We decided to climb Mount Sinai on the evening of our first full day in Dahab. Chin really wanted to climb it and I thought it would be a good way to pretend I was maintaining my fitness ready for the run at the end of the month (!)
Climbing Mount Sinai is all about the timings, so here is an overview of our clock watching:
3pm - settle down for an afternoon nap as we know we'll be walking all night
6.30pm - get up from nap to have some dinner at the Rocketa and to do the radio show from the beach there. We decide to have fish for dinner and it turns out to be a good call - Chin has fried calimari and I have the "beer butter" which I am hoping might be inspired by beer batter and indeed is sort of fish and chips
9.30pm - the show and dinner over we head back to the room for a little more shut eye
10.30pm - up we get and start to get our gear together. We're a little under prepared, but we're hoping what our clothing and equipment lacks in quality / suitability, we'll make up for in quantity. Chin has on two pairs of socks with her converse shoes (forgot her trainers in the UK) and two pairs of leggings (as she didn't bring any jeans). I have nearly all my t-shirts on and I'm hoping that I can leave my hoodie in my bag until the last possible moment so that I will "feel the benefit" at the top of the mountain
11pm - we meet the bus just after eleven and grab a seat in the first row. It goes around the hotels on the main road picking people up but then stops for quite a while outside one. It seems we're waiting for someone but no action is taking place. At 11.45pm a car pulls up with a group of young Koreans in it. They are only 45 minutes late but they still manage to faff around getting their gear together and having their hotel breakfast delivered to the bus. Finally we pull off nearly an hour later than the pick-ups started!
1.30am - we arrive at Saint Catherines and all get out of the bus. On the way we've seen the road block guards have huge jackets on and wolly hats so we start to worry that maybe we're going to be cold. We put on all of our layers, including our final 'emergency' layer and get out of the bus. We needed that emergency layer as it is pretty cold here.
2am - we start the walk up. There are loads and loads of people doing the walk tonight. Coachfuls to be exact. On one hand I'm really pleased that there are tourists coming back to the region, but on the other I remember how beautiful it was when we climbed the mountain with DaddyB and experienced sunset with just six of us up there.
There are so many people heading up the mountain that there's congestion on the path - we're having to walk at the speed of the group in front of us which to be honest is not very fast. The group is quite large too. Luckily our guide, Ramadan, says that we should overtake the group and he advises us that we shoudl walk faster if we want to make it to the top for sunrise. We hot foot it around the group and get into our own pace.
It's amazing to see the other walkers that are heading up. Our group is pretty young, with just one couple that I would say were in their late 30's - this is probably the Dahab demographic for you! The other coach groups though include people that are a lot older and seem even more ill prepared that us! Some are in sandles (albeit with socks on) and others are carrying sleeping childern or dragging young children along. One group have all been issued sticks and it seems like they really need them. I wonder if they will all make it to the top, even with the help of a camel.
We walk pretty steadily for the journey and although we stop at some of the resh houses on the way, this is only to pause and help stick together. No one sits down or has more than a sip of water. Luckily we've really managed to warm up and so have been able to strip our jumpers and outer layers off and are down to just a few (!) t-shirts for the walk - with a jumper or scarf in easy grabbing distance for when we stop.
4.30am we make it to the top with good time to spare and take a seat in one of the huts. When Scott and I climed the mountain for NYE 2008 we grabbed a cuppa from one of the huts at the top and then soon headed to get our 'spot' for the sunrise. This time though we were happy to sit for a good while in the hut before emerging. We had a cup of tea which at 10LE a pop was definitely worth it for the expereince! The choice was black or with powdered milk and we opted for the powdered milk along with just one sugar to give us that extra energy rush as well as warm us up. But the guy's "one spoon" was actually two spoons - and even when we said "no, just one sugar" he continued to put two in and say " yes, this is one spoon"! Then when he went to add the powdered milk it was two spoons, and heaped ones at that. I think that there may have been more solids than liquids in that plastic cup, but once it was all stirred round it tasted so good! Truely comfort in a cup!
5.30am - we head outside as sunrise is officially 5.45am but it's glowing red, then yellow outside already. There is a real crowd of people at the top - and this is only the first part of the mountain top (we don't even explore the whole peak) - but we manage to get ourselves a good spot for the sunrise. I wonder if everyone who got out at the car park and we passed on the path made it?
After sunrise we head back to the hut to meet Ramadan and although the group is together quite quickly he suggests that we stay here for a while. It's a good plan because the monestry doesn't open until 9am so there's no rush to get down. The journey down will only take half the time as the journey up apparently and so we may as well let the crowds disperse before we begin our descent.
While we wait we have another cup of sweet tea.
It's soon really quite light and really quite warm too. We go down the "steps route" and pause a little along the way. When we're at the bottom we sit on some of the large rocks outside the monestry to wait for it to open. When it does Chin goes in but I stay outside and lie like a cold blooded lizard in the sun. Visit over we head for the bus and then back to Dahab.
We arrive back to our hotel around noon and it's time for one final nap to get our bodies back in shape. We nap until 2pm when we get up, shower and then head for a late lunch. Our repeated and structured napping has helped us stay awake and not go too crazy with tiredness. It means we stay out for drinks and dinner later and are back into the swing of things the next day - ready for some diving and snorkling action!
