In March 2004 an international team of climbers set out to develop new climbing areas within the hidden wadis of the Sinai desert. The team were heading for an area first climbed in 1978 by a team of Germans, since then no one had climbed there and the area held rumours of perfect unclimbed granite walls. This is just one story from that adventure:

The taxis dropped us off at the small village of Zeituna as the sun was reaching the horizon and the morning haze was starting to lift. We unloaded the bags and food onto 5 camels, then within 30 minutes five camels 13 climbers and Mohammed our guide were packed and weaving our way through the boulders leading us into a narrow valley seldom visited by the other tourist masses from the St Katherine’s area. My rucksack was weighing me down and the walking was taking its toll on my half dead flip-flops. The rest of the team had walked on ahead with the steady pace of the camels. Mohammed, Mel and I ambled along at our own happy pace discussing where the next water will be coming from. We rounded a corner in the wadi and yet again my flip-flops gave way on the smooth granite beneath my feet. As I crawled up I noticed a few fields of crops ahead of us. Mohammed saw my quizzical look and smiled uttering only one word. “Opium”.

Sure enough the fields ahead of us were crammed full of poppies in various states of growth. All enclosed within barbwire and bush fences. I was surprised that any guards had not confronted us, or perhaps that was just my Hollywood side coming out of me. I turned to ask Mohammed why the fields are not guarded, only to find he had hitched up his clothes and had jumped the barbwire fence.

No he was not shot down in seconds but was kissed on each cheek by a blackened tooth worker who had awoken from his siesta beneath a palm tree. It turned out that in true Bedouin style they were good friends. Within minutes the other growers were collected around us, the fire was stoked and the tea was stewing to viscous strengths masked by an equally evil amount of sugar. As I reached to take my cup of tea, Mohammed held my hand back and made an excuse why I could not accept their tea. From Mohammed’s face I could only assume that the tea was not a normal cup of tea. The rich aroma emanating from the blackened tea pot/bean can confirmed this. The tea over boiled and kicked up opium infused smoke. I strained my eyes to avoid the acrid smoke and they focused on an electric display of pinks, purples and reds. The field on the opposite side of the wadi was in full flower. I asked if I could photograph the field, encouraging them by saying how they would not be in the picture. Their initial hesitation soon made way for excitement as they wrapped their faces to pose for the camera showing their batch of harvested opium. Two, a guard and head grower even asked to be photographed without their headscarves.

One thing led to another and we were instructed to return tomorrow afternoon for the start of what can only be described as a factory tour of a small opium plantation.

Later on in the day we had joined the others and had made base camp in the shade of the East face of Jebel Banat (mountain of the lady). After an evening of first class bouldering the team drifted off to sleep with tired arms and bellies full of Kushery. (An Egyptian dish made from rice, pasta, lentils, chickpeas and fried onion).

The next afternoon exactly at one I was met and escorted back to the plantation where we saw the first part of the opium harvesting process. A razor blade was used to make three thin cuts down the sides of the poppy head. The plant is then watered, as this is done in the heat of the day the plants hydrostatic pressure is at it’s highest, and milk begins to flow from the cuts. After I had had a go at this and declined their kind offer of trying their wares we packed up to go back to camp. The man asked us to return tomorrow morning to witness the next stage in the production.

We returned the next morning to find the milk light brown and sticky, this was scraped from the head and moved to a pot for storage. The same area was then revisited after a three-day crop rotation and stages one and two were repeated. This process would have been achieved seven times before the heads would have been cut off and kept. Over an area the size of two football pitches a total of three kilos of opium can be harvested worth only £12,000 to the farmers. I walked back from the plantation, in my sorry excuse for flip-flops, to camp

We had reached the top of a small rise in the valley, and Mohammed stood still staring up at the ridge high above us; something had caught his attention. At first I did not see anything but then a man moved and his position was revealed. In one hand was his AK-47 and in his other he began to wave a white scarf. We followed his stare and to our amazement on the other side of the valley another guard acknowledged his scarf by a wave of his own. We counted four guards completing the procedure until Mohammed told me it was safe to continue. He explained that as the crop was coming into harvest the amounts of guards are increased. With a group of 13 other climbers I was immediately concerned that we were in danger and at risk of being shot at. Mohammed smiled and said “No the guns are for the police and official looking people. Bedouins and tourists are perfectly safe as long as they keep to their own business. They fire the guns as a signal as well as a weapon. On seeing the police the shots are fired and all the workers drop tools and hide in the hills until the ‘heat’ blows over.” The sun was high in the sky now and beat down upon us even though we were in the depths of a narrow gorge. Mohammed continued to explain that it is the DEA and the American forces that are their real concern

