chossclimbers

Go back to Jordan – First Trip
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Our third day went less then smoothly. We screwed up the approach to some route and ended up on a scenic canyoneering adventure. We tried to salvage the rest of the day by carefully scoping out approaches to a couple of routes we wanted to try. Some of those approaches in the Rum seemed less than trivial complexity-wise…

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Day four and back to Barrah Canyon . We had some doubts as we kept hearing on and off rain outside of our tent throughout the night. However, Khaled was there to pick us up at 6:30 in the morning accompanied by his wife and son and a great breakfast spread! We were deposited near the base of Star Of Abu Judaidah route and so decided to give it a go despite some light drizzle. Khaled promised to come back for us if it really opened up. The line follows an obvious corner system for 6 pitches (+1 low angle face pitch at the top) and is quite a sight, especially under dark and stormy skies. Despite the slight darkness-induced intimidation factor, Shirley quickly dispatched the first pitch. The second pitch was mine and was given a “6a or A0” description by the guidebook. I started up and promptly broke a crimp falling back to the ledge feet first…later we would meet some Belgian climbers and decide that the description says (or should say) “6a with A0.” Petty details. I ended up breaking up the pitch into two because of drag. Shirley then dispatched what I thought was the crux pitch of the route: a 6b intermittent finger crack in a beautiful corner. Pitches 5 and 6 fell to me as they were of the flared chimney and off-width variety. Much easier than the finger crack despite the same rating – and so a fair trade in my opinion. We rapped the route and were packing up when Khaled arrived. That afternoon we drove out to his mother’s camp in the desert where we got a glimpse of the more traditional (from one generation ago?) Bedouin life.

Photos

The Star Of Abu Judaidah

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Go back to Jordan – First Trip