Help us print a guidebook for Sinai

Ahead of things for the impatient reader, here is the link to our crowdfunding campaign:

http://gofundme.com/f/sinai-climbing-guidebook

One could argue that paper guide books are outdated in 2023, with plenty of information available online and ongoing development rendering books out-of-date quickly. And that is partly right. However there is a few very important aspects of writing, publishing and reading a book that all contribute to our main goal: Growing rock climbing as a sports and as a community in Egypt.

1. It’s practical: There is no reception almost anywhere in the Sinai mountains, there is plenty of dust and sand waiting for your electronic devices, paper doesn’t overheat and multiple people can use the same book - we can’t imagine a better way to read a Topo.

2. It’s beautiful and exciting: We all know that feeling - getting your guidebook for that next climbing trip is as much part of the process as doing your finger board training or packing your gear. We want that for Sinai as well!

3. It leads to planned development: Instead of bolting here and there, always looking for the nicest line and your next adventure, in the process of making this book we had a goal to get things done and to get them done on time. There is a direct comparison on eye-level between the crags. It showed us exactly which areas needed most of our attention in the past winter to get to a presentable state before publishing in late 2023.

4. It supports the local communities: The Sinai itself offers little employment to the Bedouin tribes. Tourism is one of their biggest sources of income and one that is in sync with maintaining their traditional way of life and their local autonomy. The Guidebook and its international publication can greatly aid this, as seen with the Trekking books by Zoltan Matrahazi, Ben Hoffler and a few more.

5. It will fund further bolting: Any funds collected beyond the goal of our crowdfunding campaign is going towards bolting and rebolting more climbing crags. We hope to use this campaign as another means of collecting hardware for the ongoing efforts by us and by other contributing route setters.

6. And lastly it can be improved: we will work with QR-codes to link the existing database with this book. This way you get much more content than would fit a book, with the added benefit of being updated dynamically.

Wolfgang Vogl, born in 1960 in Austria is one of the pioneers of sports climbing in Europe, ever since back in the day when they still tied the rope around their chest with a bowline. He continues to be a leading figure until this day, counseling the Austrian Alpine club and training new Instructors as well as having equipped his local crag with over 400 routes. He contributed significantly to the development of rock climbing in Jordan in the early 2010s, was in charge of building the first Jordanian Olympic climbing gym in the Capital of Amman and equipped crags in the backcountry of Jordan. All this not without  enjoying his own trad climbing adventures in Wadi Rum.

Myself, Timo Elony, born in 1992, I got into climbing much later, in the late 2000s together with my father and would describe myself as an outdoor-sports enthusiast as well as watersports- and climbing teacher. Drawn into Sinai’s spell in 2017 by the remote landscapes of the South Sinai Mountains, I spent most of my time in the past 7 years here and learned to love the region and its people. In late 2020 together with Hassan El Dahan I was in charge of building the first bouldering gym in Egypt in its capital Cairo and I am excited to see the rapid growth of the community ever since.

Together Wolfgang and I have been contributing to the development, bolting and rebolting of numerous climbing crags in Sinai in the past 4 years. Our work took us to opening routes in

• Wadi Gnai

• Wadi Hamam

• Wadi Wishwashy

• Jebel Milehis

• Wadi Shellal

• And a few more

Furthermore since 2020 Wolfgang and I have each year organised an Instructor course to certify new instructors, acting as multiplicators for the budding climbing scene in Egypt.

All this we accomplished as part of a small but lively community of Bedouins, Egyptians and travellers like us, who have been contributing by bolting and in other ways too manyfold to mention here. 

To support our fundraiser simply donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/sinai-climbing-guidebook

While there are many different costs connected to creating this guidebook, the biggest hurdle we face is the printing cost of roughly 6000 Euro (a quote from a few months back was 5500 Euro and we might increase the page size a tiny bit, so we expect something in that range).

All collected funds will be going into covering our expenses of printing and publishing this guidebook. Any received funds beyond this will go towards funding the bolting and rebolting of the crags in Sinai.

The simplest contribution you can make is much easier than what you’ve already done. Share it with your friends, tell them in person, send them the link on E-Mail, WhatsApp, on Facebook, on Instagram or wherever you like and if you occasionally share interesting stories on these platforms, consider featuring this one there!

Beyond that, we would be thrilled to receive your financial support as one of the following options:

1. Send a donation: We are grateful for any support we can get and even small donations can add up to make a difference.

2. Buy the "Supporters edition": For 50 Euro you can preorder a book together with a little gift from us before anyone else and are helping us to get closer to our goal of printing this book. Simply leave a comment together with your donation and a number to reach you under, so we can send you one of our first books!

3. Sponsorships: If you wish to advertise your business inside the book and support this fundraiser, that is a very welcome option to us as well. Please get in touch to discuss your options.

Once we reach our goal we will start printing before the end of November and within a few weeks the books will be available in book stores and online thanks to our distributing partner tmms-shop.de !

If we do not reach our goal we will reassess our options of smaller editions with the funds collected and are still trying to meet that same deadline of having books printed by the end of November and in bookstores before Christmas. But for now we hope for the best!

To check out the fundraiser and a little video we made about the proposed guidebook go to our fundraising page under https://www.gofundme.com/f/sinai-climbing-guidebook

In the meantime until the publication of the book if you want to find out more about the climbing in Sinai, take a look at the rest of this website you're on and the Introduction post for travelling climbers that I wrote here.