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PEAK ATTRACTION
The draw of Jebel Misht
Jebel Misht boasts the highest freestanding rock face in the entire Arabian Peninsula. Ancient cultures have settled at its foot as is evident by the famous tombs of Bat. These stone structures are usually the only connection to Jebel Misht drawn by the usual tourist to the sultanate, although a mountaineer will certainly look beyond the tombs and towards the vast south face of the mountain. The first ascent of Misht was probably done a few thousand years ago by the odd farmer looking for his goat, or the hunter tracking wolves and the now-endangered tahr via the relatively easy northern slopes. It was only from the Seventies onwards that men started doing it for sport, and to prove themselves.

1979
Besiege tactics
In 1979 a French team led by Raymond Renaud came to Oman to explore the mountaineering possibilities in the Hajar Mountains. They picked Jebel Misht as their target and tried to do a relatively direct line to the main summit via the 1,000m high central pillar of the mountain. The French used ‘besiege’ tactics, set up gear depots by helicopter, installed endless lines of fixed ropes (the remains of these can be still seen on their route today) and were successful after 20 days and about two kilometres of climbing up the mountain. The legend says that they were airlifted from the summit directly to a palace to celebrate their success.

1982–1988
Cockscomb and Towers
In 1982 the British team of Mike Searle, Peter King and Philip Davis managed a short route up the Cockscomb, the southwest shoulder of Misht. In 1983 Mike Searle and Peter King came back with American climbers Dana Coffield and Daniel Mithen to do another line on the Towers, the comb-like features witch give the name to the mountain (the Arabic misht translates into ‘comb’) of the south face between the Cockscomb and the main summit. It took six more years till there was a new route up the jebel. Tony Howard and Alec McDonald went up the southeast spur in 1988.

1993–1999
International recognition
Jebel Misht gained publicity in 1993. After several unsuccessful attempts by various climbers in the past, local resident Jerry Hadwin and partners Sean Nelson and Garth Bradshaw repeated the climb up the French Pillar. They were lucky to find four bolts (a belaying device drilled into the rock) to overcome the extreme difficulties of the lower section of the climb. These bolts were placed by Gilles Rappeneau and Don Davidson during an attempt in 1990 after Don took a long fall. After three days, Jerry and his friends arrived tired but happy in the valley on the northern side of the mountain. In 1994 Jerry and his friends came back to do the Southern Grooves in the southeast face. And then it got quiet around Jebel Misht again.

In November 1999 a British team arrived in the area. Paul Ramsden, Tom Nonis, David Barlow and Geoff Hornby put up four new lines on the jebel: the ‘Eastern Promise’ on the 1,000m south east face and ‘Jilted’ on the 650m Organ Pipes, the east face of Misht. A few days earlier they had been at the Cockscomb and put up the 500m routes ‘Gorillas in the Misht’ and ‘Misht as a Newt.’ They also did some climbs up the surrounding mountains like Jebel Kawr and Jebel Namwash. After their trip they published their ascents in a European climbing magazine, the turning point of international knowledge of the enormous climbing potential of Oman and especially Jebel Misht.

2000–2008
The cow dung has been transported
The year 2000 saw a number of new lines up Misht: Geoff Hornby came along with Ramsden, Eastwood and Chaudhry. This team did the first ascents of the West Ridge, a 5km scramble, the ‘Red Misht’ on the Cockscomb, ‘Madam Butterfly’ and ‘Threading the Needle’ on the Towers and the ‘Empty Quarter’ on the southeast face. These where all bold climbs for those days, done in true British style, leaving nothing but footprints. Spillet and Drew went up the Razor Ridge on the northeast and the ‘Omani Pad Me Om’ on the north side of the Cockscomb.

In the beginning of 2001 Swiss climbers Oswald Oelz and Roebi Boesch tried to repeat the ‘Eastern Promise’. They could not find the route and called their variations ‘Der Mischt Isch Gfuehrt’ which translates into ‘the cow dung has been transported’

. Hornby and Wallis did two nice first ascents, ‘Snakes and Ladders’ on the Towers and the ‘Intifada’ on the southeast face. At the same time ‘Riddle in the Sands’ was done by Bishop, Barlow and Chaudhry. Around the same time the French climbers Antoine Fabre and Claude Redard did the first single day ascent of the French Pillar. They had an early start after a bivouac at the start of the climb and were down the other side just after sunset. Late in spring the top British climbers Pat Littlejohn and Steve Sustard did an epic climb near the French Pillar. It took them two days in great heat to complete ‘Icarus’, which is an outstanding route directly up to the main summit. This line is the first climb in the intimidating black triangular wall right of the central spur and has not been repeated since.

In the autumn of the same year Oelz was back with the internationally well-known Austrian team of Albert Precht and Sigi Brachtmeyer, with their friend Gerhard Hafner. The age of ‘travel light and fast’ climbing had begun. Oswald, Albert and Sigi came up with two routes up the Organ pipes, ‘Doc Bulle Pillar’ and ‘Half Moon Corner’. Another day saw Sigi and Albert up the 800m line at the Towers, the ‘Wichtelmaennchen’. After only five hours of climbing they added on the same day a climb up the north face of the Towers. They also added a relatively short climb on the Cockscomb, ‘Watergate’. During their ten days in Oman they also navigated several new routes up the northern rock faces of Jebel Kawr.

