the nostalgia project: French Pillar of Jebel Misht, Oman (2007)

The route

Jebel Misht from the east - spot the line

And from the south - ditto

From an online topo linked from Mountain Project:

"The 900m South-East face of Jebel Misht is thought to be the tallest cliff in the Arabian Peninsula. The 1979 French route follows the compelling central arete of the face and is undoubtedly the classic long climb of the region. Whilst there are many other striking cliffs in Oman, nothing else discovered so far dominates the landscape as the French Pillar. Anyone who has passed under the cliff will confirm that it is a stunning line, a desert hybrid of the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses and The Nose of El Capitan; both climbs of similar scale."

The first ascent of the French route by a large team of (obviously) French climbing guides took a month and employed fixed ropes. Apocryphally the Sultan of Oman dispatched a helicopter to whisk the successful team from the summit to celebrations at his palace in Muscat!

The hardest climbing on the correct line of the route is around 6b+ or low 5.11 or, for Brits, E3'ish. However it is easy to get off-route and stray on to harder terrain.

The context

I first saw Jebel Misht in November 2005. I had driven with Shoko and Leo into Oman for several hours on the desert road between the Hajar and the Empty Quarter. Just past the first town of any size, Ibri, I noticed a vast dark wedge rising out of the haze to our north. It was Misht with the south-east face in profile, still 50 km away. The mountain disappeared as we drove toward it through a maze of ophiolite foothills, then as we rounded a bend it reared up abruptly in front of us. The line of the French Pillar was obvious and magnificent. Though my main focus at that time was on sport climbing, it was clear that I needed to make an exception for this thing.

With Leo, campfire on the Jebel Shams plateau

Jebel Misht from Jebel Shams

Tree on the Jebel Shams plateau

Unfortunately the only source of information available for the route at that time was a 1993 guidebook with a wordy account of climbing the route over several days but no topo.

In January 2006 I tried the route with a friend, Mike O, from Dubai. Many factors combined to make it an unrealistic attempt including a late start the day before which resulted in insufficient research of the approach hike and a lot of wasted time before we even began roped climbing. Then we got badly off-route on the first crux section. I led a long barely-protected pitch on virgin rock that still makes me shudder when I recall it; one of those "could have died" moments. On the positive side, when we abandoned our attempt and rappelled off, we saw where we had gone wrong. I also realised that the weight of carrying water, combined with terrain unsuitable for hauling, meant that a committed fast ascent was really the only sensible approach. And for that I needed a very strong partner.

Mike on the first pitch of the French Route

I mentioned the project to Dan who had already shown some interest in a visit to the region. He flew in from the UK in January 2007 for a two week trip, of which we allocated a whole week to time in the Misht region. My friend Wolf also offered to support us on a French Pillar attempt, generously promising to meet us on the summit by hiking the lower-angled north face.

Dan with local Omani kids who visited us for breakfast

Al Hamra towers from the same spot

Ahead of trying Misht, Dan and I did a “training route” on one of the more modest sized Al Hamra Towers, the seven pitch “En Attendant Les Lents”. This seemed like enough climbing for one day for me, but Dan had other ideas, and soloed the similar-sized but harder “La Mama” on the adjacent tower. Not for the first time I was reminded that he and I had very different risk tolerances. (Two months later I went back with a Dubai friend, Scott, to climb La Mama. I was horrified to find that the crux was insecure climbing near the very top of the 300m tower.)

Dan finishing En Attendant Les Lents

Dan soloing on La Mama

And higher on the same route

The next day was supposed to be a rest day but Dan proposed that we descend and ascend a via ferrata that had just been installed on cliffs below the peak, Jebel Shams - Oman’s highest point - where we were camping. This proved to be quite educational as the via ferrata followed traditional cliff “paths” used by inhabitants of a long-abandoned village at its base, including long vertical sections between ledges that had once been negotiated using dead tree branches and other precarious junk. The actual via ferrata was modern but Dan insisted that we should "solo" it without harnesses, lanyards or any of the usual equipment, added back some historical authenticity. After this adrenaline dose we drove over to the base of Misht. We had enough daylight to scope the approach hike properly - a distinct improvement on the previous year.

Side view of the cliffs crossed by the Jebel Shams VF - note vehicle for scale!

Via ferrata "soloing" shenanigans

Natural infinity pool above the Jebel Shams via ferrata

The ascent

Misht from our campsite

From the diary:

“3:45am start, then left car at 4:30am. Below the cliff just before dawn and finally started climbing at 6:30am. I insisted on leading the second pitch (again) to Dan's horror. ”

Waiting for dawn below the route

Beginning the simul-climbing

It was important for me to lead the crux (second) pitch as I did not want to feel that I was being “guided”. Dan was sceptical but I got the job done. In fact it turned out that I had completed the hardest moves on the pitch the previous year, before we had traversed off-route, and that the climbing above was just some strenuous yarding on big flakes. Above there we simul-climbed for hundreds of meters on easy ground. About half way up we encountered a food cache from the 1978 ascent with some meat cans still intact. Above this the line follows a classic ridge feature with an approximately 600m vertical drop to one side. Probably the most exposed situation I have ever encountered.

Thirty year old food cache. 

Massive exposure in the middle of the route

Near the top. We transitioned from simul'ing back to conventional climbing for the last 200m.

“Rest of the route passed very smoothly, bar a short shouting match on the ledges below the headwall where Dan left me unbelayed whilst messing around with a long traverse."

Simul-climbing becomes especially sketchy if you move sideways for long distances without placing protection! Dan had done this and then started ascending a harder vertical section. My analysis was that if he fell he would pull us both off - hence the shouting.

For the last 200m of the route we reverted to conventional pitched climbing. One pitch was quite fierce: a steep little finger crack which Dan led. It is possible that we missed an easier alternative.

Topped out the route at 3:00pm. At the summit we met Wolf, Suzanne and Tom and descended with them. Persuaded Tom to drive me back around to retrieve the car – managing to get lost in the main wadi in the dark. Then back to campsite on north side where we were treated to steaks and red wine – excellent.”

Dan, Tom and Wolf on the summit

The obligatory rack photo

The heinous north side of Misht. A knee-wrecking 1200m descent

Oddly we all managed to find the energy to climb the next day too. Bouldering (and swimming) in the idyllic Wadi Damm, one of the few places in Oman with year-round fresh water.

Active rest day messing around in Wadi Damm

Shallow water soloing

Subsequent ascents 

I visited the Jebel Misht area a few more times during my stay in Arabia but never climbed the route again.

Shortly after I climbed the route in 2007 I wrote the topo quoted at the beginning of this post and published it online. Surprisingly, twelve years later, I still see it referenced by people as the definitive description, even though a proper print guide exists. 

About three years after climbing the pillar, I had a business flight to Muscat from Abu Dhabi which flew directly over Jebel Misht in evening light. Viewed from above and in deep shadow, the South-East face was extraordinarily vertiginous, like a rendering error in a video game which had replaced landscape with blackness. It was hard to believe I had ever been there.