. “[The south ridge is] not a route, just a collection of scrambles and chossy walls that don’t justify the ridiculous logistical challenges! That said, it’s an amazing place on a scale unlike anything else in the Anti-Atlas.”

In 2019, eyeing a different approach, French climber Bernard Amy and friends hiked up the normal path, and from the East Notch, where the trail turns to the right, they descended south in a gully for about 100m to reach the highest of two ledges that run across the south face. This led to the highest notch of the immense south ridge (South Notch), at the foot of the steepest part of the ridge, which they named the South Pillar.

The climbers returned to the South Notch a week later. Three of them—Alain Birebent, Gérard Créton, and Jacques Istas—climbed straight up from the notch, finding French 4 and 5 terrain and much spiny vegetation. At around 4 p.m., less than 100m from the summit, and with no equipment for a bivouac, they decided to descend.

Meanwhile, Bernard Amy and Bernard Fontan went down the gully west of South Notch to reach a spur in the middle of the southwest face. They completed a seven-pitch climb (mostly French 4 and 5), followed by easy scrambling to the upper west ridge and then on to Adad Medni’s summit.

Amy reported that other routes would be possible on the left side of the southwest face and, by going farther down the gully, it should be possible to reach the base of the west ridge, which “might surprise with really pleasant climbing, for those who love rather long approaches.” He added that Jebel Imzi, just west of Adad Medni, also holds large unclimbed rock pillars.

— Dougald MacDonald, AAJ, with information from Bernard Amy, France