LOCATIONS

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THE NEXT STEP!
Route 3 Medium - Hard 4 to 4.5 hrs

Get Them Off That (Part 3)

Tawiyen. You will need to do a U-turn after the civil defence station at grid 0706 2188, which is the route into Tawiyen. Once in Tawiyen, drive through, pass the two schools and head down a dirt track behind them. Cross over the road and follow the track up on to the new main track that heads up into the mountains following the main wadi, Osaq. Follow the track up and over the high ground to a T-junction and turn left. You will now see the track that that goes up to Jebal Yibir grid 1193 3260 and is marked by two green and yellow border guard signs. From the signs, turn left at the pylon, follow the track down and over the wadi, tracking to the left, passing a water tower. Then head to a small white building at grid 1101 3266. Plan on 1hr 15mins travel time from the Mirdif area and do your homework before leaving home.

JEBAL AR RAS ASH SHARIQ, 792m

Happy New Year mountain goats and kids! With the New Year comes new challenges. Now that you have completed two previous mountain walks, Fossil Rock and Jebel Rawdah are nicely in the bag, its time to push onwards and upwards. The previous two routes should have given you a great feel for the ground here in the UAE and will prepare you for some more demanding routes in the future. Fossil Rock at around 6km is a very steady and easy introductory walk for you and the kids, while Jebel Rawdah at around 4.5km may be 1.5km shorter, but it does have a much steeper ascent and will definitely get the heart pumping a little more. So with that in mind, its only right that you should now start to increase the height and distance of your walks. But if you found Jebal Rawdah hard or the kids were making you look bad, you should probably consider working on your fitness before attempting any more difficult routes. If hopefully there were no problems, then you are well on the way to becoming a Jebal goat, bagging peaks like they are going out of fashion. Jebal Ar Ras Ash Shariq is a standalone peak at nearly 800m high, right next to the highest peak in the UAE, Jebel Yibir, which is 1,525m high. The route up to the plateau before the push for the peak, although higher and longer than the previous routes, follows a well-used until recently donkey supply route to the farms above. This easily followed route enables you to simply follow a track and to always see the peak without having to concentrate too hard on checkpoints.

This mountain walk is part of a series of routes and is in conjunction with the advice covered in routes one and two. Do not attempt this route if you are a beginner or inexperienced in mountain walking.

Words + Photos: Jim McIntosh

From the start point, head up the obvious well-worn donkey track to CP1, a flat field area with a rock wall. Look up to the top of the Jebal and you will see the track has widened to quad bike width and heads to the right of the summit. At this point, if you look to your left (southwest) over the large wadi, you will see the track coming down the left side of the wadi, this is the

Using the sketch map

route down marked escape route on the sketch map should you not want to continue to the top of the Jebal. From here, follow the quad bike track up and over the rise, and continue to follow it down to a small junction with a tree and marked with a cairn, this is on the left side of the track just before it starts to head downwards and northerly. This track follows around the base of the Jebal and down to a small farm (the farm is tended by a nice guy called Zahab, so say hi). Pass the farm on the left hand side and pick up a small track to the left of the wadi. Follow this track until the ground starts to flatten out and the ground becomes flatter and less rocky. When you come to some piles of rocks, look for two cairns, look left and you can see four trees and a track heading up the right side of a small wadi. Head up to the top flat area and on the other side is a steep wadi heading away from you. Pick up the track that is to the left and follow it around the back trying to maintain the same height. As you come around the back, gradually start climbing upwards. If you find yourself crossing a small wadi and a large flat area (the escape route) turn left and head up the wadi to a smaller flat farmed area as per the sketch map. From here, pick your own route up to the left of the mast to the summit.Once you have had a brew and a bite to eat, head down to the western end of the mast fenced area until you can see CP 1. Carefully pick a route down to the field and then retrace your footsteps back to the start.

T E C H N I C A L

C Y C L E

A P P A R E L

LEG 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 A

FROM 1100 3266 1038 3250 1012 3250 0960 3310 0898 3275 0906 3171 0891 3171 0939 3181 0949 3241 1012 3250 1038 3250 0906 3171

TO 1038 3250 1012 3250 0960 3310 0898 3275 0906 3171 0891 3171 0939 3181 0949 3241 1012 3250 1038 3250 1100 3266 1012 3250

DISTANCE 650M 250M 700M 800M 1100M 580M 460M 600M 650M 250M 650M

DESCRIPTION Start point to shoulder of hill Small field check point 1 (cp 1) Small track junction/ tree, cairn (cp 2) Farm (cp 3) Track wadi jct (2 cairns in open look left) (cp 4) Top of track flat area, wadi running away Small field Summit, communications mast (cp 5) Small field (cp 6 and 2) Shoulder of hill Start point
Distributor

The route

GPS Datum: (Military Grid Reference System) MGRS, World Geodetic System (WGS84) Head north out of Dubai on to the Emirates Road to Ras Al Khaimah and turn right on to the E87 to Dibba. Follow this road until you come to the first roundabout, head straight across and look for a sign to

Global Climbing

Escape route, if you dont want to go up to the summit at cp 4 head down to cp6
From cp 4, head up the wadi and through grid 0891 3171 as if heading up to the summit on route card. As you come around the back side of the hill, you will see another lower field (not the higher one you would pass if going to the summit) and a track heading down the right side of a large wadi. Follow this back to cp 1.

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OUTDOORUAE

Available at Adventure HQ in Times Square Center, Micahs Bike Shop in Al Quoz area, Revolution Cycles in Autodrome Motor City