The route
Echo Beach is a 20m power-endurance sport route on the Azimuth wall of
Tawiyan cliff, in the Fujairah emirate of the UAE. The grade is around 7b or 7b+ (YDS 5.12b/c).
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| Daniel Cieszynski on the second crux of Echo Beach, 2010 |
The context
As recently as 2006, almost all “UAE rock climbing” was actually in Oman. Border restrictions on the way to the two most popular areas,
Wonderwall, and Wadi Bih, east of Ras Al Khaimah, were non-existent. Frustratingly, policy changed abruptly between 2006 and 2010. Wadi Bih, an area with more than a hundred trad routes established over the previous ten years, was worst affected, becoming totally inaccessible, except to
GCC citizens. Journey times to several other areas became much longer and forgetting to carry passports could wreck a day out.
An obvious response was to start looking for cliffs wholly within the UAE. In 2007 I received a tip from Alan Stark in the UK, who had acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of the region in the 1990s, to search where
Fujairah has a border with the Omani enclave, Musandam. In his time, this was serious off-road territory, but a new black-top road from Khatt to Dibba had changed that. I identified a couple of wadis (canyons) of interest from Google Earth. In May that year, Scott Barber and I made a quick side-trip, while heading to Dibba, finding one of the wadis to be an apocalyptic quarry, but the other, beyond the dusty village of Tawiyan, to be of possible interest.
About a year later, Scott had some time free after a solo shopping trip to the infamous “Barracuda” liquor store in
Umm Al Quwain. Rather than return direct to Dubai he drove over to Tawiyan and hiked a couple of kilometers up the wadi. That evening he called excitedly to say that he’d found something special: a 70m overhanging cliff facing north and hidden from anywhere. Scott showed me the location shortly afterwards and very generously encouraged me to start developing routes without him, as he was heading off for a long vacation in the US.
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| Scott high above Tawiyan wadi, 2008 |
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| Tawiyan cliff in 2008, before the bolts |
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| Close-up view of the Azimuth wall |
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| And side-view, looking down the wadi |
I began a series of visits, sometimes alone, sometimes with Nick McElwee, portering static ropes and bolting gear a kilometer in 40°C heat. Reaching the shade under the cliff was always a relief and a pleasure. The canyon floor was white gravel, interspersed with giant boulders, like a super-sized Japanese zen garden. As to the climbing, there were so many opportunities that it was hard to know where to start. Progress was slow as everything was harder than we first guessed and the size of the cliff complicated logistics. But it was very exciting to have a whole new cliff to work on; a creative opportunity that I had never had before. The drive from Abu Dhabi took three hours each way. Eventually I would become so committed to Tawiyan development that I would sometimes travel there just for the day.
The area felt very isolated and primitive compared to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Goat herding was the main livelihood in the village. Early in our explorations we stumbled over a macabre sight: dead animals hung in a tree just outside the town. I took some photos and shared them around the expat community. A little later, someone identified the remains as
caracals, presumably trapped and killed to prevent them preying on goats. The population of these bobcat-relatives is endangered in the Arabian peninsula. An article by a conservation-minded journalist about the "Caracal Tree" then appeared in a UAE national newspaper. Unsurprisingly the evidence vanished soon after.
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| The caracal tree |
One of the first projects was the arête running the full height of the cliff in its centre. During October 2008 I left a 100m rope on the line for a few weeks whilst busy. When I returned to make the first ascent I was startled to see most of the rope heaped on a ledge halfway up the cliff and roughly cut where the excess had been piled at the base. It also had been truncated at the top. Whilst finishing the climb,
Jebel Jebel, I realized I was being watched from a kilometer away by two goat-herders on the donkey track that passed above the cliff. I wondered if they now owned the missing 30m of rope and – if so – what usage they planned.
We never suffered any other incidents like that and continued plugging away at route development through the autumn. Nick was an especially loyal partner. At New Years Eve in 2008 he had free tickets to see a well-known Columbian singer perform in Abu Dhabi, but instead opted for a weekend at Tawiyan. The route he completed was briefly christened “Don’t Wanna Hear Ya, Shakira” (later changed to the subtler “
Laundry Service”).
Over the cooler months, Scott, Nick and I often camped at the mouth of the wadi; a very tranquil spot. But in early 2009 we began to notice signs of change. Marker poles sprouted along the line of the donkey track whilst a labour camp appeared near the village. Initially worried that it signaled yet another quarry excavation, we were relieved to discover that “only” a road was intended.
