UKC

The Sheffield-based husband and wife climbing team of John and Anne Arran are well known for their travels to the world's climbing areas.

The towering red sandstone walls, blue skys and Bedouin villages of the Jordanian climbing paradise of Wadi Rum have now captured the climbing imagination of this well-travelled climbing couple where they set about establishing several multi-pitch routes, onsighting some hard sport routes, executed some hard solos and climbed the areas first headpoint style E7.

Full report with PHOTOS at: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=02&year=2008#n42635

In reply to Mick Ryan - Editor - UKC:

I can't believe there aren't more comments on this and the Eiger post. Are people just blown away by the achievements and adventure of it all?

Well done John and Anne. I always enjoy reading about your trips and the talk last year at SHAFF about Madagascar (and the Peak) was great too.

Phil

In reply to newkid:

The forum crowd, at least those who actually post, is a lot different than the news page only crowd.

All because there are no comments doesn't mean that people aren't "blown away" or inspired and motivated.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - Editor - UKC: Cool! What kind of sandstone is there in Wadi Rum? Red-rock-ish? How solid?

In reply to newkid:

Also, this particular thread has had 167 views: but the news page had 5,173 views on Monday, and 4,877 views on Tuesday.

I hope this helps you to understand some of the viewing dynamics of UKClimbing.com.

Mick

In reply to jwi:

Some of it is OK to excellent; some of it is dodgy to very poor (as in holds crumbling in your hand). In other words, an excellent adventure climbing venue with a very wide variety of routes at all grades -- great people too. Check out Tony Howard's guidebook.

In reply to jwi:

Much of the rock around Rum is dire - really sandy and barely climbable - but there are plenty of faces where the rock is much better, sometimes staggeringly good for sandstone. You can usually tell from a distance which is which by the colour of the rock and the erosion features.

That said, almost all of the longer routes have 'entertaining' sections of designer-crumble, though usually on easier ground. It pays not to be too intimidated by soft rock as long as you're climbing well within your grade. That way you'll be better able to savour the many good pitches, which are often long, well protected and in amazing positions.

Because of the length of many of the best routes (15 pitches is typical), success will often depend more on how well (and quickly) you can cope with the easier pitches, rather than how easy the crux feels.

It's a great place - highly recommended for climbing and cultural reasons. And a wonderful contrast to Spanish clip-trips.

In reply to Mick Ryan - Editor - UKC:

Another couple who's efforts over many years in the Arabian Peninsula are also worthy of a mention are John Gregory and Dee McEnery.

Well over half of the 600+ routes in the UAE/Oman border region are a result of their dedication for well over a decade. The routes range from single pitches to 500m+ multipitch epics on less than perfect desert limestone. They are responsible for the systematic development of the Wadi Bih area.