UAE Climbing

Spiky Bush wall-Hatta

2008-09-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Some pics of the new upper cave at Hatta

2008-08-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

New route Upper Cave "Left Handed Octopus" 5c

2008-08-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hatta Crag Section map (Sport routes)

2008-08-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

1.The Fridge

2.Upper tier

3.Bat cave

4. Descent Gulley

5.Upper cave

Upper cave Hatta

2008-08-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Swedish Supermodel at Hatta 6b+

2008-05-16T20:29:00.001-07:00

New route in the descent gulley at Hatta "Swedish Supermodel" 6b+ this is truley an awesome line watch out for the twin cruxes at the top you need 10 quick draws. Looks like there is potential for two more new lines to the left. So watch this space.

Shady Circus - Left Wall Topo

2008-02-05T05:23:00.000-08:00

W -- Wheels of Steel

H -- Hornby Loco

S -- Step-One-Drop-One

New Route - Shady Circus - Wadi Ghalilah

2008-02-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

Step-one-Drop-one 155m VS Aiden Laffey , Tim Richards (alt) Jan 2008

Start just right of a semi circular 1m high ruin at the foot of the crag approx 10-15m to the right of Hornby Loco. A fairly direct and obvious line. The final pitch requires a ‘light touch’ to pick a way through a loose section of cliff.

Originally climbed in 4 pitches, the top pitch may now be possible in a single run out, now that a lot of the unstable rock has been cleared, but rope drag may be a problem. It’s a lot safer than on the first ascent!

1 50m 4C. Climb the slab, move up and turn the small overhang on the left. Follow the obvious groove to a yellow rock band and belay.

2 55m 3c Continue easily up groove and big corner above. Move right towards top of corner to belay on small wires in a niche 3m right of corner.

3 50m (25m+25m) 4c Climb delicately up the nose and slab heading towards a V groove left of big triangular overhang with dark stain underneath. (Possible belay in corner on the left). Pull over bulge with care and pick a safe way to the big finish terrace.

Note: The original diagram in the guide is incorrect. Hornby Loco actually starts further to the left than originally shown.

New route Hatta (almost)

2008-02-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

I finished bolting "Spiderpig" 6b but did not get a fall free lead on it.
So please leave be till next weekend

New Route hatta

2008-01-06T23:25:00.001-08:00

New Route hatta

2. The mud the blood and the beer F5a

Completed: the gentrification of Roadside Crag

2008-01-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

The gentrification of the steep bit of Roadside Crag is now complete. All three bolted routes have now had leads and Pete has finished his crucial patio-ing of the ground below them.

Routes from left to right:
Thug Monkey F6c (seems to have settled at that grade)
Damian's Groove F7a+ (tentative grade - see previous blog entry)
Pokemon F7c (tentative grade)

A few pics of me on Pokemon

Setting up for the crux

Holding the worthless crimp

And pulling on it

Above the crux ... where are the footholds?

Last hard'ish move

Bouldering additions

2007-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

Did tried this blue route when we were shooting that movie. Only got it a couple of weeks later grade hard. Same for the backside route hard and pumpy through choss probably needs more crowbar work.

2007-12-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hey donkey man some eidtions to your bouldering guide

I remeber trying this blue route when we were shooting that movie never got it then but did it a couple of weeks later. You start the route from a seated postion underneath the overhang. What the grade would be i have no idea but it was hard. The backside route also done sometime back what the grade would be also hard.

New routes at Hatta

2007-12-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Two new routes at hatta.

4. Atomic anteater 6b

3. Sugerplum Psycho 5b+

Enjoy

Wonderwall Boulders (beta version)

2007-12-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

Grades
- all grades are tentative and awaiting consensus
- V? = V2 or harder

Campfire Blocks

1) Dash of Soda - V0 (any variation using the shallow pocket(s))
2) Neat - V1 (sharp crimpy flakes)
3) Salted Rim - V0
4) On the Rocks - V0

1) Shaken, not Stirred - V1
2) Lemon Slice - V1 (uses the big flake)
3) Chaser - V1
4) Swizzle Stick - V0

Good Morning Block

1) Crispy Fried Finger Skins - V?
2) Nontheoretical Number Three - V1
3) Freshly Squeezed Armpit Juices - V1
4) Liquidizer - V?
5) Dicer - V?
6) Slicer - V?
(all equiped with toprope chains)

1) Backside Arete - V0/sit start V?
2) Backside - V? (toprope chains)

Others
Mango Farming Bat Bees - V0 (2 blocks east of the Monkey Bars)

Backflip Boulder - V0/sit start V1 (2 blocks east of the Campfire Blocks)

Lurpak Crack - V0 (halfway up scree slope below Queen of Sheba)

Got a problem? Post it here.