I returned to camp with a great new understanding of the flora in the Sinai desert, little did I know that soon I would get a crash course in some of its fauna. The day passed and soon others were returning back to camp triumphant from a hard days climbing. The rock glowed orange as the sun set. The dusk gathered in close and soon night had enveloped us within the globe of space illuminated by the dying embers of the fire.

The climbing in the area had turned out to be stunning. Over the next few days we had established 20 new routes and 30 new boulder problems. A classic route established by Richard Pike, Alex Nicholson and Mat Jones was called “walk like an Egyptian”, for a very worrying reason. The first pitch was a traverse along the top of a giant very sharp and very hollow flake. To hand traverse this was out of the question as any outward force would surely break the thin edges. Instead it was completed by walking along its razor topped edge, in the style of an ‘Egyptian’.

My distractions from climbing had ended; I was now longing to see what routes still were left to get amongst. The large slab above the camp seemed the easiest objective, and with distinct lines splitting the face it seemed an easy test to try ourselves on; little did we know the route was to be called “feet are for dancing, fists are for fighting, blood is for loosing”.

After a breakfast of fresh bread and fig jam our hopes were on a high, even as we stood at the base of the route we still saw it as an easy line. 6m up and I had changed my mind; I was faced with an unprotected awkward smeary rock over onto a sloping ledge that was more then capable of spitting out unwanted climbers, like a cherry stone, into the dirt below.

So began the pitch that took an hour and a half to lead starting with an arm pumping half an hour unprotected hand drill bolt placement. Using the bolt as protection I managed to squirm my way onto the ledge and climbed to the base of a hanging flake. The flake finished at a traverse that would lead us into the crack corner system that runs continuous to the top of the face. I thought the worst was behind me as I placed the last bomber bit of pro before the traverse. I looked across and realised I had made my second gross underestimate; the next 8m was an unprotected traverse on a slab that looked too steep to allow my weight to be held by the rubber on the sole of my feet. Again I was wrong and a few tentative steps had me committed on the blank friction traverse. 5m in I found a desperate nut key placement; this gave me the blind faith that the swinging grating fall back into the flake had gone. After a further three metres I shouted down to Mel and Rich that I was safe and that I hope they had their dancing shoes on. They were about to second a pitch with footwork more complex then a tango on ice. I looked up to inspect the next pitch and found myself looking into the eyes of a flared trench with any chance of gear hidden behind a filling of crud. Once Richard and Mel were both next to me on the belay it was the turn of Richard to wage trench warfare with the crack above. This although frustrating to lead came out to be a classic HVS in comparison to the brutal E3 5c pitch below us. The third pitch the crux of the route took as much effort out of me as it did blood. The off-width crack overhung onto a glassy smooth slab and threatened to rip your left arm out from its socket. That is of course if the skin on your fist managed to stay on your hand and keep you from slipping sadly back down to the start of the crack. Eventually the three of us sat atop of the crack triumphant. Two more pitches of E2 four star climbing took us to the ledge that marked the end of the route and the start of the descent.

The expedition continued in a similar style, route after route of perfect climbing, and with various visits from random opium lords bearing gifts of firewood and drinking water all under the blissful sunshine that drenches the Sinai desert. Oh I almost forgot. The run in with the local Fauna was a 7cm long scorpion inside my trousers on the back of my knee, who knows how long it had been there for.

After the four-week expedition a total of 35 new routes and 45 boulder problems were completed. Thus finishing an amazing epic that has opened the true potential of the Sinai desert. Thus the expedition is returning in Easter 2005. To find out more or to become a part of this expedition contact me on davelucas@postmaster.co.uk or phone 07884392675. The expedition would like to thank The North Face, The Lonely Planet, HB Climbing, Entreprise Climbing Walls, Scarpa and all others that took part in making this expedition what it was.