Atlas Mountains in October
 

I'm planning a trip to Morocco in October and I'm wondering if it will be possible to cross the Atlas mountains at that time? I'm thinking of riding from Fes to Errachidia, then through Tinghir and Quarzazate to Marrakesh.
Also I currently have Michelin Anakee Adventure tyres on and I'm wondering if I should change them for something more offroad?

October should still be lovely weather, inshallah. Snow doesn't normally come until Jan-Feb and then the main area to be wary of is south of Azrou/Ifrane in the Middle Atlas (which you will pass through south of Fez).

If you do venture off-tarmac, you will likely be on pistes (groomed tracks that are suitable for local cars and vans) and your tyres should be fine.

I would encourage you to get off the main national roads (N designation) as much as possible as see more of the beautiful country. How long do you have in Morocco?

you should find the temperature a bit more berable in the mountains too...:Be: after Fez ! :Beach:

Just be aware that the ongoing torrential rain and flooding has caused a lot of damage. Less well used pistes will be slow getting repaired.

Weather wise it should be perfect for Morocco.

If you're in the Zagora area on the 19th consider coming along to Pizzas on the Piste, great little overlanding event we run for travelers

I'm afraid this is academic now. My bike was stolen in South London yesterday evening

Sorry to hear that. Happened to me last year in the same area.

As a consolation, consider renting from loc2roues.com in Marrakech - they have everything from new 390s arriving this week to 1250s

Sorry to hear that.

doh

Thanks for this suggestion, I'm giving it some thought. I'm wondering if it would be possible to strap a 30 litre bag on the back of the 1250, 1200 or 800? I guess I'd also need to by a holder for my phone and download a suitable navigation app.

Contact them. I know they have hard luggage for the bigger bikes, or strap on your tail pack.
Buy and load up a local SIM (see SIM sticky on here) for a few quid.
People say maps.me is good; I like GaiaGPS for the pistes (user's tracks, like wikiloc) or of course there's Google for the roads. I'd still expect some backroad diversions down south following the rains.

My son-on-law and I hired KTM 790 and 890 Adventures from Loc2roues (BM Attitude) earlier this year. I lent my son-in-law my Enduristan Tornado 51-litre roll bag and he easily secured it with Rok straps. That left me with the enormous Enduristan 82-litre roll bag which I was rather concerned about, but that was also fine.

Be aware that if you encounter high temperatures and/or hot sun (both possible in October), your smartphone will refuse to work until it cools down, so keep it in the shade where possible.

It is possible to download offline maps for Google Maps, Apple Maps and Maps.me so you can navigate without needing a data signal in *really* remote places.

Maps.me uses Openstreetmap which has many pistes marked—a brown dot-dash line on this example, https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/33.35227/-5.14514

I use the same Openstreetmaps on my Garmin satnav which makes things seamless.