E>W traverse (Zernouk El Daber canyon + Kharazeh canyon)

This route is naturally combined with the Rakhabat canyon crossing W>E as it allows to get back to the Wadi Rum valley from Wadi um Ishrin.

Approach From the mouth of the Rakhabat canyon follow Wadi um Ishrin S for 40 min keeping close to the E side of Jebel um Ishrin. The Zernouk el Daber canyon is the first one you encounter. Walk down a dune into a basin and enter the canyon.

Route to the col (1h) Scramble up a slope with boulders on the right side of the canyon. Don’t go deep into the gully, instead move onto the slabs in the middle of the canyon. Go up these slabs, then over a large boulder, then follow a ledge, and climb to a gully. Follow this gully for a short while and then climb to the ridge on its left side. Follow this ridge to the next gully. Pass a few boulders (one under), and climb up to the col.

Descent into the Kharazeh canyon, and down to Wadi Rum (1.5h) The first abseil (40m into a chimney, mostly free-hanging) is from the platform on the left side of the col. One solid bolt in place (June 2015), connected by a cordelette to rock holes.

Ignore the abseil station at the bottom of the first abseil until the badly put bolt (situation June 2015) is replaced. Instead squeeze down the narrow gully along the right side for 20m, where you find a solid abseil bolt for the second abseil (10m) which brings you to the floor of the Kharazeh canyon.

Descend straight until there’s no way to progress, the go left to a saddle, from where there is an easy way to descend to the plateau above Goat’s Gully (see the route description for Rakabat canyon), and through this to Wadi Rum.