Sharaf Al Alamein
Of all the places we visited during our stay in the UAE, Sharaf Al Alamein has been our favourite : High altitude (2000-2100m), North facing (Wall of Shadow), good rock, long routes, futuristic lines (Birkat Al Sharaf), interesting range of difficulties, beautiful landscape, vicinity of good camping places and ... a convenient hotel 5 min from the crag.Due to its situation it is possible to climb there at anytime from September to May (could be very cold in December/January).Summer mornings can be spent in the shade of Birkat Al Sharaf, while Wall of Shadow will grant you afternoon shade (and slightly refreshing temperatures) in June/July.
Le Reef : Latest addition to the area, Le Reef is a north facing crag, cold in the winter but probably unclimbable in the summer (subtropical zenith sun). The rock is almost perfect but, Le Reef being recently developed, wearing a helmet makes even more sense than anywhere else, especially when belaying and, please, don't pull ferociously on that stupid flake we forgot to remove. The rock quality, the easy approach, the comfortable foot of the crag and the wide range of difficulties (from 4 to 7) make it a perfect venue for parties of all abilities. Update : A recent topo by the new bolting strong man, Ludmil Trenkov. Wall of Shadow is north facing so in the shade most of the time except from mid-May to mid-July when it catches the sun in the morning.
Birkat Al Sharaf, on the contrary, is south west facing, so in the sun all day except from May to August when it gets shade in the morning (and even until mid afternoon on the left). Can also be climbable during the cold and windy days of winter, but bring sunscreen.
Combining these crags makes Sharaf Al Alamein an all year round destination.
About 30min down the track you can also reach La Gorgette, near the village of Bilad Sayt, with some more challenging routes.
History
Wall of Shadow was firstly discovered and developed by Ross Weiter in 2006. His first topo can still be found here. Later, in 2008-2010, Pierre Agresti, family and friends started to bolt more sport routes. More recently, in 2013-2015, we added about 10 new routes.Developpment at Birkat Al Sharaf is more recent but the number of routes is growing fast.
Some multipitch also exist to the right of Wall of Shadow...
December 2015 saw the first routes at Le Reef.