Jebel Jar (Radwa mountains)
  • Jebel Jar
  • 2311 m
  • Prominence 1720 m
  • Location: North 24.55357, East 038.21572
  • Difficulty: YDS class 3
  • Attempted: January 26, 2024
  • Climbed: December 19, 2025

Information:

How to get there:
The start location is the city of Yanbu. One may fly to Yanbu (YNB)) from Jeddah, Jeddah (JED) has several international connections. There are also (2025) direct flights from Istanbul. From Yanbu, drive to location N24.53154, E038.27034. The elevation here is about 550 meter. This is the 2WD trailhead. The road is paved all the way here.
If you have a high clearance 4WD, you can drive onwards on a rough 4WD track to location N24.53567, E038.24833, elevation about 750 meter. This location is a 4WD trailhead.

Route description:
Follow the road to the 4WD trailhead described above. From here, one should first hike about 2.5 kilometer up this valley to location N24.53967, E038.22504, elevation about 1190 meter. The terrain is not easy, there are lots of boulders and thorny bushes that make for slow progress. There are traces of a trail in some areas, but the best way is not easy to follow. Near the location specified above, the valley forks as the main drainage curves left (when looking uphill), while a pretty distinct gully climbs towards the skyline going right. Ascend this (quite long) gully (or perhaps better called a small valley.) Start in the middle, ascend a bit on the left, then as soon as possible move onto the (climbers) right hand side and continue uphill until you top out at a nice col with a small, flat dirt area suitable as a camp. This location is N24.55003, E38.22196, elevation near 1785 meter.
Continue an ascending traverse, you will turn a local corner, then continue uphill to reach a small col near N24.55236, E38.22087, there is a short, fairly steep descent on the other side. Continue uphill staying left, to reach a new col, down a little, then up to yet another col. A short (narrow) descent here, then ascend an obvious ledge (narrow, exposure) that will connect to easier ground. Complete the ascent up the remaining gully going right at the upper part to reach more horizontal terrain. A key section of the ascent route is now completed.
Turn left (see track posted on Peakbagger) on easy terrain. (Rob scrambled left sooner, however a slightly wider left turn avoids any steep terrain.) Finally, you now get a first view of the summit area. Descend slightly, staying right to maintain as much elevation as reasonable. You will see a gully with large boulders ahead (slightly right of the mountain). Ascend this (some big boulder scrambles) to reach horizontal terrain above. A very easy, horizontal section follows, what a change from most of this climb! However, this is too good to last.
The final ascent covers about 500 meter (direct line) and about 100 meter vertical gain. However, this may take almost one hour! The terrain is again dominated by huge boulders and many steepish local cliffs. There are several variations, but none of them straightforward. You will eventually arrive at the base of the summit block. The easiest route of ascent is to follow the first little crack that climbs left. This will get you to a level area from where it is easy to gain the summit. An alternative is to continue up next to the rock, you should see 2 more cracks leading upwards (left). The second (last one) is likely easiest. Ascend to a small rock, then continue up the crack.
A track is posted on Peakbagger.
Comments:
I arrived in Yanbu late on January 24. The next day was planned as a combined resting day, but then also to get a rental car. It turned out (again) that it was impossible to rent a car using the WEB. The main show-stopper here seemed to be some local rule of not renting to any aged 65 or more. However, Budget in Tabuk had assured me that renting from Budget again in another location in Saudi Arabia should be easy as they had now carried out all the paper work.
My local contact Mark showed up as agreed, in the afternoon and we went to the nearby Budget office. What had been promised proved true, it only took a few minutes, then I had a pretty nice rental car. A 4WD car was however, not easy to rent. We next went to a nice seafood restaurant. My best restaurant meal since I left Norway.
The next morning, I left before it got light around 0600 and drove to the trailhead. It was easy to find the 4WD road and I parked near its beginning at location N24.53154, E038.27034, elevation near 555 meter. The time was 0700, I got ready and started walking around 0715.
It was a nice day. The sun was already making the higher rocks shine in red colors. I walked along the 4WD track, gaining elevation. I took a short break at the 4WD trailhead, went down to the creek and looked around for a continuation trail.
The time was 0800 when I continued into the valley. Very soon, I stumbled on a small hut, it was pretty basic and sort of located in an area with no easy access or exit. More big boulders and bushes that grab you with sharp thorns. There were sections with nice, small pools of water and places where the best route followed the creek. In other areas it seemed best to walk more on the side. I built a few small cairns in places where it was clear that people had walked before. I finally reached the sharp right bend of my planned route, eager to get a view of how this next stage of the ascent would look. The route looked ok, but the time was already 1100. It had taken 3:45 to get here and it would take a minimum of 3 more hours, more likely 4 to reach the summit. This would mean a very late return indeed.
I had told Mark that I would return that evening. I had not taken my warm clothing that would have been nice to have during a night. At this point, I realized that climbing this peak with a return the next day, Saturday, would have been the right idea. Unfortunately, this seemed not realistic. I decided that turning here would be the most reasonable action given the facts.
After a good break, I started my return around 1130. I had noticed a water (rubber) pipe up here and decided to follow it to see what purpose it served. This led me to a stone hut. I was hopeful that there might be some sort of better trail from this hut, but unfortunately, this did not seem to be the case.
I was back at my car at 1530, this proved that my decision was right. The trip had taken almost 8 hours. Thus, for me this climb is not a single day ascent.

