Climbing mishaps in Dubai...

The United Arab Emirates is not a hot spot known for it’s incredible climbing. Most people aren’t aware that the UAE even has mountains, and many people assume that Dubai is the only feature of the country and that the rest is merely a barren wasteland. Clearly, this is not the case if I’m writing about it here! Then again… maybe it’s all just a ruse.

Okay, so the UAE has the Al Hajar Mountains running down the entire east coast of the country, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world dating to roughly 500 million years old. It’s also limestone. Many die-hard climbers in the South West will now be picturing images of Chudleigh polish. Luckily that’s not the case in the UAE…it’s so much worse. Being so old, the mountains are quite literally falling down. Choss has a whole new meaning out here.
The best example of this was going out on an abseil to see if we could clean off an old crag to use with groups. The answer was a ‘hell no’. We found some pretty decent anchors and I started my descent, with every step knocking a little bit more rock down. At around the midway point this turned into boulders bellowing down the side of the crag. This was when I noticed the section of rock that was about to go, as such I gave it a kick and bang…a boulder the size of me headed down the crag. A really spicy area to say the least. Still, we decided to go for a climb on top rope because, why not? A terrible idea.

While belaying, my mate absolutely showered me in rock, and that was with me ready for it and belaying a good 8m from the crag. I walked away with a bruised rib, several cuts, and a gash on my arm. 10/10 climbing crag that I would highly recommend if you really don’t like your belayer.
The next adventure was up in the main climbing area of the country known as Stardust, which is much better rock wise. There are actual routes here, and lots of them. On this particular day we had decided to go out as a five on a 100m route in which the routes started in different places and then joined for the final two pitches. The first pitch for us was a “6a” with an interesting move 2m off the ground. I had a go and well, it just wasn’t my day at all. Jed, with some struggle got through to then bring myself and Amy up.

Jed then carried on leading as the ropes had been setup on the belay (if I remember correctly). Anyway, 12m or so up and Jed was climbing up a steep ramp through a bush, hell yeah - adventure climbing! He disappeared out of view before we saw him bring his leg back out over the ridge of the ramp. Next thing I see, a rock the same size as my head is coming straight at me and Amy. I took in, the rope on my belay pulled tight but not for a big fall - Jed had obviously got caught on the ridge as he came down. Even so, this pulled me forward. One handed and locking the plate, I pulled Amy forward and a couple of seconds later the rock landed exactly where she had been stood. Landing within a metre of us, we were showered with debris.
Jed took some time to get back on the wall but managed to get to the end of pitch. Luckily for us, the team of two were also up there and helped sort the ropes and belay us up. To lead us was an absolute mess with five people on an anchor. Luckily, it was a really big ledge.

We continued the climb to the summit and then abseiled back to the wadi floor. Jed’s leg was pretty gashed up, but it wasn’t too bad, and he carried on like trooper. All in all, a pretty eventful day of climbing.
I should say that this wasn’t typical of all our climbing experiences in the UAE. We had some pretty epic climbs as well but more on those another time….

Story from Richard Matthews be sure to check out more of his adventures and his social media below. 

Richard gave a talk in Exeter around his mountain adventures in October 2024.