New problems, grade consensus, "I did that one ten years ago mutha' fu%&a'.", etc. will be updated accordingly.

New F7a+ at Roadside Crag, RAK

2007-12-16T03:27:00.001-08:00

I bolted then led Damian's Groove yesterday at Roadside Crag. This slightly mythical line, just right of Thug Monkey, is thought to have been led on gear a few years ago by Damian Cook but was never documented. A bail-out krab+wire high in the groove has added to the mystery. Anyway it now goes at about F7a+ and is a major classic. The climbing is incredibly diverse: finger jams, hand jams, pocket pulling, marginal chimneying, bridging, knee bars, jug-hauling, etc, etc at a wildly overhanging angle.

Here are a few pictures of Guida top-roping it:

New Routes at Hatta

2007-12-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Some more work done this weekend at Hatta with the lovely new hangers and lower offs

One fully bolted beginners route Training Bra 5+ and toprope chains on a new project lead bolts to be placed over eid.
Thanks to all for donations to bolting fund.

Training Bra 5+

Project 6b/6c

New Route at Hatta

2007-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Enigma 6a+

Chains

2007-12-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

DWS in Wadi Daykah

2007-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Rob pulling hard

Room for One More?

2007-11-17T23:45:00.000-08:00

Would you want this person to teach your child

2007-11-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

This person was once a respectable member of society and then he went climbing for six months.

Making it look harder than it is

2007-11-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

Rescue Team on Stand By

2007-11-17T23:41:00.000-08:00

Dude?

2007-11-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

Traffic jam

2007-11-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

Small child drowning sea creature

2007-11-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

2007-11-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

And more DWS

2007-11-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

More DWS Pictures

2007-11-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

new F7a on Wonderwall

2007-11-10T04:04:00.001-08:00

... taking the front face/ arete of the Obelisk above Aladdins Lamp. Named Border Patrol, in honour of the friendly uniformed Omani chaps who came up to chat with Tom, Marvin and I under the crag one evening a few weeks ago. Apparently they thought we'd got a vehicle stuck in the dune but it puzzled me as to how they felt their AK47s were going to help dig?

The route is quite steep.

Here are a few blurry video stills:

Many thanks to Bernard for helping me equip the route mid-summer and supplying further belaying yesterday.

First Weekly Meeting of The Al Ain Alpine Club

2007-11-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

Location - No Passport Zone

Minutes;

1) Lucie's TRFA of the newly christened Izirak Slab

2) Discussing the importance of a freshly charged battery

3) Marking the locations of the 2 sets of soon to be placed anchors on the short overhanging arete

Agenda for Tuesday's Meeting;

1) Placing the 2 sets of anchors on the short overhanging arete

2) Taking turns dangling on the end of the rope below the overhanging arete

3) Pointing at other likely routes and saying "Hey Bernard, have enough juice in your drill to put some hangers on that?"

DWS Barracuda Stack

2007-11-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

The Approach

The Assault

The Fight Through

Reorganisation

Musandum DWS map

2007-10-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

Resize the map for detail and click on icons for photos

View Larger Map

Jebel fayah from the sky

2007-10-18T05:51:00.000-07:00

Jebel fayah this morning from the sky

No Passport Zone

2007-10-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today, Bernard introduced me to his latest crag development.

About 10 minutes out of Al Ain, on the west side of the road between the Saniya cement factory and the Mezyad border road is the "No Passport Zone".

It's a very Wonder-Wall-esque ridge with afternoon shade and lots of route potential.

To date, Bernard has bolted 1 pitch of a 3 pitch project and put up 2 sets of top rope anchors, 1 of which we bolted today.

It's an excellent after-work crag for the Al Ain climbing community (all 4 of us are very excited) with an easy approach from the small parking area next to the road.

Will keep you posted.Project starts left of the big crack

Bernard's FA of pitch 1 of 3 pitch project

Top of pitch 1

"The Play Pen" - Project starts left of picture, continues up slab in top left - Top rope anchors on short slab in center and bigger slab on right - Bernard has big plans for the recessed area in the center

Messing about at the fridge

2007-09-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

The forum

2007-09-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

For those battling to get onto the old forum it apears to be down we have got a new one up and running here
http://emiratesclimbin.s10.forumsplace.com/index.php?sid=f88e92d590e17447a7f6a096e3c38b47

Good day at Hatta

2007-09-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well Hatta saw a lot of action this weekend with 5 vehicles and about 13 peolpe even some ex abductees from Abu Dhabi With the first lead acent of the project to the left of "The Troll" named " Troll slapping " 7a the grade needs to be confirmed by another acent. Also special mention to Graces awesome acent of halucinogenic abductions

Here are some pics of the weekends climbing

Preparing from another bash at Balrog the beast

Moving through the easy stuff

Moving through crux

James Just below Crux

Hatta Update

2007-09-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hi
Latest updates of Hatta crag.
1. Balrog 6c+ (please note you need a 60 m rope to rappel of this one)

1. The Troll 6a
2. troll Slapping 7a
3.Project 6a
4. Chloe 6a+

If anyone needs better high res of the above pics e-mail me and I will send them to you

Does anyone know this route?