2. attempt, December 19-20, 2025.
I had sort of planned this for the weeked December 13-14, however a Christmas party came up at that time and I decided to give it a try on this weekend immediately before our family Christmas vacation at our mountain cabin in Norway. Thus, I flew to Istanbul on December 17. stayed overnight at the airport (horribly expensive minimal cabin), then continued to Yanbu on Thursday 18th. The plan would be to climb the mountain across 2 days, Friday and Saturday. My contact Mark would join me as well a local Saudi, nis name was Faisal. The flight went smoothly and I arrived in Yanbu mid-day as planned.
Warm reception by Faisal, he drove me to a nice hotel. Later that day, he picked me up for some sightseeing in the old part of Yanbu followed by a nice seafood dinner. Mark had informed me that his friend Jun would also like to come. We agreed to start from my hotel at 0400. I estimated that the climb would take a minimum of 10 hours each way. At this time, only 2 days before solstice, the day in Yanbu was 10.5 hours. Thus, only short rests during the day, a long break would happen at night. I also informed everybody to travel light, but take enough water and clothes to get through a night where temperatures could drop to 0C.
We met as planned and after some minor issues with the car logistics, a beduin friend of Faisal, Abu Tamim, would drive us all the way to the 4WD trailhead in a capable Toyota Landcruiser. I had asked Faisal if he (and the driver) would remain with the car, but no, they all intended to join the hike. I was a little concerned about this, but figured they would stop and wait for us or just return unless they were all really equipped for what I knew would be a pretty strenous climb.
We started hiking with tourch light around 0530. After about 2 hours, where the route (trail) passes close to a distinct small cliff, a rest was asked. I indicaated 5-10 minutes, but feared it would be more. I told the group that I would carry on and that they could catch up. This was agreed. I walked to the somewhat narrow entrance just before the valley fork, then stopped and waited in a location where it would be easy to spot me. The party arrived after about 30 minutes. I told everyone that we had only completed a small fraction of the climb and that long stops during the day could not be afforded. It was quickly agreed that the driver and Faisal should return from here, while Jun, Mark and me would continue.
It was nice to reach my previous turn-around point. The time to get here about the same as 2 years ago. This time, everyone knew that we would spend the night somewhere near the summit. I had already stated quite clearly that we should aim to summit on day one. To summit on day two would likely mean a late return, but I would do it if needed.
We continued up this pretty large and long gully. The terrain was overall more easy, but I noticed that Mark and Jun were falling a bit behind. They took numerous short breaks. I tried to encourage them as well as I could, the amount of daylight was limited and it would be good to get to the summit well before dark. Reaching this important first col, this had clearly been used as a camp site before. We took a short break there and I suggested that Jun and Mark would leave some weight behind here in order to facilitate the rest of our ascent. This was agreed, and they continued with somewhat lighter loads.
The next section of the route was entertaining, with several more local cols as well as a ledge traverse. I continued in front, but my friends Jun and Mark kept a much better pace than before. We finally got to the summit area. As expected, more problems. Huge rocks and many areas where progress would be difficult. We went too far (climbers) right. The return track is much more direct and easier to follow. The time was almost 1700 when I aarrived at the summit block. This is a pretty well rounded piece of rock. Moving right, I soon discovered 3 different cracks that could provide access. The first one turned out to be the easier, but this was not obvious when looking from below, since the last part of this route was out of sight. Thus, I climbed up the third crack. After doing a summit video, I walked over and guided my friends up. They were very happy - finally on the summit. It would soon be dark, so I soon wanted to descend. From the top it was easy to see that descending back down the first crack would be the easiest and safest way down.
We continued downhill in complex terrain and the beginning dark made us turn on our torch lights. Finally, down in the horizontal passage, we continued until shortly before a new section of more difficult terrain, big boulders. We stopped on a large, pretty flat rock and decided to spend the night there. Mark was out of water and got some of mine. It is important to carry water, many other items may be left for a 2 day hike. The night was pretty cold, about -2C. Not much sleep, but certainly a long rest.
We started at 0600 the next morning. Still dark, but daylight came fairly soon. It was a long walk back out, but we knew the route now. Arrival back around 1630. Faisal had prepared a nice welcome. We drove back to town and met again at the seafood restaurant for a celbration of a successful ascent. Faisal surprised us again, having asked the restaurant to make a special cake with an inscription with praise to our accomplishment.
The next day, I flew home with a night stop in Istanbul. Big thanks are due to Mark and Jun for great company, and also to Faisal for organizing all logistics. Last, but not least our 4WD driver Abu Tamim.

Mark published a video of this trip on youtube.

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