Climbing Areas

Merlin's Wand in the Barragh Canyon - "the supercrack of Rum"

Most of the main climbing areas are clustered within easy reach of the Rest House, either on Jebel Rum or on Jebel Um Ishrin. This doesn't mean that they are all within easy walking distance, especially when you are carrying the usual gear. There are plenty of cars available to drive you to the areas, but the price of this service (which varies according to the distance, see lower down) means that it is usually better to set up a camp near a cluster of climbs, and concentrate on them. You might like to look at the map drawn up by the RSCN here, to have a better idea of the distances involved. This map is not without errors, but the climbing areas are very clearly shown on it, outlined in red. The "permitted" camping areas are also shown.

These "permitted" areas, incidentally, are part of the measures proposed, but not yet put into practice by the Nature Reserve authorities, so at the moment you can install a camp just about anywhere you wish. It is not a good idea to do this without informing the authorities of your intentions; this goes along with the "registration" of intended climbs, and can be substituted for it. Obviously, if you are camping somewhere, your intended climbs are nearby - if necessary leave a note pinned to your tent stating where you are climbing that particular day. This might seem laborious, but is in your own interests: to my knowledge, when climbers have been overdue in bad weather the temporary (and unofficial) Rescue Service has gone out to check that there is no problem.

You can see therefore that it is a good idea to take your time in deciding exactly where you would prefer to climb. If you start off with the climbs in the immediate neighbourhood of the Rest House, this gives you time to find your way around, and to receive the readily offered advice from other climbers present as well as from the knowledgeable locals.

The most popular areas at a distance from the Rest House and the village of Rum are the Barragh Canyon and the Burdah areas. Both offer a wealth of climbing routes of all grades, but they are both over thirty minutes driving from Rum (Barragh is nearly an hour), and the prices charged to drive to them are correspondingly higher.

Here are some of the current official prices (for the car), but please note that they will be reduced in any case if a climber uses the same driver several times, and as said above, WRMG is studying them with an eye to reducing them as much as possible. In all cases these prices apply from Rum Village and are one way only :

To Wadi Um Ishrin massifs, including the Rakebat and Hyena Canyons 15JD
To Wadi Rumman for the routes up Jebel Rum from there 15JD
To Jebel Khazali 15JD
To Jebel Burdah area 32JD
To the Barragh Canyon 45JD