2007-09-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

I found this on You Tube, I think it's the UAE.

Does anyone know the route name/grade/required pro/if it's been cleaned/if it's in the Al Stark guide/gps coordinates/if you need a 4x4 for the approach?

And most importantly, where can I get one of those funky t-shirts?

Fridge - 1:Rope - 0

2007-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Whilst putting away my rope two weeks ago after a toperope session on Gordon's latest Fridge project at Hatta, this is what we (James, Gordon and myself) found.

No idea how it happened or exactly who was on the end of the rope at the time.

Picture of his lordship

2007-09-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

After checking all my pirate copies of the guide cd and searching the entire web i finaly found a picture of his lordship

Video experiment

2007-09-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

2005 Climbing Disk world RAK

My new bouldering/campus board

2007-08-27T03:39:00.000-07:00

Wadi Hilti update

2007-04-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

This crag, developed by the Cook brothers in 1999, has been visited a few times over the last six months. All the routes have been repeated, one new line added and one new set of anchors added. The rock here is the best I have climbed on amongst the crags easily accessible from the UAE: water-smoothed with lots of slopey holds and pockets, and almost no sharp edges. The written location description is accurate in the Al Stark guide but position marked slightly wrong on the road diagram. Park 10km into Wadi Khab Shamsi from the mosque roundabout in Dabba (the Oman side of Dibba), where the track rises up from the main wadi bed on the left. Hike easily up into the side wadi for a few minutes. The cliff is the first encountered on the left. There seems to be plenty more potential on other crags in the wadi higher up. The environment is really pleasant, secluded from the road and shady with some surprisingly large mature trees.

From left to right the routes are:

Each Perfect Second F7a+ Continuously overhanging climbing with no rests but no really hard moves. Repeated onsight by Dan Donovan in January 2007. The route used to share anchors awkwardly with the next route; I have now added an independent set right above.
Shooting My Mouth Off F7b+ Very technical and powerful moves past the first two bolts on slopey layaways and two-finger pockets. More easily to a rest, then one more strenuous sequence to finish. I repeated redpoint in April 2007.
Groovey Chick F5 Quite awkward diagonal line, up a ramp and short corner.
Shooing My Wasp Off F6b New line added by Scott Barber in April 2007. Climb directly up the vertical wall to join the previous route.
Potter's Field F6a Steep moves on big edges.

Dan about to fall off the crux of Shooting My Mouth Off

Damian Cook, probably the most talented climber to be based in the UAE, who tragically drowned in Mallorca in 2004, also developed the large boulders in Wadi Khab Shamsi between Wadi Hilti and the (closed) track to Zighi beach. The topos were bundled on the CD-ROM of Al Stark's guide. By chance I recently got an email from Eszter Cook, Damian's widow, talking about these boulders:

I spent lots of days there with him, at his boulderfield, and he was always wondering if anyone would ever climb there again after we left. His brothers - Simon and Dominic Cook - also used to love climbing there with him. ..... [When] I was pregnant with my daughter Damian would get up at 2am, drove 4 hours to the place, climbed for 3 hours and was back for lunch.

They lived in Abu Dhabi - so an incredible distance to drive for a morning's climbing!

Al Hamra Towers

2007-03-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

This is a sort of dual trip report to these excellent trad'ish cliffs in Oman. I climbed there in early February with Dan Donovan and again in March with Scott Barber. The three towers are solid limestone, each around 250m high, and close to black-top roads within Al Hamra (the town you pass through to reach Jebel Shams, Hoti Cave and the pass over to Wadi Bani Auf).

All images enlarge if clicked

The towers from the road up to the pass over to Wadi Bani Auf

'En attendant les lents', around UK E1 or E2, on the east tower. The third and seventh pitches are the hardest. The traverse on pitch four is scary to second.

Me on pitch two

Dan following pitch three, an exposed and quite thin slab.

Dan on the top. Parking, path-up and houses of ultra-hospitable locals shown behind.

