Go back to Egypt.
Go back to Black Pearl.
On the final day of our climbing trip we headed up for a trad route called Crack The Skye (6 pitch, 6b) on a face of Milehis visible from our camp. The first pitch of the route was a shallow dihedral with an irregular crack and sandstone flavor reminiscent of the better quality stone in Arches. The rock generally improved higher up though the crux overhang on pitch 3 was soft and crumbly and so it got aided. We ended up doing the route in 6 pitches but could see how a stronger party could logically cut out one intermediate belay. Very nice climbing overall and a spectacular position: we could see our Bedouin hosts most of the time and – as it would turn out later – they could see us.
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After some sweet tea in camp, we packed up and drove 90 minutes through the desert to check out a rock formation that looks like a sleeping dragon. We did a fun scramble up and around the dragon and then drove to the top of a very tall sand dune (reportedly 150 meters though it felt taller). There the car dropped us off and we tumbled our way down the impressive dune to a wadi below. An hour and a half later, having made the long drive around, the car picked us up from the wadi and we once again drove back to Dahab.
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It was a short evening in the same motel as before except this time we got the deluxe shithole suite complete with a lack of sheets or towels. When we asked the hosts in the reception for towels, an argument ensued between them. Though my Arabic is very rusty, I picked up the gist. One of them was asking why we would need the towels if we’re checking out at 1am. They’ll have more to wash. Finally the other guy reminded the first guy that they never washed the fucking towels anyway and, with the argument thus won, we got a pair. We were in Sharm El-Sheikh airport by 2:30am that night for our 5am flight to Cairo.
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