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Stairway to Heaven Climb - Take 2
Some of you know that i attempted the 'stairway to heaven' trek about a year and a half ago and we didnt make it after losing the path ( you can find that trek here http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/members...en-update.html). Then a week or so later i injured my ankle and have never been back there since. but the fire had always been brewing deep down and i always wanted to do this. its the pinnacle of climbing here in the UAE, and i couldnt not do it.
This past weekend we attempted the climb for the second time. this time i climbed with a different smaller group. Friends who were more accomlished in the climbing sense and had done the trek a few times. we slept in Ras Al Khaimah ( RAK) overnight and started the trek at 5.00am at 220m above sea level. after walking an hour an a half through a wadi ( a gorge in english) we got to the end of it at 450m above sea level and hooked a left..went up the scree field to 800m above sea level and climbed the rest of the way to 1200m up a cliff face. i cant begin to explain the sheer terror of looking down an exposed cliff face will give you. whoever said that i have balls is full of shit. i may do all these crazy things, but this is by far the most terrifying. imagine yourself on a cliff face with nothing but you and some rocky stairs and 400m shear drop of cliff face. The stairs were built by bedouin shephards a few hundred years ago. i wonder which engineer passed their set of stairs. These set of stairs along the cliff face are basically rocks stacked on top of each other where there was no access up the cliff face. the stairs reach another ledge, and from there we'd do some more climbing before another set of stairs popped up. the trek took 17 hours in total. 5hrs to the top of the cliff face..then another 12 hours to walk around the face of the cliff to go down the other side which is less scarier supposedly but adds 3 times the time to the climb. yes, we started at 5am with headlamps, and we got back to the car at 10pm with headlamps. i guess ill let the pics explain it. but i now understand why my friends have promised their wives never to go again. i had to keep this trek a secret, and didnt tell she-lish until after i got back. would i do it again?....i dont know really...no, not unless i get goaded into going. anyways here are the pics... http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2042.jpg the first set of stairs http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2045.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2047.jpg looking back at our way down on the opposite side of the mountain http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2044.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2053.jpg this is the cliff face that we climbed http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2059.jpg no harnesses of course http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2066.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2068.jpg can you see the 'staircase'? look closely! http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2070.jpg here's a better view http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2076.jpg anyone notice the stairs sitting on thin air???? http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2077.jpg this is me being scared shitless http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a.../DSC_0860b.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a.../DSC_0866c.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0845.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a.../DSC_0846b.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/P4010147.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/P4010149.jpg dont knock the highlighter green shirt..its a saftey mechanism in case we got lost and the helicopter came looking for us http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/P4010158.jpg on thin air http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/P4010170.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/P4010152.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0833.jpg http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a.../DSC_0829c.jpg and this is us at the top! 5 hrs later http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0875.jpg this is what we climbed http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2059.jpg taking a rest at the top http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2086.jpg we climbed another 400m from the village where the top of the cliff is to 1600m. this is the view from there http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2094.jpg view from the top, you can see the ocean from here http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2090.jpg a dried waterfall canyon http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/IMG_2098.jpg coming down a dried waterfall canyon http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0921.jpg on the way down we took significantly less pics. we were tired and just wanted to get back asap! coming down a scree slope is much harder than people think. us negotiating our way down http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...1/DSC_0925.jpg we got back in the wadi at 7pm ( as the darkness fell on us) and we stumbled back to the car 3 hrs later for a 10pm finish. 17hrs is a hell of a long time to go trekking. |
Jesus Christ, my balls climbed up into my abdomen just looking at the pictures! I don't know that I could convince myself to do this under normal circumstances.
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Hats off to you man, no way do I still have the stones to do anything like that.
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nice dude! you've got some stainless steel ones for climbin up that. is the next step base jumping off the top? i bet you wont do it... I BET YOU WONT!
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Nice views, but I would have probably turned around at the first set of stairs. There's no way I would climb out on thin ledges on a cliff face. Me and heights don't get along.
Looks like a fun hike though. |
going up may have been the stairway to heaven but coming down looked like the highway to hell...
congrats, d'lish... |
Nice.
If you're ever in Colorado, you might like the Long's Peak Keyhole route. It also falls into the "had to do it once, promised the spouse I'd never do it again" category. |
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i dont have steel ones. seriously, ill be man enough to say that as we got the the toughest bit towards the end i was extremely nervous that my hands started shaking. Quote:
the thing is, the first set of stairs is 3 hours into the climb. its so much easier to keep going than come back down looking at the height you just climbed. my thoughts at the time was..well, if i turn around now it's going to be even scarier coming down. if i persevere for a little bit more i'll get there and it would be a lot less scary coming down...little did i know it was going to take another 12 hours to get back! i was hoping for a 5pm finish, maybe 6. Quote:
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now.... ive got to set myself the next challenge...still deciding on what its going to be. |
Dude, my butt clinches driving the steep road to the town dump, there is no way in hell I'd attempt something like that.
Kudos for following through with your goal, dlish. Also, beautiful pics, man. |
Fuck everything about that, seriously. You're the man for making it through that, I'd be whimpering like a little girl at the first stairs. I love the random goat at the top, though.
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hey werent you like boys scout or something back in your day? if anyone can do it, it'd be you..and maybe plan9, cos hes a crazy-mother. crazier than me. yeah the goat wouldnt leave us alone. it wanted our food. i guess there isnt much up there that you can eat on a clifftop. |
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...I like goats, & you know how I feel about you. Thanks, Mr! |
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Yes. Despite being terrified of heights, I've done plenty of rock climbing and repelling and every time it's scared the willies out of me. Not sure I could manage to get over the "no harnesses/no ropes" aspect. |
Is that a kid?! Doing the hike with you? Or a young woman? No offense meant if she's an adult, I mean she is wearing a pink school backpack.
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Those are excellent images of a fantastic trek.
I am jealous. I commend you for bringing a child and a goat, just in case. One can never be too prepared! |
a kid? no that goat is a little older than you think :P
if you're talking about the woman in the pics, she too is a little older than you think, and quite accomlished. she's conquired more than just a few of the worlds heighest peaks. StanT, i had a look at some videos of Longs Peak keyhole trek. looks and sounds quite similar to this in many respects. will keep it in the back of my mind when i do decide to pay a visit :D |
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