'La Mama', around UK E2 or E3, on the central tower. Sustained throughout, with bold climbing on pitch two and the hardest moves on pitches five and six

Dan soloing (really) the route in February

Scott at the same point, pitch three, on our March ascent. This is a nice layback crack with a few bolts.

Scott on the summit, Al Hamra town and slopes of Jebel Shams behind

Old Cam Found

2007-03-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

I found this old cam this weekend lodged deep in a crack a bit to the right of Franklin on roadside crag in wadi Qada. Any way there was a short piece of rope that was completely degraded by the sun it crumpled in my hand. I have not found any distinguishable marks or brand names any were on it except for a stamped number 864. Does any one recognize this type of cam as I would to see if I can track it back to the manufacturer and see how old it is. I don't think it is home made as it looks to well made for a home job. But the stamped number looks home done. Even better if anyone recognizes it as there's?

Old cam

The stamped serial number ?

The Clones Attack The Two Towers

2007-03-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, no: a sequel ...

More from the Lame-o-Vision studios, this exercise in vain self-fellation stitches together three attempts on the left-hand Monkey Bars route to create one phoney pre-first-ascent ascent.

(possibly lame) video experiment

2007-03-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

I got a bit overexcited last year, whilst nursing a tweaked finger and having just got a iMac with video-editing-for-dummies program, that I could be a movie auteur ... rapidly realised I shouldn't give up the day job. Anyway, this has been sitting on my hard drive for a while: Pete and Guida doing the first ascent of Cinderella Storm in Wadi Bih. The question is: can you embed YouTube into Blogger?

If it worked for you: no, I don't recall why I thought the Manu Chuo track was appropriate ...

The latest on those new sport routes on Aladdin's Lamp Wall

2007-03-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

A tad more mundane than having to perform any dynamic pivot moves a la Monkey Bars but still requiring some commitment, the two new sport routes mentioned in an earlier post were completed in Jan (late post due to infernal blog access and converting-pictures-in-word-to-jpeg-format problems - thanks Marvin for getting me sorted out on the former):

EOC follows a groove to the left of Two Amigos. 12 bolts

Redemption follows the next groove to the left of EOC. This line has 16 bolts (15 if you forget the second one which I did in my haste to get to less thinner areas)

Am guesstimating the ratings as a US 5.9/5.9+ for Redemption and a US 5.7/5.8 for EOC. I sort of reckon this works out a UK 5a or French 5+ and a UK 4c / 5a or French 5- / 5. Will someone please climb the buggers again and let me know (how about that Swiss guy before Toby has him banned)

Below is an updated picture of A. Lamp Wall

1) Sunrise over Red’dat Sa’a
1a) Possible future project: extension of Sunrise …
2) Crack Wipe
3) Easy Money
4) Breach of Contract
5) deMantle
6) Think Fast Hippie
7) Two Amigos
8) EOC
9) Redemption
9a) Unfinished Project: Redemption Variation
10) Relentless

Monkey Bars tutorial

2007-03-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

After witnessing a few shameful failures/ heroic attempts (delete as appropriate) on this Radatsa classic (Iftar Crucifix F6c+).. it's time for a proper review of the moves:

First, wire an efficient sequence up the easy bit. 'Wire' means 'so you can do it the same way every time', right?

... get your right hand into the circular pocket as a sidepull on its left side ... don't try to match this hold. Or break it.

.. throw sideways for the dish. Really throw for it. Do not use technique (*). Get your left foot jammed well in the horizontal break to damp the swing, then match both hands in the dish ...

... left foot up to heel-hook the ledge on the left. Hook it firmly ...

... rock-up onto your left foot whilst snatching for little sharp edges and sidepulls with your left hand ...

... keep pulling and standing higher on your left foot and voila: the top.

* you could try kicking hard with your right foot to do a kind of pivot around the axis of your right hand/ left foot, whilst throwing with your left hand. Quite hard to describe. Whichever, think 'dynamic'.

UAE rock take2

2007-03-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

Here we go goat included

UAE Rock

2007-03-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Saw this cartoon and it looks a bit like some UAE routes Except its missing goat on the ledge

First Ascent

2007-02-22T02:56:00.000-08:00

Today I'm proud to announce that Anthony, age 3, made his first ascent of ... well ... anything.

Feast your eyes on the following photo essay of Anthony's epic assault on the notorious West Face of Good Morning Block.

Anthony making his way up to 'The Cave'

He considers an emergency bivouac ...

... but wisely decides to push on

Nearing the summit

Happy Ending

Meta: New Blogger switch over

2007-02-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

For those of you who post on UAE Climbing, we have just switched over to "New Blogger".

As Elvis has pointed out, the system wasn't letting you post because we we're supposed to have already switched over or something like that.

