Rock Climbing in Oman and Why Sleeping in Wadi's Is a Bad Idea
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| Our campsite in "Windy" Wadi which is a tributary to Wadi Daykah |
I had been keen to get out of Mumbai for a climb for some time and the Holi festival long weekend provided the ideal opportunity. I had been researching the climbing scene in Oman which, despite what seems like a small expatriate climbing population, was very well resourced with high quality free PDF Guides, some interesting crags and a Government sponsored bolting fund!
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| A pool just near the campsite with the aqua duct just above the water |
The dates for the climbing trip coincided with school holidays for the American School in Mumbai and, as most of my climbing partners are teachers, the long weekend conflicted with established plans travel plans. One of the teachers, Thomas, had the weekend available. From my perspective, Kate was in Rishikesh for a month undertaking her 500 hours senior yoga teacher training so I had to plan for my daughters, Ada and Lucy. Now Lucy was never going to go to Oman climbing so a combination of sleep overs and help from Mansoor, our driver, and Maria, our maid, meant that she was appropriately supervised. Ada, on the other hand was exceptionally keen on a climbing and camping trip. Unfortunately, for Thomas, this meant that he was not fully escaping the school environment as he teaches 4th Grade and Ada is currently in 3rd grade.
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| Goats on the move |
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| Middle Canyon North Side Right is on the right of the shot |
We planned to camp at the site marked in the Wadi Daykah guide book which was in a dry tributary to the Wadi. We arrived to slight breeze with clear, starry skies and almost a full moon under which we quickly pitched our camp. Thomas was desperate to sleep out under the stars while Ada and I just erected the tent inner to keep off the insects and we settled down to her first night camping.
During the night the breeze picked up significantly and by the morning the tributary Wadi was like a wind tunnel. The tent was buffeted and Thomas's night under the stars ended with him covered in dust. I walked down stream to the main Wadi to look around and found a clear green pools with the remains of an old stone aqueduct running along the Wadi wall. The scene was finished off when a local family arrived with their herd of goats.
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| Thomas pulling pockets. You can see the old water line 6-7 feet above the Wadi Floor |
After 15 minutes of driving, we had located the Middle Canyon area and, after a brief orientation, quickly racked up and roped up to get some climbs in before the sun hit the crag. The limestone was solid and heavily pocketed which was a pleasant change from the friable basalt of Navi Mumbai. My last few climbs in Mumbai had involved a ground fall and multiple broken holds so it was great to build some confidence in the rock. There was a band of dusty silt about 7 feet above ground level which was obviously the previous water mark but once beyond this the rock was clean and provided good friction.
The bolts we encountered were in good condition and were predominantly good quality expansion bolts with double bolt belays and rings at the top of the routes. The limestone was compact and there were lots of pockets on most of the routes. The limestone wasn't sharp and the lower parts of the climbs that were more heavily water washed lack some of the good frictional properties encountered toward on the upper part of the routes.
The wind was still blowing hard down the main wadi which kept everything cool. However, after five leads each for Thomas and I and some top roping for Ada, the crag came into the sun and it was time to cool off at the beach. Instead of reversing our route in, we drove out towards the village of Hail Al Ghaf. The route out traveled past more recently constructed but damaged aqua ducts and through flood mitigation levies near the village.
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| The south head of the entry to the small sheltered harbour in Sur with a local dhow on the left |
We drove to village of Fins and, after some searching, found Fins beach just to the north of the village. It was low tide and a full moon which meant that there was a band of rocks between the beach and the water. Needless to say the photographs that Ada had seen on the web were not representative of what we saw which disappointed Ada somewhat. I will leave it to those with small children to image how this disappointment manifested itself after a short and disturbed nights sleep.
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| Early evening view to the light house on the south head at Sur |
After a swim, we drove to Sur to stock up at a supermarket and get some dinner. Given the spectacular surroundings at Sur we were a little surprised at the lack of tourists and tourist activity. Sur has a history dating back to the 6th century and was an important trading port between the Middle East and East Africa. For this reason, Sur has a long history of building dhows, the traditional style of sail craft used for trading. At the start of the 16th century and for around 150 years the area was controlled by the Portuguese. The wars between the Omani's and the Portuguese and the subsequent civil wars resulted in the fortifications around the town.
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| The bastions ringing Sur |
After seeing the sights and finding a supermarket we were ready for dinner. After a few false starts, where I tried to find a great restaurant that also has a great view, we settled on somewhere just off the main road for dinner. After mixed meal of Indian, Chinese and Omani we drove via Wadi Ash Shab for a rinse before setting up camp at Fins beach.
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| After the rain, our campsite above Fins Beach |
After a buffeting by the wind the first night, I had hoped for a better experience for Ada on the second night. Once again, I just pitched the tent inner to keep off the insects. There had been a 20% forecast for rain on that night, but it wasn't rainy season so I thought we would be fine. Much to my surprise, we were awoken by thunder and some heavy rain at around 1 am. The rain drove Thomas into the car after helping me to pitch the second tent which I carried with me for Thomas and for which I had the tent fly. With the tent up, Ada soon grew comfortable with the thunder and lightning and we settled back to sleep.
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| Fins Beach. No turtles on shore but plenty in the water |
After our usual morning routine and some time spotting sea turtles just off the beach, we packed up for the drive back to Wadi Daykah thinking that the rock should be dry by the time we arrive. To our surprise we found an average of about 6-7 feet of water in the Wadi. We spoke to some locals who said it could take days or even weeks for the water to drop depending on what the dam upstream was doing.
