[TR] Wadi Rum, Jordan - Camels, Sand, and Hummus. 3/6/2012

[fgw]

Trip: Wadi Rum, Jordan - Camels, Sand, and Hummus.

 

Date: 3/6/2012

 

Trip Report:

Photo TR of a 9 day stay in Wadi Rum Jordan. For words and more pics, see here. .

 

A dromedary (Arabian camel). Member of the family Camelidae whose habitat includes North Africa and Middle East and whose diet consists primarily of cardboard boxes (Feb. 2012):

 

Leading the money pitch of Troubador: a beautiful corner splitter (6a+) in perfect rock that goes from red to blue Camalots in size (Feb. 2012):

 

Topping out on pitch 4 of Merlin's Wand. Great rock and fun climbing (Feb. 2012):

 

Merlin's Wand (left crack) in all of its 5-pitch glory. Shirley can be seen on the right rapping down (Feb. 2012):

 

Shirley hiking near the Rest House with a Bedouin giving his camels some morning exercise (Feb. 2012):

 

Shirley styling the crux pitch (#3 & clocking in at 6b) of The Star Of Abu Judaidah - finger crack (intermittent) with some delicate stemming (Feb. 2012):

 

Leading pitch 6. This is the other 6b pitch of the route but it felt much easier than the finger crack of pitch 3 (Feb. 2012):

 

A rare (& wonderful) tourist free view of The Treasury in Petra (Feb. 2012):

 

He lives (& tours the world it seems)! So you better watch your fucking mouth comrade (Feb. 2012):

 

Shirley topping out on Orange Sunshine (Feb. 2012):

 

Yours truly at the spacious ledge belay atop pitch 4 of The Pillar Of Wisdom (Feb. 2012):

 

Shirley on the domes just above the top out point of The Pillar Of Wisdom (Feb. 2012):

 

The sandstorms we saw during our last 2 days in Wadi Rum (Feb. 2012):

 

Shirley leading pitch 4 of Inferno (Feb. 2012):

 

Camels in the desert (March 2012):

[yasso1am]

Out of this world (country)!

[Captain panther]

fucking sweet!

[kevbone]

Right on. Looks like Red Rocks.

[ivan]

looks like half the scenes in "laurence of arabia"

[Pete_H]

Very cool. Looks like an interesting trip with some great climbing too. I noticed that you guys were tenting it but are there other accomodations, such as guest houses, as well?

[fgw]

hey thanks! It's really a great place (esp. if you like multipitch trad routes in the 5.8 to 5.10 range) & it was the interaction with the people in the village that really made the whole experience special. I think you might be able to find a room to rent out from the Bedouin (we heard of some fairly steep prices when we were looking at that option... ~200JD/week...remember it's about 1.45 USD/JD) but there are no real established motel type things in the village as far as I know. If you don't want to lug a tent, I'm sure you can rent one from one of the Bedouin or use one at the rest house (they had 4 set up & were usually empty).

[denalidave]

Right on. Looks like Red Rocks.

That's what I was thinking. Sure looks like a LOT of good rock there.

[Crickette]

Funny, never knew camels liked cardboard. Really appreciate your climbing photos and website! Good to see positive experiences posted about the middle east as well.

[Yeman]

Awesome!

 

 

[wayne]

Nice Radek, what an experience!

[Winter]

cool!

[mick_scott]

excellent images! I thought the he lives picture was the guy from the hangover movies.

Cool trip - thanks for sharing

[tanstaafl]

I want to go to there.

[spionin]

wow, unusual destination!

looks like difficult routes - awesome work!

[fgw]

thanks for the kind words guys.

[corvallisclimb]

wow :tup:

[Billy]

Nice photos! I was there about 3 years ago with my kids camping and scrambling around. Your pictures are very inspiring!

 

[ken4ord]

Hell yeah!!!!!!!! That looks awesome. A friend went there last year, but never shared any photos. It is definitely on the list now!