So the next time you sign in:

1 - You will do it through "New Blogger"

2 - It will ask you to open a "Google Account" by providing an e-mail address (it doesn't need to be a gmail address, any e-mail address will do)

3 - You will then use the e-mail address as your password when logging on to Blogger from now on

It's all fairly straight forward, just follow the Blogger directions. And if you have any problems drop me an e-mail at uaeclimbing@gmail.com

Good Luck!

The idyllic world of Wadi ****

2007-02-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd share a few pictures of the bouldering and swimming we discovered over in Wadi **** last Saturday. Sport and trad climbing potential also.

Wolf, Suzanne, Tom

A few boulder problems, probably all done by others before:
1. V1 roof over the pool
2. V5 technical sharp moves into hanging groove
3. V2 superb roof and wall
4. V1 scary corner
5. V0+ slab with tricky start
Plenty more problems to be found up- and downstream

Toby striving for more points of contacts on problem 3

Wolf considering the blind footswap on problem 5

Dan flexing muscles unnecessarily on the pool roof

New E5 at Spice World

2007-02-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

Visiting Brit Dan Donovan onsighted a new line at Spice World last Friday 26th January. Apparently the line was cleaned and abandoned by Ian Gregory some years back. Dan wasn't particularly intending to do a new route, just thought it 'looked good'. This was his second climb in the UAE having flown in the previous morning. The name is tentatively Melanie Brown (Scary Spice ... geddit?) unless Dan volunteers something different. I seconded the route but am not offering any recommendation (frankly the whole of Wadi Bih can be broken up for Dubai breakwaters for all I care ...) but I guess it might rate *** in a local context.

Description: climbs the flake right of Salute of the Juggler to where it ends, fill the break with cams, rock up leftwards to a thin footledge then go boldly up and right to a prominent protruding feature (about 7m directly above the flake) then straight to the top above this to top out past a couple of cheesey corners. About E5 6a.

New Sports routes at The fridge hatta

2007-01-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend saw more new routes at the fridge

Two new beginers routes (top chains only)
SOK and Elvis finshed the route under the roof (SOK still to name)
Chains have also been placed on the project to the left of halucinagenic abductions.
And the discovery of some more Archeological artifacts

Wonderlet F5a (toprope chains only)
Alan's Hat F4 (toprope chains only)
Hallucinogenic abductions. F6a+
Projecct
SOK needs to name F6a+

The Archeological artifact found below a climb. Our resident british climbing expert SOK identified it as the traditional head gear for pale skinned british trad climbers (Alan if you want your hat back I can mail it but the Dubai museum asked if we could donate it )

Elvis on second acent of new roof route

Mrs Elvis on Hallucinogenic abductions

Hatta Pics

2007-01-14T05:14:00.000-08:00

Tom on FA of his yet to be named climb

Rob pulling hard

New bolted routes hatta

2007-01-14T03:09:00.000-08:00

Here is the Topo of the new routes on what is called "the fridge" in Alans guide at hatta the routes are on either side of the block
1. Hallucinogenic abductions-6a+
2. SOK needs to name -6a

And some cool pics of the bolting, first acents

More pics to come

Happy New Years

2007-01-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

Tom and I spent the last few days of 2006 clipping bolts in Oman. First stop was La Gorgette, below the ever charming village of Bilad Sayt, where we hooked up with Toby and UK friends Catherine, John and assorted children. Then we ventured a bit further south for our first ever stop in the incredibly scenic village of Hadash sitting high above the Ghubrah Bowl at the head of Wadi Mistal. Easily the most breathtaking area I've seen in Oman so far. Not so many routes at Hadash as yet, but there are a number of virginal one pitch crags in the area and endless big wall possibility on the surrounding peaks.

Bilad Sayt

Terraced fields just below the village

Catherine makes a creative clip on Brigite d'etape, La Gorgette

Catherine near the top on same route

Toby posing on same

Aerial view of La Gorgette

Toby near the top of Encens Interdit, La Gorgette

View of Hadash village from the trail leading to the crags

Tom on Thunder Bolt, Hadash

Tom past the crux on Aloha, Hadash

Pictures of Hatta

2006-12-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weekends some of the esteemed UAE Climbing contributors made their way to Pete's excellent upside downsy routes at Hatta Crag.

Here's what they had to say:

Elvis - "This is fun!"

Safety Officer Kendall - "These routes are definitely quite a challenge. Due to my strict training regimen of meditation, calisthenics, whole grains and celibacy, I feel I am up to the task."

The RFD - "Nobody really climbs these, do they? Those chalk marks are a natural feature of the rock ... right!?!?"

