Jebel Banat

Jebel Banat (Mountain of the Lady) lies to the North East of St Katherine’s. It is an easy 2.5-hour walk from the small town of Zeituna. Zeituna is a 5 min taxi ride back out along the road out of St Katherine’s. Mohammed knows the area well and it is advised to use him as a guide. The walk in is slightly down hill the whole way and camels can almost make it all the way to the camp. Camp in the valley at the top of the main steep boulder field in a sandy hollow. The bouldering is great and a bouldering mat should be brought. The sun is on the camp from 07:00 to about 14:00. The camp can become windy in the afternoon. The climbing is generally all on the east face and the routes climb up on great rock. The lower right hand end to the face has some classic long single pitch routes. An abseil is needed to access the base of the Northwest face. The abseil is about 45m long and it goes from a large thread in one of the pools at the top of the waterfall line. Abseil tat is needed to set this abseil up. To descend off the summit requires over an hour of walking and should be done in the light unless you have done it before. It is not straightforward