The 1000-meter southeast face of Oman?s Jabal Misht. Approximate route lines are as follows:
1 The French Pillar (5.10, ca. 1100m, Renaud et al., 1979)
2 South Pillar (British E4, 1200m, Davidson-Oberhauser, 2003)
3 Icarus (5.11, 1100m, Littlejohn-Sustad, 2001)
4 The Empty Quarter (5.10 R, 1000m, Chaudhry-Eastwood-Ramsden, 2000
5 Eastern Promise (5.10, 1000m, Nonis-Ramsden, 2000)
6 Southern Groove (5.9 R, 1000m, Bradshaw-Hadwin, 1994)
7 Intifada (5.10-, 1000m, Hornby-Wallis, 2001)
Not shown: The Southeast Pillar (5.10, ca. 1000m, Howard-McDonald, 1988; takes the right-hand skyline) [Photo] Pat Littlejohn
Resident Austrian guide Jakob Oberhauser and Briton Brian Davison completed probably the first car-to-car, one-day ascent of a big route on Jabal Misht, via an elegant new line up the huge south pillar. The original route, the so-called French Pillar, was climbed over a four-week period in 1979 using siege tactics and does not follow the crest. Instead, it takes a wandering line out left in the lower section and crosses to the right flank at the top. Pat Littlejohn and Stephen Sustad added Icarus (E4 5c) in 2001, climbing the very steep right flank of the lower pillar and a groove system in the magnificent upper crest. Davison’s route lies between the two and keeps more or less to the arete throughout.
The pair walked up to the base in full moonlight, were on the summit at 4 p.m., and back at the car by 6 p.m., after having completed the 1200 meter pillar at E4. Prior to this ascent, big lines on Misht had generally been climbed with a bivouac en route, or at best on the summit after a oneday ascent. This appears to be the first time a party has made the relatively straightforward but long and stony descent from the mountain the same day.
— Eddie Sender, Calais, Maine, USA