Rob - "Whatever."

SOK styles through the threaded slings on The Joker

Rob comfortably past the same slings

Round One, No Name Route #4 - 1: SOK - 0

Elvis ...
... shows the way

Cirque de Sogeil

Round Two, Victory!

Almost done ...

2006-12-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Lead attempts on the LH Monkey Bars project last Saturday.
Just 80cm to gain. Or is it 5Kg to lose?

Wet Wadi Al Bih

2006-12-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

The stone causeway on the route into Wadi Al Bih on Saturday after a little upstream shower. An alternative place to hang out to the mall for the locals.

Always look on the bright side of life......

2006-12-04T04:28:00.000-08:00

Well Rob Gordon Tom and Marta decided to go climbing and biking in Wadi Bih this weekend ignoring the weather warnings of 80 % chance of heavy rain.
Here is a brief breakdown of events.

Captains log Stardate 01/12/2006AD 11:00
Entered wadi bih met up with with all at Tea time crag

Captains log Stardate 01/12/2006AD 14:00
Rain Starts, chasing us off great route above tea time crag.(will be finished this weekend)

Rob on tea time before rain started

Marta on Tea Time crag

Captains log Stardate 01/12/2006AD 15:00
Rains stops and weather holds till 2:00 allowing us to set camp at summit camp site

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 2:00
Heavy rain and wind starts, flattening Tom and Rob's tents Small riverlets form on either side of camp.

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 8:00
Still Raining

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 12:00

Still Raining Large waterfalls now visible down most faces

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 13:00
Still raining Broke camp and moved down to Omani military checkpoint

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 13:00
At Check point met fellow expat adventures who explained wadi is completely impassable.
Learned that another vehicle (Nissan pathfinder) had attempted wadi and gotten washed away.

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 13:15
Formed rescue group to search for Drivers of Pathfinder

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 13 :40
Found one victim of wash away stranded on island with dog. Crossed river with rope and rescued victim (Ziggy) and dog off island. Omani military rescuers carried on further up to look for last victim. Escorted Ziggy and dog back to Omnai checkpoint.

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 14:00
Spent rest of day drying out in room provided omani military checkpoint. Omani military guys were awesome gave us hot food coffee dry place to stay clinic to treat wounds etc

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 17:00
Rain lets up for short period giving possible window for escape. So we head out through wadi

Captains log Stardate 02/12/2006AD 20:00
After some serious hectic river crossings and insane driving we end up on a high section of what was left of the road Just under the Aini wall up ahead the river has completely filled a narrow section of the wadi making it impossible to go on. We make some food and build a make shift rain shelter between the vehicles this attracts all the stranded locals and expats and after some time we have a jovial party going.

Captains log Stardate 03/12/2006AD 1:00
Rain actually stops giving an another short window as the river drops for escape. We take the chance and get out onto the tar road

Captains log Stardate 03/12/2006AD 1:45
Discover that part of the tar road near the dam has washed away. After another short river crossing we finally escape and head home.

Captains log Stardate 03/12/2006AD 3:45
Back in Dubai very wet cold and tired

Next time we take the 80% chance of rain warning seriously.

Special Thanks and should go out to Omani military as well as Sayed and Abdul these two guys from Abu Dhabi just never gave up they were a great driving force we probably would not have gotten out without them.

My Herd Climbs So I Don't Have To

2006-12-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

You wanna see some pictures of my kids? Hey! Where you going? Come on, I've only got about a thousand of em ...

Lucie works a crack line on one of the Spiceworld boulders last weekend in her retro 80s French climbing pants

Anthony makin' his way up 'Good Morning Block' today

Lucie rappels for the first time ever

"Thanks for the toprope anchors Uncle Elvis!"

Disk World Topo

2006-11-29T04:39:00.000-08:00

Disk World
How to get there
Head out to Wadi Bih at junction after army base were you would turn right you carry on straight carry on with this tar road for aprox 2.95 km passing Satellite dish on right as well as another military base Just after military base there will be a Gravel road heading of to right Follow this gravel road for 500 m were it will fork take left fork. Carry on with the gravel road for aprox 1.14 km till it joins a tar road (you will now see the crag other side village). Go left on this tar road travel just past village and leave road on right. Park under small tree.

What’s there?
Two full bolted sports route and one set of TR chains project. One trad line with descent chains. Potential for more obvious

Sports Routes
1 Nanny Ogg- F4c First line of bolts on left side straight up through what looks like loose rubble but is surprisingly sound

2 Greebo- F4c second line of bolts from left staying left of rubble rock thin balance moves at top crux

3. Project F5b the last water line mark to the left of the corner crack mantle small undercut at start for some crimpy balance moves all the way to top not bolted for lead yet but toprope chains in place

Trad Routes
4. Crack of Ohm F4.- The third corner crack from left just after the first steep section tend right to small ledge You can split into two pitches here to reduce drag. Head on straight up crack to set of Rappel chains on top block

5. Crack of Ohm variation F4 – Start round corner from original route

All Your Climbing Questions Answered!

