Words + Photos: Gary Edwards

I started from the wadi (start of the W4 footpath) at approximately 4:30 a.m. and 24°C. I made my way to the canyon edge using the head torch. On previous visits to Jebel Shams, the moonlight has been excellent, but I wasn’t so lucky on this occasion. Walking alongside the “Grand Canyon” watching the sunrise was amazing. Then I continued to the summit ridge, only stopping briefly to take in the views of the Omani mountains.

Jebel Shams is a climb of almost 1,000m from start point to summit, focus and attention should be given to the rolling landscape, additional height climbed and horizontal distance to the summit. The route repeatedly gains and loses height, which adds considerable time all the way up and back – making this a very difficult mountain to summit not due of technicality, but because of the horizontal walking distance and amount of vertical height climbed. Its location and the climate makes it challenge too even for the experienced mountaineer. It’s located in the Oman desert where temperatures regularly hit over 40°C, with almost zero wind speed and heat reflecting from the baked rock which keeps the temperatures constant all the way to the summit. This requires careful attention.

After walking alongside the “Grand Canyon” I reached the summit ridge, where I saw the rock face of Jebel Shams with a stunning vertical drop to the valley floor of approximately over 1,500m. Just when you feel you’ve completed most of the walk, you then realise you’re probably little over half-way. Although this appears flat on almost every map I’ve found, there are many descent points. It’s a relentless mental battle of expecting the next high point that will lead to the summit, only to be shown yet another descent.
Once on the summit, I took in everything: the beautiful view and the amazing feeling of another achievement – over 1,000m direct height gain with a lot of additional height climb in severe heat up to 39°C over good distance. Oman itself is said to be a very inhospitable desert and requires special skill set to walk. To be able to conquer the summit of the highest mountain in Oman and in the GCC is an incomparable personal accomplishment. I was lucky enough to have an eagle fly about fifty metres above. This was without a doubt one of the most amazing sights and landscapes I’ve ever seen.

After a rest, it was time to return and I set along the same route I took to the summit. I had planned my water usage correctly, unlike my previous summit in December 2011, which saw me climb down into a large wadi and drink boiled wadi water (not recommended). I had only used 3l by the summit with 3.5l remaining of the 6.5l which I started with. The journey back seems endless as your body tires more as the day continues, also you still need to climb many sections as you go back even until you reach the starting point.

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I was on a timeline so I continued straight on knowing that I didn’t want to waste a moment, stopping briefly to realise that I hadn’t applied my sun cream for several hours and had not changed my top for the anti-UV. Once I’ve changed and applied the sun cream, it was straight on to the worst part of the walk, which is returning to the car. I say the worst part because most accidents happen at the end of the day, where you become exhausted and not to mention the low sugar, salt levels and dehydrated state due to excessive physical exertion.

Once I had negotiated what seemed like double the amount of wadis compared to earlier, I eventually could see the start point, which raised my spirits a lot higher. It soon became apparent, however, that there were still several more wadis to negotiate! This is where a mountaineer’s persistence comes into play and you just continue on regardless of everything else. Eventually, I made the last wadi climb and walked across the plateau descending into a wadi, which was the start point to my finish.

The day was a great success thanks to the fantastic views. Mountaineering is my passion and I love the outdoors and all that it has to offer. I look forward to the next visit to the Omani mountains, which is an amazing environment to be a mountain leader, explorer and adventurer.