Mount Sinai - photos & journal

We joined a van of people from neighbouring hostels for the 2 hour drive to Mount Sinai, leaving at 11:45pm.  We began our ascent up the mountain at 1:45am.  There will be no sleep tonight!  

First hour was fairly easy going, compared to what lay ahead.  We journeyed up with our group of 15, taking the camel path.  It is completely dark on the mountain.  My headband flashlight was absolutelly essential, and with it I had to watch every single step I took very carefully.

There were a fantastic number of stars in the sky, but gazing at them was impossible.  We were often dodging camels that passed by on either side of us.  And walking through camel dung.  Behind us I could see the constant glimmers of flashlights meandering up the hill in the darkness.  The path was rocky, but with loose rocks and sand and gravel, one wrong step and you'd slip.  This is an impossible climb for someone with weak ankles.  The path is also sandy, so there is much dust to inhale from the people stiring it  ahead of me.

waiting for the sun to rise on the top of Mount Sinai

There are tea houses along the way to stop and rest, and I was thankful for each moment that my legs didn't need to move.  After 1.5 hours of climbing, my calves were burning terribly.  I have never climbed to an altitude of 2285 metres before.  I started the night at 1550 metres.  Sleepiness was also setting in.  At one brief stop, I rested my head in my hands and was dozing off when Michelle called me back to reality.  At that point already I wanted desperately to give up and let them ascend without me.  However, staying with the group was necessary, so it was one foot in front of the other.  Before 2 hours hit, I declared that I'd rather be giving birth again than hike up this mountain.  Some group members were concerned we'd not reach the summit before sunrise, so we kept pushing forward, with our hearts pounding and breathing laboured .  Finally we reached the point where the camels were no longer able to walk.  So often I wished I'd hired a camel, except that riding a camel up this steep corridor terrified me.   There were now only 750 "steps" remaining.  These aren't steps, they are rocks of different sizes, and they are steep and difficult. 

FiNALLy, we reached the top at 5am.  

Lots of people napping in sleeping bags, but we found ourselves a spot with a view.  It was very cold at the summit, with wind chill I'd say zero degrees.  The problem with this is that my first 2 layers were soaked in sweat from the hike up the mountain.  Nevertheless, I threw on my jacket and wrapped my sleeping bag around me for wind protection.  It made a big difference.  The sun rose just before 6am, it was nice, not stunning.  Frankly, I hardly cared because I knew we had a long road down.  I highly doubt that the Moses went all the way to the top of this mountain, and definitely didn't carry stone tablets back down.  If I was an Israelite, I'd have been complaining too, camped out at the base of this rocky mount, surrounded by the desolate barrenness of hills.

They charge 5 pounds for a toilet, instead of the usual 1 pound, and the washroom was a bunch of sticks tied together vertically for privacy.  We had 890 people on the summit tonight, which we're told is a slow night, 2000 is more common.

Our group opted for the "stairs" down rather than the camel trail.  This proved very unfortunate for me.  For some reason,  group members wanted to hurry down and avoid the crowd.  Even though we had to wait for 9 am for St Katherine's monastery to open.  There was in fact a traffic jam of people and for the first while we moved ahead with baby steps.  The stairs are not stairs, they are a rock corridor.  It's steep, too steep for camels.  The rocks are loose, sandy and gravely, i saw many people slip.

It is an amazing view, rocky mountains unlike anything I've ever seen before.  But there was no time to enjoy it.  My knees do not like stairs, especially not 3750 of them!  The pain was intense and I reached the bottom more than half an hour after my group, tears streaming down my face with each time i had to step using my right knee.  Now I'm popping advil and know that hiking mountains is not physically a good idea for my body.  

Once back at our hostel, Michelle realised she'd left her money belt with passport and remaining trip money in our van.  Thankfully, the staff was able to track down the driver and all money and documents are safe and sound!

Tonight is Ashley's birthday (from our GAP group), so we're going out for beers at a beach restaurant.

trying to keep warm on sinai

traffic jam on the way down at 6:30 am