Climbing Mount Sinai is all about the timings, so here is an overview of our clock watching:
3pm - settle down for an afternoon nap as we know we'll be walking all night
6.30pm - get up from nap to have some dinner at the Rocketa and to do the radio show from the beach there. We decide to have fish for dinner and it turns out to be a good call - Chin has fried calimari and I have the "beer butter" which I am hoping might be inspired by beer batter and indeed is sort of fish and chips
9.30pm - the show and dinner over we head back to the room for a little more shut eye
10.30pm - up we get and start to get our gear together. We're a little under prepared, but we're hoping what our clothing and equipment lacks in quality / suitability, we'll make up for in quantity. Chin has on two pairs of socks with her converse shoes (forgot her trainers in the UK) and two pairs of leggings (as she didn't bring any jeans). I have nearly all my t-shirts on and I'm hoping that I can leave my hoodie in my bag until the last possible moment so that I will "feel the benefit" at the top of the mountain
11pm - we meet the bus just after eleven and grab a seat in the first row. It goes around the hotels on the main road picking people up but then stops for quite a while outside one. It seems we're waiting for someone but no action is taking place. At 11.45pm a car pulls up with a group of young Koreans in it. They are only 45 minutes late but they still manage to faff around getting their gear together and having their hotel breakfast delivered to the bus. Finally we pull off nearly an hour later than the pick-ups started!
1.30am - we arrive at Saint Catherines and all get out of the bus. On the way we've seen the road block guards have huge jackets on and wolly hats so we start to worry that maybe we're going to be cold. We put on all of our layers, including our final 'emergency' layer and get out of the bus. We needed that emergency layer as it is pretty cold here.
2am - we start the walk up. There are loads and loads of people doing the walk tonight. Coachfuls to be exact. On one hand I'm really pleased that there are tourists coming back to the region, but on the other I remember how beautiful it was when we climbed the mountain with DaddyB and experienced sunset with just six of us up there.
There are so many people heading up the mountain that there's congestion on the path - we're having to walk at the speed of the group in front of us which to be honest is not very fast. The group is quite large too. Luckily our guide, Ramadan, says that we should overtake the group and he advises us that we shoudl walk faster if we want to make it to the top for sunrise. We hot foot it around the group and get into our own pace.
It's amazing to see the other walkers that are heading up. Our group is pretty young, with just one couple that I would say were in their late 30's - this is probably the Dahab demographic for you! The other coach groups though include people that are a lot older and seem even more ill prepared that us! Some are in sandles (albeit with socks on) and others are carrying sleeping childern or dragging young children along. One group have all been issued sticks and it seems like they really need them. I wonder if they will all make it to the top, even with the help of a camel.
We walk pretty steadily for the journey and although we stop at some of the resh houses on the way, this is only to pause and help stick together. No one sits down or has more than a sip of water. Luckily we've really managed to warm up and so have been able to strip our jumpers and outer layers off and are down to just a few (!) t-shirts for the walk - with a jumper or scarf in easy grabbing distance for when we stop.
4.30am we make it to the top with good time to spare and take a seat in one of the huts. When Scott and I climed the mountain for NYE 2008 we grabbed a cuppa from one of the huts at the top and then soon headed to get our 'spot' for the sunrise. This time though we were happy to sit for a good while in the hut before emerging. We had a cup of tea which at 10LE a pop was definitely worth it for the expereince! The choice was black or with powdered milk and we opted for the powdered milk along with just one sugar to give us that extra energy rush as well as warm us up. But the guy's "one spoon" was actually two spoons - and even when we said "no, just one sugar" he continued to put two in and say " yes, this is one spoon"! Then when he went to add the powdered milk it was two spoons, and heaped ones at that. I think that there may have been more solids than liquids in that plastic cup, but once it was all stirred round it tasted so good! Truely comfort in a cup!
5.30am - we head outside as sunrise is officially 5.45am but it's glowing red, then yellow outside already. There is a real crowd of people at the top - and this is only the first part of the mountain top (we don't even explore the whole peak) - but we manage to get ourselves a good spot for the sunrise. I wonder if everyone who got out at the car park and we passed on the path made it?
After sunrise we head back to the hut to meet Ramadan and although the group is together quite quickly he suggests that we stay here for a while. It's a good plan because the monestry doesn't open until 9am so there's no rush to get down. The journey down will only take half the time as the journey up apparently and so we may as well let the crowds disperse before we begin our descent.
While we wait we have another cup of sweet tea.
It's soon really quite light and really quite warm too. We go down the "steps route" and pause a little along the way. When we're at the bottom we sit on some of the large rocks outside the monestry to wait for it to open. When it does Chin goes in but I stay outside and lie like a cold blooded lizard in the sun. Visit over we head for the bus and then back to Dahab.
We arrive back to our hotel around noon and it's time for one final nap to get our bodies back in shape. We nap until 2pm when we get up, shower and then head for a late lunch. Our repeated and structured napping has helped us stay awake and not go too crazy with tiredness. It means we stay out for drinks and dinner later and are back into the swing of things the next day - ready for some diving and snorkling action!
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| Being special before we start the walk |
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| There was quite a crowd at the top of the mountain |
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| At the top of Mount Sinai just after the sunrise |
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| A hut with a view |
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| Getting a cup of tea to keep us warm before going back down the mountain |
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| We did it! |
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| The arch at the start of the Steps of Repentence |
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| The steps and steep slope we walked down |
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| The monks of St Catherine take an active involvement in all aspects of the monestary's upkeep |
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