A few days ago, Eddie and Ania arrived. They flew in from India, where they had gone exploring. Before their India trip they worked in China for China Climb, an outdoor education program there. They are great additions to the house and program and I know we’ll have lots of fun together. Today, we took them into the wadi we frequent to show them our established climbing routes and the boulder field named Damian's Boulders. We parked the truck at the base of Damian’s boulders and hopped from boulder to boulder. It was really fun seeing Eddie and Ania’s faces as they saw all the boulders for the first time. Weeks could be spent climbing in that boulder field. They are exited about being here and all the fun things we’ll be doing. Then Micah took us to a different wadi on the other side of the dam, which has a really huge solid wall with lots of climbing potential. Micah, Mike and Jesi found it a month or two ago. It has the potential for multi-pitch routes and a boulder field at its base. It hasn't been developed yet so we hope to begin the process. We parked at the base of a smaller mountain and hiked to the top of it, where there is an abandoned village at the top and a great view of the big multi-pitch wall. Eddie has a really nice digital SLR camera and took loads of great photos. We climbed into the little houses and admired the construction of them. There are loads of pottery shards everywhere all over the ground by the village. Once you get a hang of spotting them, you can hardly take a step without spotting a piece. We found a pile of large shards with patterns painted and carved into them and managed to find matching pieces. There are hundreds of little stone buildings in the mountains and dozens of caves we are eager to explore.

Ania and I in the boulder field.


Showing them one of our climbing spots in Wadi Hilti.


The big wall we hope to develop


A stone hut and the big wall


Checking out the abandoned huts




A grave, with the head and foot marked


Inside another hut with Ania




Ania found a person sized dip in a boulder and we proceeded to fit ourselves into it.


Eddie doesn't fit!




Eddie and Ania, peering out from a hut


Three of us in a hut


What's so interesting down there in the dirt?


We're piecing together pottery shards!


And last but not least, a tree goat!

The ominous and gathering clouds erupted last night in violent storm. We stood on the roof before the rains watching the sky flash with purple lightning. Soon the storms were upon us with torrential rain and extremely strong winds. Rain blew through gaps in the seals of our windows and flooded the kitchen floor. Mike's bed was sopping wet from the badly covered hole in the wall which will eventually house an air conditioner. Our front yard flooded and we wondered what the wadis looked like.

This morning we were supposed to have a new school group arriving at 10:30 for their program. It was evident by 8am that the area around the plantation was too flooded to do anything but trekking and all the tents, cots and the majlis (covered seating area) were soaked. The school group postponed to the third week in March. Which left us with an unexpected day to enjoy.

Paul, Devan and Ram came by to share the news from Wadi Hilti, the wadi just behind our house. The dam was full and the area uphill from it was now a lake. It was possible for vehicles with 4WD and lift kits to drive around the dam and around the edge of the new lake to the old road, but the road was completely washed away just past the boulder field which makes access to our reliable climbing crag impossible.

There was no way we could do any of our programs. We decided to have fun with this new and rare opportunity- paddle the rare and transient Wadi Hilti lake!! They left and we had some breakfast.

Then Ram and Devan called to tell us we needed to come see what was happening at the dam. We got there just as they were pushing off in kayaks. Micah made a valiant effort at chasing them to hop aboard.
Micah's valiant effort-


We enviously watched them paddle around a bit and decided to go get more boats. Micah and Mike left with the truck to get more boats while Will and I stayed behind. I'm sure glad we did. Ram and Devan paddled back to us and invited us aboard their single sit on top kayaks. I sat behind Ram in the storage area at the stern and Will joined Devan. Both our kayaks sat ridiculously low in the water. Devan and Will's was so low that I couldn't help but laugh every time they paddled past. To make paddling easier, we split the paddles in two so each person in each boat could row. This made the whole endeavor even more ridiculous and amusing.
Will and Devan sharing a solo boat-


Ram and I sharing a solo boat-



We took turns taking photos of each other. Once when I counted down 3-2-1 to take a photo of Devan and Will, Devan flipped their boat over. They then attempted to paddle it back upside down, which of course, didn't work at all and they flipped again within seconds. We paddled around goofing off for a while until the others arrived with more boats.