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| Pete on the second ascent of the massive Jebel Jebel arete, 6b |
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| Chris Regilski on Scott's classic route Stone Pussy, 6c |
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| Leo and Florence exploring the Tawiyan boulders, watched by Nick, 2008 |
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| Florence and Leo, campsite during the initial Tawiyan development days, 2008 |
As the more obvious easier lines got done, my main focus turned to a leaning wall in the lower centre of the cliff. On a mid-summer visit we were surprised to find this face in the sun, despite its northerly aspect and location deep in the canyon. This was a consequence of the wide
solar azimuth angle near the equator at the solstice - a phenomenon that I had not previously appreciated. There seemed to be scope for sustained routes up to 20-30 metres long: a rare characteristic on the Hajar limestone, where rock tends to be vertical and broken by ledges.
I went to work on the most plausible line. Bolting on it was no joke. Accessing the vertical terrain where I wanted the top anchors required a 70m free-hanging rappel off the top of the cliff with several directional bolts to pull the rope in. I completed the bolting in December 2008. The project name was "Echo Beach" from the beginning. The Martha and the Muffins' hit (unquestionably now
out of fashion and a trifle uncool) was a feature of my late teens, the base of the route was beach-like and the wadi had a great echo.
The peak season for UAE climbing is mid-winter when temperatures hover around 20°C. From late March onward 35°C and upwards is the norm and hard climbing is much less feasible. For some reason I did not get serious about working the project until late January. This proved to be a mistake. In late February I wrote in the diary: "
Several tries on Echo Beach finding severe stamina issues and crux just plain hard." and on Facebook: "
Stressed by my project; it is getting too hot to climb ..." Another pressure was my
UAE climbing guidebook. I needed to sign off on the manuscript in the summer to be able to get it printed for the 2009/10 winter season. I really wanted to get Echo Beach into the guide.
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| Working the first crux of Echo Beach in 2009 |
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| Higher on the first crux |
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| Working the middle section; classic UAE hazy conditions |
The ascent
The route is in two halves, separated by the kind of "good" rest common on overhanging routes: large jug and decent footholds but no chance of taking the load off your arms entirely. The upper part is pumpy with long reaches and some brief footless action, but is not very technical. I could do that section in isolation from an early stage. The lower part had two hard sections. Awkward undercutting through the steepest section of the route to a small rail feature then a series of deadpoints on slopey pockets to get feet on to the rail and better handholds. This section was my nemesis.
From the beginning of March my regular partners had all become wary of the heat and would no longer go to Tawiyan. I was very lucky at this point to be contacted by Toru, who had just been posted to Abu Dhabi by his Japanese employers. He was so keen to climb that he was prepared to overlook the temperature and knew no better than to come with me to Tawiyan. One session on my home board also demonstrated that he was a stronger climber than me; not unhelpful when there are hard moves to be solved. That said, I forget whether I let him try Echo Beach before I sent. Probably not!
On our first visit I did not send but did get much more solid on a critical drop knee at the crux. From the diary. "
Had five tries on Echo Beach failing each time not holding jug above crux sequence. But encouraging that now have crux wired."
Two weeks later I was back: "
Tawiyan with Toru on strange thundery almost rainy day. He led Bloody as Hell [a stout 6c+/ 7a] first try having worked two weeks before. I TR'd it as a warmup! Then got Echo Beach first try of the day – an epic ascent. Did the top part in a kind of dreamy detached urgency."
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| The critical drop knee |
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| The road builders arrive :-( |
I don't remember much else about the day except that while Toru took a nap I scrambled out of the canyon and saw exactly how advanced the road work above the cliff had become.
Subsequent ascents
A month after climbing Echo Beach, I visited Tawiyan with Leo to go bouldering. It had rained heavily during the previous two weeks and I was heartbroken to discover that huge quantities of debris from the road building work had been swept into the wadi base. The beautiful white pebbles which had been such a cool feature of the place were buried under a couple of metres of sharp brown junk. Almost all of the boulder problems we had established over the previous year were obscured and all the starts of established routes affected to some extent.
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| Leo in the Tawiyan wadi, April 2009 |
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| Scott in the same location a year before |
I dialed back my visits to the cliff over the next year or so, as it was so upsetting to visit, just finishing some lines that I wanted to get into the guide. Notably the spectacular Fujairah Spaceport on the left hand side of the cliff, which I somehow led mid-summer in 40°C heat and 15% humidity, dry-heaving above the crux from the effort.
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| Classic UAE summer climbing conditions! |
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| Matt Pfeiffer on Fujairah Spaceport, 7a+ |
After the guidebook was published, Tawiyan got quite popular, for all the reasons that had made it worth developing in the first place: quick access from Dubai, no border issues, good routes. This encouraged me to resume visits, sometimes bringing a very young James with me. While there, I redpointed Echo Beach at least another four times, including two laps on one day. Some friends shot video of one of those ascents, embedded here (yes, it was windy that day).
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| Three year old James at Tawiyan, 2011 |
Overall my time at Tawiyan - almost fifty days in total - was a highlight of my stay in the UAE. But also an education in impermanence and the emotional risk of getting too attached to places over which you have no control.
