10/03/2026
El Fana
El Fana, in the Sufi tradition, translates as “extinction” and refers to the dissolution of the ego — a dis-identification from the “little I-self,” a transcendence of image, expectations, and attachment to appearances, in order to find the inner truth — our essence — and realize that our true nature is the divine Self. It is often described as the culmination of a spiritual path, a liberation, a moment of stripping away that opens toward something greater. We realize the illusion: we are not the climber, but The Universe experiencing itself as a climber.
This first line linking the ground to the summit crosses the rockfall zone — the event that, on the 29th of November 2014, marked the end of an era: the closure of the hotels, and the end of a long-standing restriction on equipping above them.
In that sense, “El Fana” truly evokes an extinction: the end of one cycle, but also the birth of another, almost like a natural metamorphosis of the place, it marks the opening of a new space for climbing in the gorge, a threshold being crossed. We are not just talking about another line, but about a gateway.
The name “El Fana” resonates as the end of an old limit and the birth of a new field of possibilities — the famous second initiatory birth.
It also echoes the inner search mentioned through Gnawa music and trance — that moment when the individual fades and something larger can emerge.
In the same way, when we pursue performance in climbing, we often experience moments where we have to let go of ego, expectations, and image, and reconnect only with the rock, the breath, the movement, the present moment. It is the well-known Flow we are looking for: that state where the mind goes quiet, everything becomes fluid, and we are no longer the climber thinking and moving but climbing is just happening. In those moments, something relaxes naturally, the ego fades without force, and we touch a very rare quality of presence. That state of Flow is El Fana: not a loss, but a form of unity with the instant.
This name tells a story — the story of the place, of what was lived there, and of an inner path.