2006-11-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

I have recently discovered an invaluable online resource for all things climbing; technique, equipment, diet, training, you name it. So while you desk monkeys are putting in your time waiting for the weekend, you might want to check it out. I mean, it's not like any of you have any real work to do, right?

2006-11-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

So this is Bernie playing at posting a blog. After getting artsy on last week's pictures of Toby, what better next step than to show my next project(s) on Aladdin's Lamp Wall? Not much art here admittedly but the two dark streaks - and the face in between - shown in the center of the pic have oft-times caught my attention. Top anchors have been placed above the small roof seen at the very top of the left streak and the proposed route has been cleaned.

After the national holidays which will see Judy & I doing an overnight hike in Oman I will return to usual camping spot and continue. Stay tuned for progress and as I have felt a sort of groove returning to my climbing I trust it will not be long before the flutist's donkey (or is that the donkey's flutist?) will be announcing another sport route or three at WW

Fun at Wadi Bih

2006-11-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the wadi bih trip. The Morning session was at spice world boulders and afternoon over to evening wall.

RFD and the rest of his herd

Not happy camper

Safety Officer Kendell

Rob On Evening wall

Tom On Evening wall the entire sequence

No, Stick You!

2006-11-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots from last Friday of Toby on Ooh Stick You, new route described in the previous post. Unfortunately I didn't get any FA lead pics; you'll just have to use your imaginations. Thanks goes to Bernard for taking the photos.

Below the crux?

Above the crux?

Bernard gets all artsy on us

And here's a view looking up at the top of Fish Folly Fingers, also mentioned in the previous post, before Bernard's FA. It was a big day for the record books.

Bernard about to go to work with his drill on Fish Folly Fingers

new routes at Radatsa

2006-11-20T07:05:00.000-08:00

A few new things were done over the last two weekends. Bernard finished bolting (how many years after starting?) Fish Folly Fingers on the Swiss Cheese Wall. No, I don't know what the name means ... About F5 ish.

Over to the right, next to the trad Bat Crack is a pretty pale water streak feature weirdly ignored until now. A combined effort by Bernard, Wolf and I turned this into Highway One. F4 or F3? It is already popular as it is: (1) the first route you hit hiking up from the parking spot; (2) fun and easy. It is also a good way to get to Hot Rats, Pete Aldwinckle's impressive 2-pitch F7a on the wall above.

Wolf leading (sort-of) the first ascent of Highway One

Leo bin Toby on the fourth ascent

Finally over at the Hole in the Wall area, I finished my project across the gully from Schools Out. This is Ooh Stick You (connoisseurs of late-90s ironic-teen-pop will immediately see the logic), about F7a+. Or F7a. Or F7b. I'm not really sure. Anyway it has some interesting moves. Thanks to The RFD for patient belaying and faff-tolerance and Scott for unknowingly donating the lower-off crab.

The routes are in an updated version of the topo.

Too Much Time At Our Desks And Not Enough Climbing

2006-11-13T00:38:00.000-08:00

There has been a recent proliferation of climbing websites in the good ole' UE of A.

First up, Toby has put together a page of links and a rundown of all the bolted routes in the area.

Then we have Dave's blog with an entirely unique title.

Dave's other contribution is a local climbing forum. This will make the guys at the Oman forum happy since we'll have our own playground for verbal turf wars now.

The more the merrier I say, so all of these links and much much more can be found on the new and improved high fiber sidebar, now with fewer carcinogens. A cursory glance to your left will reveal that the by-law on climbing website name conformity is being strictly adhered to.

more DWS pics

2006-11-07T04:15:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more photos (thanks to Dave, Guida and Saleeba):

A fun roof 'problem' spotted on day 2. Mike shows the way ...

The staff and customers of Global Climbing wait respectfully as CEO Pete heads out

... Toby on the same problem, apparently sponsored by Red Chilli

Another route of Mike's done on day 3. Toby on his way up, Dave on his way down

And, as promised, the awesome Barracuda Stack. Toby starting out ...

... Toby and Mike racing for the summit

Toby wondering how to get down?

