How to get there:
The start location is the city of Yanbu. One may fly to Yanbu (YNB)) from
Jeddah, Jeddah (JED) has several international connections.
From Yanbu, drive to location N24.53154, E038.27034. The elevation here
is about 550 meter. This is the 2WD trailhead.
The road is paved all the way here.
If you have a high clearance 4WD,
you can drive onwards on a rough 4WD track to location N24.53567, E038.24833, elevation about
750 meter. This location is a 4WD trailhead.
Route description:
Follow the road to the 4WD trailhead described above. From here, one should
first hike about 2.5 kilometer up this valley to location
N24.53967, E038.22504, elevation about 1190 meter.
The terrain is not easy, there are lots of boulders
and thorny bushes that make for
slow progress. There are traces of a trail
in some areas, but the best way is not
easy to follow.
Near the location specified above, the valley
forks as the main drainage curves left (when looking uphill),
while a pretty distinct gully climbs towards
the skyline going right. Ascend this (quite long) gully (or perhaps better called a small valley.)
Unfortunately, the rest of the route has not been explored. It seems very likely that one
should be able to find a route that will complete the ascent. (The summit is located
to the climbers left as the previous gully has been completed.)
Comments:
I arrived in Yanbu late on January 24. The next day was planned as a combined resting day,
but then also to get a rental car. It turned out (again) that it was impossible to rent
a car using the WEB. The main show-stopper here seemed to be some local rule of not renting
to any aged 65 or more. However, Budget in Tabuk had assured me that renting from Budget again
in another location in Saudi Arabia should be easy as they had now carried out all the
paper work.
My local contact Mark showed up as agreed, in the afternoon and we went to the nearby
Budget office. What had been promised proved true, it only took a few minutes, then I had
a pretty nice rental car. A 4WD car was however, not easy to rent. We next went to
a nice seafood restaurant. My best restaurant meal since I left Norway.
The next morning, I left before it got light around 0600 and drove to the trailhead.
It was easy to find the 4WD road and I parked near its beginning at location
N24.53154, E038.27034, elevation near 555 meter. The time was 0700, I got ready and started
walking around 0715.
It was a nice day. The sun was already making the higher rocks shine in red colors.
I walked along the 4WD track, gaining elevation. I took a short break at the 4WD trailhead, went down
to the creek and looked around for a continuation trail.
The time was 0800 when I continued into the valley.
Very soon, I stumbled on a small hut,
it was pretty basic and
sort of located in an area with no
easy access or exit.
More big boulders and bushes that grab you with
sharp thorns. There were sections with nice, small pools
of water and places where
the best route followed the creek. In other areas it seemed best to walk more on
the side. I built a few small cairns in places where it was clear that people
had walked before.
I finally reached the sharp right bend of my planned route, eager to get a view
of how this next stage of the ascent would look.
The route looked ok, but the time was already 1100. It had taken 3:45 to get here and it would take
a minimum of 3 more hours, more likely 4 to reach the summit. This would mean a very late return indeed.
I had told Mark that I would return that evening. I had not taken my warm clothing that would
have been nice to have during a night. At this point, I realized that climbing this peak with a return
the next day, Saturday, would have been the right idea. Unfortunately, this seemed not realistic.
I decided that turning here would be the most reasonable action given the facts.
After a good break, I
started my return around 1130.
I had noticed a water (rubber) pipe up here and decided
to follow it to see what purpose it served. This
led me to a stone hut. I was hopeful that there
might be some sort of better trail from this hut, but unfortunately, this did not seem to be the case.
I was back at my car at 1530, this proved that my decision was right. The trip had taken almost
8 hours. Thus, for me this climb is not a single day ascent.
