Paul Knott and Graham Rowbotham have recently returned from a new route spree on Oman's exotic mountain limestone.
This was Knott's fourth trip to the Western Hajar, the main mountainous region of the country. With Rowbotham he added five new routes, all at a very accessible climbing standard.
The pair first visited the South West Face of Jabal Kawr, where they investigated a line left of the Kawr Tower that some sources suggest might be Bill Wheeler's unrepeated National Day Route.
Wheeler, an Oman resident, was one of the country's most prolific pioneers and after two attempts finally succeeded on his route, the first on this vast wall facing the Empty Quarter, on the 15th November 1984 - National Day. At the time the ascent was considered so off-the-wall that it received full coverage in major Omani newspapers.
On a previous visit Knott had come to the conclusion that Wheeler's route was further left and was therefore surprised to find several rusty pegs on the first few pitches of the line. However, on reaching a capping overhang, the pair found rappel anchors and an ancient Joe Brown karabiner.
They continued, traversing below the overhang on friable rock with only Friends for protection, and found no further signs of passage above. The new route, which they named M'Seeb Rappers (M'Seeb being the hamlet close to the face), had 463m of climbing with difficulties up to UIAA VI-.
Further left on the South West Face the pair put up Anhydrous Living (924m of climbing: UIAA V). This climbs the Mabos Pillar, an easier-angled version of the famous Kawr Pillar to the left. Kawr Pillar was climbed in 1999 by Aqil Chaudry, Richard Eastwood, Geoff Hornby and Paul Ramsden to create The Full Qaboos.
A visit to Oman without climbing on Jabal Misht, the country's most famous mountain formation, is not to be contemplated, so Knott and Rowbotham added Vulture's Keep (456m of climbing: UIAA V+) towards the left side of the South Face, close to Knott's previous route, Rock Vulture. The climbing was superb and the rock brilliantly sound and rough.
Further north lies a mysterious rocky massif, clearly visible from Misht. Here, the pair discovered the unclimbed Amqah Tower, an excellent viewpoint and a new grade IV route to reach its summit.
They also added another route to the East Face of Jabal Nakhus, climbed once before early in 2009 by Ian Gough (NZ) and Joe Sambataro (USA). Hand Grater, which involved jamming well-protected cracks of sharp, rough limestone, gave 338m of climbing at UIAA VI (good HVS 5a).
The local population watching below seemed extremely concerned about the climber's antics, yet the inaccessible summit ridge sported two, huge, expertly-constructed cairns that were not built by the Gough-Sambataro team.
Throughout the entire trip, Knott and Rowbotham saw no other foreign visitors except at local attractions, and there is still scope for many long new routes without the need to climb hard into the E grades.
In recent years there have been many additions to Oman's mountain routes, though often it is only regular activists that know full details. This year a new guidebook is rumoured, authored by Jakob Obenhauser. If done well, it would prove extremely useful to visiting climbers: two activists.
Another guide, written and published by Toby Foord-Kelcey in the UAE is now on sale from the BMC. However, this is mainly orientated toward shorter sport, trad and DWS routes in the UAE and North West Oman, rather than the area of Central Oman covered in this report. It contains few long mountain routes, though there is an archive of descriptions of these at the publisher's website: www.redarmadapublishing.com
The photograph shows the vast South Face of Jabal Misht. Rock Vulture and Vulture's Keep lie close to the left end of the wall. The right edge is formed by the elegant South (French) Pillar. Climbed in 1979, this was the first major rock route in Oman. A comprehensive description is available at http://www.foordkelcey.net/uae/misht_fp_topo.pdf.
The sharp, rough limestone of Misht is some of the best in the country.
« Back