Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa)
The mountain of Moses, climbed by night for sunrise from its 2,285-metre summit over the granite peaks of southern Sinai.
The mountain of the Law
Mount Sinai, Gebel Musa ("the mountain of Moses") in Arabic, rises to about 2,285 metres above Saint Catherine's Monastery in the high mountains of southern Sinai. Since at least the fourth century, Christian tradition has identified it as the biblical mountain where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and it is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Pilgrims have climbed it for some seventeen centuries.
Two ways up
There are two routes to the summit. The Camel Path, a broad trail built in the nineteenth century, winds up the mountainside in a long, gradual ascent, with Bedouin refreshment stalls along the way; camels can carry walkers part of the way. It joins the second route, the Steps of Repentance, a stairway of some 3,750 rough stone steps cut by monks, which climbs steeply from the monastery; the last 750 or so steps to the summit are common to both routes. Along the way stand a stone gateway where a monk once heard confessions, and Elijah's Basin, a hollow with a cypress tree and a small chapel.
At the summit
On the summit stand a small Greek Orthodox chapel of the Holy Trinity, built in the 1930s on the site of earlier churches, and a small mosque. Most visitors climb by night to arrive for sunrise, when the first light spreads over a sea of jagged granite peaks. The mountain is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Saint Catherine Area, and climbs must be made with a licensed Bedouin guide from the local Jebeliya tribe.
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You start in the dark, sometime after midnight, following a line of torches up the Camel Path, the stars blazing overhead, the Bedouin guide walking easily ahead. Near the top the steps begin, and then you are on the summit, wrapped in a blanket among strangers from every country, waiting. When the sun comes up, the whole of southern Sinai turns pink, orange and gold, peak after peak to the horizon.
It's cold up there even in summer, so bring warm layers; it's hard on the knees on the way down, so take the Steps of Repentance slowly and end at the monastery as its gates open. It is one of the great experiences of Egypt.
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How to find it
The trail starts behind Saint Catherine's Monastery, about 3 km from the town of Saint Catherine. Meet your Bedouin guide at the monastery car park, follow the Camel Path up the mountain (about 2.5–3 hours), and climb the final steps to the summit. Descend by the Steps of Repentance, which end at the monastery walls.
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