In December 2001 Bishop, Chaudhry and Barlow opened a new route. This climb tried to follow the obvious spur right of the ‘Intifada’ and ‘Southern Grooves’. Due to difficulties on the lower third of the climb they traversed over to the ‘Intifada’ and shared some ground with it. These patches also turned out to be the hardest of the route.

In 2002 a team rallying around Oswald Oelz and another team led by Geoff Hornby concentrated mainly on the climbs on the north face of Jebel Kawr. Only one more climb was done up Misht that year. British climber Brian Davidson of the Hornby team geared up with me, a freshly-arrived Austrian resident. We climbed a bold line never more than 50m off the main edge of the central spur, ‘The English Arete’. It marked the first true one-day ascent up the main summit and was completed car-to car in 14 hours.

In spring 2003 I returned with my Austrian friends Sepp Joechler, Martin Rangger and Franz Siedler. Rangger and Siedler did the second ascend of ‘Riddle in the Sands’ on the southeast face. Joechler and I attempted an obviously hard line in the virtually untouched south face of the summit between the French Pillar and the Towers. After six pitches of brilliant climbing they had to retreat because of loose unprotected rock and extreme difficulties. The next day they returned and found another line a little more to the west. Their 1,500m long climb is called ‘Paradies der Fakire’ due to the sharp but rock and was completed car-to-car within 9 hours.

Geoff Hornby and Susie Sammut and Mark Turnbull added ‘Sorely Misht’ to the Cockscomb. The Italian party Antonella Cicogna and Mario Mancia put up the route ‘Via Tindetinix’ on the same part of the face.

In autumn of the same year a team from Saxony in Germany arrived at the jebel. In ten day they put up the route ‘Make Love not War’ directly through the black triangular face right of ‘Icarus’. This team was the first one to use bolts for protection across a wide range of rockface. Therefore it is still the hardest route up the mountain.

At the beginning of 2004 and Christine Zinner and I did a nice and relatively short route up the Sporn, the extreme northeast shoulder of Misht just right of the Organ Pipes. The short walk in, the early shade and the nice climbing made us call this ‘Joy without Shades’. In the same year Hornby and friends added another line to the Cockscomb, the ‘Mishts of Time’.

The year 2005 started with the attempt to complete the southeast spur by Geoff Hornby and Paul Knott. They started at the true base of the pillar and climbed the complete spur. They found no ground matching the description of Alec McDonald and called their ascent ‘Palestine’.

In the spring of the same year I returned with Sepp Joechler. We were invited to form a team for a Ministry of Tourism study that tried to figure out which mountain-related adventure sport would be best for specific areas of the country. After a month of climbing we repeated the French Pillar. To avoid the knee-numbing descent to the northern side and the long journey around the mountain to the tents we tried to find an alternative route down. We went down the col between the Organ Pipes and the southeast face of the main summit. The day after we tried to complete our route down the south face, but five metres above the turning point of the attempt of 2003 I fell and we had to retreat.

In 2006 Normunds Lisovskis and Gatis Kalnins did a route near ‘Threading the Needle’. It might share some of the same ground with it but the ‘Latavian Route’ is a largely independent line up the Towers. Helli Gargitter and Pauli Trenkwalder from Italy added a new route left of the ‘Empty Quarter’ on the southeast face. At most of the belays they used bolts for protection.

The year 2007 brought the second ascent of ‘Shukran’ by an Italian team (Hannes Peifhofer, Daniel Rogger, Felix Aufderklamm and Christian Sordo). After this ascent they tried to climb a line up the south face and found pegs. They then turned round and left bolted belays. Later they discovered that they have been attempting Joechler’s and my line.

A few weeks later I brought a very strong Austrian team to Oman. Thomas Schirmer and Hansjoerg Auer did the third ascent of ‘Shukran’ in just over five hours. In the first days of 2008 I could talk Thomas and Hansjoerg into taking me to his project on the south face. Finding the bolted belays we thought the line was completed by other climbers and not reported. But with the beginning of the difficult parts of the rout no more bolts were found. Hansjoerg managed to lead the climb up the hard, loose and unprotected section of the route. The upper part of the route holds much better rock but is still quite demanding. After seven hours of climbing we stood on the summit after having completed ‘Flying Pegs’. This line is definitely one of the most demanding routes up the entire mountain.

At around the same time a French team was seen on the French Pillar. They completed the climb within two days.

A few weeks later Slovenian climbers visited the country. Pavle Kozjek and Dejan Miskovic did a new hard climb left of ‘Shukran’ that they called ‘Yalla Sadikie’ in two days. Soon after, Dejan geared up with Matej Knavs to do ‘Kabir Hajar’ between ‘Flying Pegs’ and the ‘French Pillar’ on the south face. This route took them one bivouac again.

I came to the Misht again, very late in the season, with Ray, a local resident. We repeated ‘Riddle in the Sands’ and finished seven and a half hours later, car-to-car. come autumn The promise of the jebel This summary is probably incomplete. There are definitely some ascents of new lines or existing routes that have not been reported, and I’m sure the other climbers had as good a day on this stunningly beautiful mountain as the rest of us.

Interest in climbing up Misht and the rest of Oman’s mountains is growing, and hopefully such activity will be done as safely as it has been achieved over the years – even with all the teams climbing, there have been no serious accidents reported here to date. With temperatures rising, climbers from all over the world are probably looking forward to the next climbing season, planning their ascent up Jebel Misht next autumn.