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Wadi Rum - a very brief trip report

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 tobyfk 19 Apr 2009
Thanks again to several people for much useful beta: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=345534
and preceding threads

I was only there for three nights and two routes but will be heading back in the autumn if I can. I can't understand why I haven't been before. It is truly great. I have had a bit of a love affair with US desert stuff for several years but really Rum is bigger, better, wilder.

A few quick notes:

1. It was pretty cold with a chilly breeze around much of the time. I am glad I didn't go around new year as originally planned. During the brief period we did climb in full sun with no wind it was quite warm but not a big problem. On average it felt about 10°C cooler than temperatures we get here in the UAE/ Oman at the same time of year.

2. Not a place for the navigationally-challenged. We did Hammad's Route up and down on day 1 but still had to pause for thought on the descent a few times to stay on the right route. The notion of looking for that descent blind, having ascended by a different route, is daunting.

3. Far fewer climbers there than I expected close to Easter. Maybe just 5-6 teams camped at the Rest House. Amazing for such a world-class area. And mostly euros also.

4. The abseils were the cruxes. We had to reclimb two pitches out of the Great Siq to retrieve a stuck rope after being too ambitious with our double 55m ropes. The optimum route down the bottom part of the route is as several people described: drop down the gully at the entrance to the Great Siq to find anchors about 50m lower down. Then two abseils reach the base.

5. I am pretty sure John Arran is well into his thirty-tens - will he ever slow down? We read his entry in the Rest House book: onsight solo up Inshallah Factor, a 400m route with the F6c crux pitch at about 300m, then on to Jebel Rum summit then solo down Hammad's Route then "the beer tasted good". Quite mad.

 john arran 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:
> ... is well into his thirty-tens

I prefer to think of it as the twenty-twenties

Glad you had a good time. Awesome place.

 Solaris 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:

Glad to hear you had a good time. Sad though for the locals that there weren't many climbers around: Easter has always been a busy few days whenever I've been there at that time of year. (By busy, I mean 15-20 tents at the Rest House!)
 Solaris 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:
PS were there many coach party tourists around?
OP tobyfk 19 Apr 2009
In reply to john arran:
> (In reply to tobyfk)
> [...]
>
> I prefer to think of it as the twenty-twenties

Yes that's sounds better.

I noticed you did La Guerre Sainte. How runout is that? I could envisage trying it with the expectation of frigging the hard pitches if necessary if they were ~10 bolts per pitch ... probably not if there were only ~5. Looks like one of the world's great routes and those Nasrani towers seem like compelling summits also.


OP tobyfk 19 Apr 2009
In reply to Solaris:

> PS were there many coach party tourists around?

About 3-5 coaches parked up at the Rest House. But a lot of the tourist traffic gets intercepted at the entrance to the park, so it is hard to know how many tourists are really being "processed". But as a pseudo-economist I did think the ratio of Bedu guys with licensed 4x4s to actual potential business looked unfavourable.

 Michael Ryan 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:


> 5. I am pretty sure John Arran is well into his thirty-tens - will he ever slow down? We read his entry in the Rest House book: onsight solo up Inshallah Factor, a 400m route with the F6c crux pitch at about 300m, then on to Jebel Rum summit then solo down Hammad's Route then "the beer tasted good". Quite mad.

Arran is one of the real McCoys of UK climbing - (the community not the website)

What is it the young people say - legend!

 john arran 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:

> I noticed you did La Guerre Sainte. How runout is that?

I don't remember it being runout at all. Maybe a little on some of the lower, easier pitches but nothing very memorable.
From memory there are 3 pitches on the top wall - are they all given 7b? - i recall the first to be a little soft for the grade, the second spot on, and the top pitch definitely soft. Bolted very effectively for a big route though.
Quality-wise you're right it is fantastic. In some ways it's a shame that such a great sport route can exist in such a fantastic trad area, but once you've climbed it you can appreciate that it just isn't trad country on that wall - unlike on many of the other faces where bolts would definitely feel wrong.
Always nice to get a summit experience as well, although I don't recall this one to be particularly notable.
Definitely highly recommended. Multi-pitch sport routes don't come much better, except perhaps in Madagascar!

Oh, and Mick: I can take a compliment - even an exaggerated one! Cheers.
 beardy mike 19 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk: Just been looking at my pictures of my trip again today - has to be one of my absolutely favourite trips anywhere... can't wait to go back oneday!
 Michael Ryan 19 Apr 2009
In reply to john arran:

Credit where credit is due John - much of the headlines never give the full story and there is so much hype from some quarters.
OP tobyfk 20 Apr 2009
In reply to john arran:
> Quality-wise you're right it is fantastic. In some ways it's a shame that such a great sport route can exist in such a fantastic trad area, but once you've climbed it you can appreciate that it just isn't trad country on that wall - unlike on many of the other faces where bolts would definitely feel wrong.
Yes even though I am usually at the spineless end of the boltophile-tradophile spectrum I could see why people like Tony Howard fret about drilling at Rum. But there's a lot of rock there. In terms of rock type and scale Rum is quite like Red Rocks in Nevada, where bolt and trad styles seem to co-exist quite happily. And I didn't get the impression there was a huge pressure from climbers to wield drills. Some french and austrian climbers who I spoke with seemed really into the trad climbing and weren't moaning about the lack of fixed gear. Personally I thought that it would not hurt to equip more of the abseil descents with bolts and maybe develop a few single pitch sport areas in some of the low level canyons and wadis. The latter would expand the range of options for the bedouin guides also.

