April 10, Wadi Rum, Jordan
“Don’t
sleep over there. Very mousey. Better up here, under the wall”
Ali,
our guide, knew every inch of the valleys and canyons surrounding Wadi Rum,
our latest destination. Born in the valley, he can trace his ancestry back
for centuries – generations of Bedouin of the same tribe, living in
the tiny tented community that was to conceal Lawrence’s headquarters
in the Arab war, later gaining fame through his film the Seven Pillars of
Wisdom.
We had hired Ali and his truly ancient 4x4 to take us bone jarringly through
the desert to Barrah Canyon, where we would spend 3 brilliant days shinning
up any number of the world class routes hereabouts. Merlin’s Wand, the
most famous, involves 5 continuously 
interesting
and exacting pitches on sensational, if unnervingly thin, rock. Best of all,
it’s a face climb with the crack for protection all the way up. Rumeurs
de la Pluie, another favourite, takes a perfect corner line with spaced protection
on the airy crux. We all enjoyed the photogenic, and tough for the grade,
“Le Bon”: 45m of nothing but 6a+ finger crack. And so many others,
too numerous to mention. 
Rum is one of the great climbing destinations with its 400m sandstone walls and 800m routes to the summit, and the friendly folk hereabouts love climbers. For climbers “found” Rum; until Tony Howard’s trip in 1984, tourism here was unheard of. More climbers followed in Tony’s footsteps, then came the overlanders, and now it is a regular (if mercifully brief) stop on most Jordanian tourists’ schedule. Ali invited all 16 of us round to his house for dinner after our trip; when we invited him back he came armed with a couple of bottles of wine – no so easy to procure in Jordan. We meet with similar hospitality wherever we travel in the lands of the Bedouin.
And is there rock like this anywhere else? (Mostly) hard sandstone is sculpted by wind and sand into vertiginous finger cracks splitting dramatic walls which rear overhead, covered in paper-thin jugs and chickenheads. Perfect laybacking, or jamming, or face climbing, pitch after pitch after pitch, all set against the infinite desert. You could climb here, virtually forever. The climate in spring in pleasant enough to forgive the occasional unplanned bivvy whilst careful route selection means you can usually climb in the shade if you prefer.
The
longer routes to the summits tend to be ancient Bedouin hunting routes, climbed
to find wild ibex that graze on the vegetated plateaux high above the main
walls. The hunters would climb unroped, often unshoed, and bring their kill
back down with them; consider that as you climb heedlessly up the long VDiff
– Severe pitches that weave through the mountain onto the domed plateau.
Rest days can be spent exploring the complex gullies and canyons inside the mountains, or taking a camel ride to Lawrence’s Well, or going further afield - perhaps to the Rock Bridge at Burdah.
The Resthouse, a sort of Camp 4 with showers and Turkish coffee, is Rum’s only place to stay. This is where climbers congregate to cook, chat and exaggerate the stories of the day. We spent 10 days in Rum and were sorry to leave. We’ll certainly be back.