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| After the rain. There would have been points where the track from the previous day would have been 12 feet below water |
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| Thomas on Infidelity 6a in Snakebite sector |
After getting into contact with Thomas's local sources, we were recommended to check our the Kubrah Canyon to the east of Muscat as it hadn't rained in that area. After lunch, we set off on the 90 minute drive through a much flatter and populated area compared to the road to Sur. Once again we were well served by the Google Maps that Thomas had downloaded and we easily found our way to the crag where the climbs were shaded in the afternoon.
A pleasant 20 min walk in, 10 min without Ada, saw us in the a valley stream bed with towering expanses of steel blue and golden limestone. There were fewer pockets and the limestone was much sharper on the fingers when compared to Wadi Daykah.
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| The afternoon sun make the rock look more orange than it is. |
Another difference was the "entry exam" for the routes. Wadi Daykah has relatively closely spaced bolts near the ground whereas the Kubrah Canyon often had the first bolt starting 15-20 feet off the ground. The climbing was mostly easy to this point but, coming from the loose rock of Mumbai, it certainly made you focus on the integrity of the rock.
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| Thomas on ??? 6a in the Snakebite Sector |
After a few leads each we walked out and headed to the local town of Nakhl to find some dinner, avoiding the numerous camels grazing just off the road. We end up at a good little Restaurant/Coffee shop with shawarma, roasted chicken and good Indian. I know you must question why we were at a place serving Indian but I think I used more Hindi in Oman then I use on an average day in Mumbai. Every restaurant served Indian and almost everyone in a customer service role was Indian. The Indians seemed to appreciate someone saying thank you in Urdu.
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| Our best nights sleep. The walk in to the crag is just behind the bush on the left of the photo |
We returned to the camp for the last of our three nights. Ada, perhaps scarred by the previous nights, was keen to sleep in the back of the car while I opted for an under the stars option. The night was uneventful.
Although we had been told that the valley provided good afternoon climbing we were certain that it would be shaded in the morning. Perhaps our local contact was not an early morning person. We found the crag shaded with a cool breeze blowing up the Valley. You could even say that it was bordering on cold. Once again we polished off about five routes each before the sun arrived with the highlight being Thomas' flash of a tricky 6b. Sad to say I thrashed and failed.
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| Myself and two stubborn creatures. The camel was hobbled with its front legs tied to limit its ability to roam. Perhaps it is an option with my stubborn creature |
We returned to Nakhl to escape the sun and stopped off to visit the camels on the way. The previous night the town seemed quite nondescript although we noticed tourist signs to a Fort and a hot spring. After lunch and with some time to kill before the shade arrived at around 1530 hrs, we decided to explore the local sites. In Europe, we reached a point where Ada refused to see any more churches. In India it is Forts so it was to my surprise that she was willing to go into Nakhl Fort.
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| Nakhl Fort aka Husn Al Heem |
The Fort, also known as Husn Al Heem, sits on a rock outcrop above the old village of Nakhl with its hot spring, irrigation network and palm orchards. On rock outcrops on either side are sited smaller turrets to support the Fort.
It was built approximately 1500 years ago during the pre-Islamic period by Farsi’s from Persia.
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| The oasis from the ramparts of Husn Al Heem |
Over the centuries, the Fort underwent many renovations and improvements. It was re-built by Omani’s in the 17th century as a protective stronghold for village oasis and nearby trade routes to the regional capital of Nizwa. The current gateway and towers were added as part of extensions built in 1834 and are attributed to imam Said bin Sultan.
In 1990, in an effort to promote tourism, the Fort was fully renovated. This initiative seemed to have worked as we saw a number of bus loads of European tourists both at the Fort and traveling to and from the Fort. It was interesting that there were so many tourists in this town as opposed to Sur. We could only surmise that there is some form of bus tour circuit out of Dubai and it doesn't extend as far as Sur.
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| An old mud brick house in the oasis with the mountains in the background |
After the Fort we drove to the warm spring which provided the water to the oasis through shallow surface irrigation canals to the palm orchards. Bathing wasn't allowed in the luke warm water much to Thomas' disappointment.
The buildings in the oasis were interesting. It was hard to tell the age of the maintained structures but there were a few derelict buildings where the white wash had long worn away exposing the very old mud brick walls.
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| Thomas leading out |
We returned to the crag and arrived with the shade. I was able to drag my ass up the 6b Frakensensability after taking a few falls and with Ada shouting encouragement. Nothing like pressure from your children. We started to loose a little energy after that. I did some bouldering with Ada and Thomas headed back for a wash in some silty water we had collected at Wadi Daykah in a 20 litre Bisleri water bottle he had scrounged from a dumpster. Nothing like modeling good behaviour for you children.
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| Most of these photos were taken by my 9 yo Ada. Here she is getting artistic with a shot of the Valley |
Ada and I followed suit with an open air bath and by 1900 hrs we were clean and on our way to the Airport. We refuelled the car at a cost of US 31 cents per litre, they may as well give petrol away, and by 2100 hrs we were checked in for our 2245 hrs flight back to Mumbai
Oman was great. The climbing was accessible yet felt remote and we didn't encounter anyone else at the crags. The people were friendly and the culture was interesting. During the heat of the day there was plenty to do ranging from swimming in Wadis, the Beach or seeing the sights. The food and fuel were cheap and you seemed to be able to drive you car and camp almost anywhere with few restrictions. I will certainly be back.
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| The view from Fins Beach towards the mountains |