> Always nice to get a summit experience as well, although I don't recall this one to be particularly notable.
I guess what struck me about the Nasrani towers is that they have 400-500m walls on all sides and no easy routes up them. So in a sense comparable to - but taller than - the biggest desert towers in the US. Though admittedly not as spikey.

In reply to tobyfk:

Very very jealous.


Glad you had a great trip.

Alan
 Solaris 20 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:

Hmm... Doesn't sound like it's a good time for the locals, so many of whom make (or at least, made) a pretty good living out of tourism. It's different now with the entrance place, but I remember one Easter counting 25 German campervans at the Rest House and the tourist buses seemed never to stop arriving.

Re bolting -- I feel pretty ambivalent. On the one hand, it was frustrating when we were scouting round for unclimbed lines to see a shiny bolt glinting way above our heads in the desert sun -- the line looked violated; on the other, it meant we saved our energies for another route. I don't climb hard enough to have encountered many of the bolted sections on trad routes (eg La Guerre Sainte) in the valley, but they do erode pretty badly and are not always to be trusted.

And it's not clear that the Bedouin like them either, there's a spot in ?Barrah Canyon where a few years ago they shot the bolt hangers off! But then again, I can see that for a popular guided route like Hammad's, the bolted ab into the Great Siq makes things somewhat safer for them.

And I'm not totally convinced by bolted sport routes on lower walls. Perhaps I'm unusual, but it seems odd to me that people go to Rum -- I've encountered them on several occasions -- and do nothing but clip ups! Missing the point, just slightly.
OP tobyfk 20 Apr 2009
In reply to Solaris:

> And I'm not totally convinced by bolted sport routes on lower walls. Perhaps I'm unusual, but it seems odd to me that people go to Rum -- I've encountered them on several occasions -- and do nothing but clip ups! Missing the point, just slightly.

But that's from the perspective of a UK/ European climber who has travelled to Rum specifically to do the big classic trad routes. If you were, say, a Jordanian student at university in Amman or Aqaba, you might think it absolutely reasonable to go to Rum and do some short clip-ups, just in the same way as, say, locals in Las Vegas drive up to Red Rocks to clip bolts, whereas people from further away go there primarily for big trad(ish) routes like Levitation 29 or Epinephrine. Similarly Rum is an obvious short-haul destination for arabs from all over the region; arguably there's a kind of cultural imperialism in us dictating that they must only climb trad!

All of that said, if sport climbing did become established on Jordanian sandstone it probably would be less contentious if it happened somewhere else. I saw on the Bigupproductions site that there's an area nearer to Amman that is starting to get attention.
 Solaris 20 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk:
I take your point about cultural imperialism, but it's actually the Jordanian nature parks people in consultation with the local Bedouin (including some of those who are such excellent shots!) and Tony Howard who drew up the non-bolt policy for Rum.
http://www.wadirum.jo/PDF/Climbing_Guide.pdf

As you say, there are crags suitable for sport climbing nearer the more populous areas of the country.
 tony howard 27 Apr 2009
In reply to tobyfk: glad you enjoyed Rum. Just a note on climbers in valley - as Rest House seems to have lost some of it's original ambience and Bedu are more aware of the climbing scene they have started to offer accommodation in their homes in village, so you tend not to meet up as much as before. For example, we were there when you were there, but never saw you! If anyone wants to take advantage of 'home stays' just ask around in village or outside Rest House, you will also meet young Bedu climbers that way, such as Mohammed Hammad, Mahmoud Hammad, Omar Auda, Atieq Auda, etc etc.
Re bold solos, how about Precht some years ago, up Hiker's Road on Nassrani in morning, then up Pillar of Wisdom in afternoon...
We are still in Jordan and have been exploring up north, sponsored to open new treks and climbs - found 6 good cliffs of quality razor sharp limestone around 20m high.
OP tobyfk 27 Apr 2009
In reply to tony howard:
> (In reply to tobyfk) glad you enjoyed Rum. Just a note on climbers in valley - as Rest House seems to have lost some of it's original ambience and Bedu are more aware of the climbing scene they have started to offer accommodation in their homes in village, so you tend not to meet up as much as before. For example, we were there when you were there, but never saw you!

Eid Ateeq reckoned you were away when we were there - perhaps not? Our visit was very fleeting - just three nights. So what do you do for cold beer if you are not in the Rest House vicinity? Are locals happy for you to drink beer in their homes?
OP tobyfk 27 Apr 2009
In reply to tony howard:
> found 6 good cliffs of quality razor sharp limestone around 20m high.

Hmmm ... We have enough "quality" razor-sharp limestone down here in the UAE thanks!

In reply to tobyfk:
> (In reply to tony howard)
> [...]
>
> Hmmm ... We have enough "quality" razor-sharp limestone down here in the UAE thanks!

And most of it's a wee bit more than 20m high!


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