This Saturday saw a team of 12 dedicated adventurers convene for what would be a test of stamina, endurance, will, and spirit. Our meeting time was 5:30am and the meeting point was a quarter of the way up Jebal Jais in Ras al Khaimah. As such, we needed to be out of bed by 2:30am to make the 2-hour drive to the meeting point. We had a few rendez-vous points along the way for those who were carpooling but nonetheless, we all made it on time at the meeting point. We had brief introductions and our safety briefing before setting off by 6am.
We entered the wadi and kept a mild pace so that everyone’s legs and muscles could warm up. We still had quite a bit of shade as the sun had not risen over the mountain yet. As we started to ascend the first mountain face we found some hand-built trails comprised of rock ledges. The ascent was still tough but having bits of a defined trail did help. Once at the top of the first climb we had a clear view of where we needed to go and what terrain we needed to cross so it was a good time to take a break and replenish ourselves.
We continued on the trek aiming for the ridge-line in the hope of having a leveled climbing area. Well, we reached the ridgeline but it was anything but level. It has sharp, rock faces and a continuous incline. This was no issue though, as our convoy stayed together and continued the march upwards. After ascending a nearly vertical mountain face, we reached a plateau, which had a beautifully hand-crafted farm with fields for harvesting wheat, bedrooms, kitchens, water storage, and more. We made ourselves comfortable under some shade and were soon greeted by the local farmer, Shakir. He softly welcomed us to his farm and offered us to his living area to meet his colleague, Waleed and to have some tea. This was an extremely humbling experience to learn about Shakir and Waleed’s life on the farm, which was located at 1,000 meters in a very remote and rugged area of the mountain, which is only accessible by foot. They were great hosts, told us some interesting history of the area, and offered their services as a tour guide to the next village area.
Our next stop was to find the abandoned village. After Shakir left us to carry on, we ascended the last bit of the mountain to our max elevation of 1,075 meters before beginning the descent down into the wadi valley. The descent was tough, there were big rocks to cross, a bit of vegetation to trip us up, no breeze, and a pounding sun. The whole convoy trooped on however, and made it to the abandoned village in good time. We took this opportunity to rest a bit, rehydrate and take a few photos. At this point we were at 875 meters and were ready to make the final descent into Wadi Shah.
Leaving the abandoned village behind us we were met with mountainous boulders, steep cliffs, and loose rocks; all the key ingredients for a daunting descent. The convoy hung tough however, and slowly found the best line down into the wadi. Once in the wadi there was a feeling of slight relief that we were on the home stretch. The only problem was that the home stretch was about 3 kilometers long. By this point, fatigue was taking its toll on a few of us. The sun kept beating down relentlessly and water and other provisions needed to be carefully rationed. We needed to take extra care to help everyone through some to the tricky wadi passages and descents. Just before the exit of the wadi, we came across some water barrels, which had stored water from the wadi. Although it was hot, it provided a nice, and much needed relief to wash ourselves with and refill our water bottles. This gave us the last boost of energy needed to hike out of the wadi.
Our hike was a grueling one: 10 kms, with an ascent/decent of 700 meters, and total time of 7 hours. The team worked great with each other to accomplish this feat. Hats off to everyone and thanks to Adventure Emarat for another fantastic adventure!