Dave and Mike demonstrate the ropeless rappel

Musandum DWS trip

2006-10-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Since you asked ... the trip report:

A large group travelled in three dhows up the coast of Musandum for three days. We camped on a beach within Khor Habalayn. Thanks to the complex social dynamics of the RAK/ Dubai climbing crew, the group had swelled in the preceding week to include more rugby players than climbers, and way too many drunks. Unsurprisingly this wasn't ideal. Conflicting objectives lost us half the climbing/ exploring time we could have had, plus most people were seriously sleep-deprived by the third day. On the positive side, we were somehow accompanied by an implausibly-cool firedancer. She must have got on the wrong dhow in Dibba by mistake.

As to the deep water soloing, there's almost infinite potential. 'Landings' are generally good, the cliffs being steep and undercut. We looked for interesting lines around 15-20m high that ended somewhere distinct. Descent is a key issue. We had to jump the full height of the routes several times. Entertaining for the spectators, but literally a pain in the arse after a while ...

We climbed in six different places. Describing them all would be quite indulgent and anyone doing a similar trip will easily find better places of their own. But we did find one sea stack that's a good place to start out and next to camping beaches, so I thought some beta on that could be appropriate. Since I sneakily bagged the first ascents, I am proposing to name both the crag ("Golden Stack": the reason is obvious) and the routes.

This map shows the approximate location (click on it!). The stack is about 100m offshore:

And the topo, featuring Everest hero Adrian Hayes and his unsightly Speedos:

1. Tenacity
17m HVS 5b or maybe F5+
The obvious splitter crack.
Repeated about fifteen times within a few hours of the first ascent. I was in awe of the people who were finding this hard yet kept going back and taking the fall. Really inspiring.

2. Words with Bruce
17m E2 6a or maybe F6b+
The face to the right, starting at good holds on the overlap. One very thin move.
Named for an encounter with Bruce, whose profunditude was still echoing around the campsite at 4am on Saturday night: "I am 36 years old and if you think you can tell me go to sleep, you and I are gonna have to have words" ... rising unsteadily from his chair

Two more pictures:

Yon on Tenacity

Carla on Tenacity and Dave on Words with Bruce

When I can get hold of photos I'll also post some of "Barracuda Stack" (my name again) which we found on the final day. This was an exceptional spot.

Finally here's Khor Habalayn at dawn. Pretty, eh?

Family Day At La Gorgette

2006-10-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here are the first pictures back from La Gorgette, Oman. The place is beautiful and the climbing hard. Some of the local kids are natural climbers and were bouldering all sorts of vicious lines in barefeet. With a bit of equipment and training, this place could produce some fantastic Omani climbers. Lots of UAE folk are still there, so hopefully we'll get some more shots at the end of the week.

Tom on 'Two Tanks'

Lucie, age 6, on 'Two Tanks'

Lucie and Tom high on La Gorgette

Anthony, age 2, on descent

Tom on 'Ludo Sick'

Local enthusiasts

Future Omani rockstar bouldering to the first hanger on 'Encens Interdit'

Potential crack lines on the wall overlooking our campsite at the mouth of Snake Canyon

Happy Campers

Eid Mubarak

2006-10-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

It appears that there should be a good sized group heading to La Gorgette over the Eid break. I will be there for the first part of the week, but it sounds like there will be climbers coming and going for the whole break.

So there should be lots of hero shots posted here in a week or so. And hopefully we'll get some deep water soloing pics from Musandam. Eh Toby?

In other news, for those of you who missed it, or wanted the link, here's Dave Pickford's Oman story from Planet Fear. It seems he didn't do much research before he came here because he thinks the only established routes in the whole region are on Jebel Misht. But it makes for an interesting read nontheless.

greetings

2006-10-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings to those who climb to the sounds of the flute! Has anyone actually heard him play since the summer - or is he too busy with the donkey?

topos

2006-10-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

You read this in an email but I'm sure you'll want to read it all over again. These are my topos for WW and Hatta crag:

http://www.foordkelcey.net/uae/wwall_topo.pdf
http://www.foordkelcey.net/uae/hatta_topo.pdf

2006-10-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Who all is coming with to Bani Auf?
Heading out Saturday after I get me car inspected in AA...

Free Radatsa

2006-10-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

As of today, October 16, the Buraimi border situation is as follows.

Go to the Camel Market Border post. Be prepared to wave your passport at the shebab in the booth thingy. He may or may not ask you for it depending on whether or not he is playing with his phone. Basically there are no lineups or hassles if you've got a passport with you.

The border crossing on the Al Ain Mall side of Buraimi is for GCC passport holders only.

I don't know what's up with the Sohar road (past the Intercon and sand golf course) because I haven't been there in over a year. Anyone else know about this one?

Welcome to UAE Climbing

2006-10-16T05:11:00.000-07:00