We finally had enough boats and paddles for everyone and all were eager for more exploring. The wadi lake was very deep in most places, the length of a paddle plus the length of Devan's arm which I guess is maybe 10 feet or so. We found this awesome overhanging rock that a few of the boys decided to jump off.
the group paddling away to do more exploring-

checking the depth of the landing area-

to jump or not to jump?

jump.

The Tahoe was full of laughter all the way home. Tonight we plan to have a barbeque and plan for some rock climbing tomorrow.

Today we went sport climbing. We were supposed to go on this epic trek to this remote village way up in the Musandam but the sea was too rough. We would have taken a speed boat to a cove then hiked to the village.
The clouds have been building over several days. The skies get darker and denser each day. This morning, Mike remarked that it looked like Mordor over the mountain. Now, it is even darker and angrier looking. The forecast calls for thunderstorms and torrential rain on Tuesday. The wadis will probably flood.
Today, we headed to Wadi Hilti (15 min from our house) to go climbing. We parked the Tahoes on high ground in case it started raining. Flash floods here are epic. We might get stranded for a while but at least we wouldn't drown and the Tahoes would survive. It didn't rain, and hopefully won't until Tuesday.

Those of you who know a little about climbing will notice that most of the photos are of us are on top rope. Leading frequently on these couple of routes isn't a great idea. The bolts are really old and weird. Usually one person leads up the really easy side and then sets up the top rope at the anchors at the top and everyone top ropes. This is really necessary on these bolts. We hope that before too long we'll be able to re-bolt it in order for more people to lead. The problem with top roping allows the climber to rely some on the rope, the rope takes a little bit of his or her weight away as the slack is taken in and the rope becomes taught. It also allows the climber to take a full complete rest during the climb with the support of the rope, something you can't do on lead. When you lead climb, there is no aid at all from the rope, it only provides protection to keep you from dying if you fall.
Me sitting on a boulder watching-

Jesi climbing-

me climbing the hard stuff. didn't make it to the top, maybe next time...

My dad asked me via email if I knew, geopolitically speaking, where I was. We are in Dibba, Oman, on the eastern coast of the Musandam peninsula. We constantly cross the border between the UAE and Oman. When we go to “town” to use the internet café, we are in the UAE. Dibba is in Oman. We are a 10 minute bike ride from the ocean. To our north-ish (I don’t have a compass) there is a substantial mountain range. We live just at the base of it (literally) If you take the road past our house and then take a right you will start weaving through the mountains. There is a large wadi (dry river bed) that runs through our part of the mountains. Native people used to live in these mountains, and there are signs of their presence everywhere. Ali was actually born there in a little hut. In the 60’s the government offered free land and support in the flat lands so most of the mountain people moved. They didn’t want to part with their land so they left their goats here. Someone from each family comes in the evening to feed and water the goats. Often, families come on weekends to have a barbeque. The goats up here put our scrambling and climbing skills to shame. They are extremely agile and climb steep slopes and large boulders easily.
These mountains are completely rock and rubble. There is very little vegetation, mostly small acacia trees. There is climbing to be done literally everywhere. We frequent a substantial boulder field and several sport climbing routes nearby. After our swim in the Indian Ocean, we decided to go have a look at the boulder field. We also needed to see how long it would take the kids to bike there. Jesi, Micah and Will took the bikes and I drove the support vehicle. Devan joined me in my Tahoe and served as my tour guide. We beat the others to the boulder field and had a look around. The boulder field rivals everything I’ve seen in the states. There are literally hundreds of boulders in that field, and thousands in the immediate area. Devan walked me through the field and pointed out problems the kids could probably do as well as larger boulders they planned to bolt. After a thorough look through the field we headed to the nearby sport routes. Devan told me while we were walking that Iranians frequently take a speedboat across the water and get dropped off in the mountains to walk through Oman to the UAE. The mountains here are incredibly rugged with pretty much no water and very little vegetation. The deadly heat makes the trek deadly during the summer; so illegal immigrants take advantage of the mild temperatures and higher levels of rainfall during the winter. Devan told me that you’ll see these people once in a while, and they will often approach you for food and water. He recommended always bringing extra of both to give them because if you don’t give them what you have, or don’t have anything to give, they will attack. We see military helicopters flying low over the mountains frequently. We assume they are looking for illegal immigrants.