Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
QUINTESSENCE
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Moses’ MountainClimbing Mount Sinai
By David Raezer
The Sinai Peninsula’s Moses’ Mountain aka Mount Sinai, Mount/Gebel Horeb, Mount/Gebel Musa rises behind the storied, 4th century St. Catherine’s Monastery, the oldest continuously operating Christian monastery in existence.
A brief history
The monastery — formally named Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai — is built on the supposed location of the Bible’s famed “burning bush,” where god supposedly revealed himself to Moses, as recounted in Exodus 3:
“The Lord spoke to Moses in this place, saying I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, I am who I am.”
The monastery’s origins date back to Roman Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, who isolated the spot of the burning bush in 337 CE, as she did for all of the sites associated with Jesus’ life and death. A small shrine was built on the site. This shrine is not visible, however, as it sits directly behind the apse of the church, and is not open for viewing. Thereafter, Roman Emperor Justinian built a 12-pillar granite basilica (constructed 542-551) to house Helena’s shrine. Justinian also fortified the site, erecting granite walls for protection — it is these walls that still stand around the city to this day.
Although there is heated debate as to whether the summit of Moses’ Mountain is the actual historical site where Moses received the Ten Commandments, this is certainly the traditional, recognized location.
Climbing Moses’ Mountain
From the summit, the views of the surrounding mountains and valleys are great! The climb is certainly worth the effort.
- When to do it. Seeing sunrise or sunset from the top is traditional, but we chose to climb to the summit during the day, missing the crowds at sunrise and sunset, and really enjoyed the experience.
- Geology. The mountain is made of granite.
- The summit is not visible from the Monastery, but the stone-step path up the mountain to the summit is visible directly south of the monastery (marked with a red dot in the image to the right). The path was likely constructed in the 6th or 7th century.
- Summit altitude of 2,285 meters. This amounts to a 685 meter climb, given an altitude of 1,600 meters at the gates of St Catherine’s.
- Climbing to the summit. You can take two different routes to the top:
- The camel track (ascent takes 2.5-3 hours). This is a less taxing route and certainly riding a camel reduces the climbing strain, but probably not the riding sores. 😉
- The 3700 steps (ascent takes 1.5-2 hours, descent takes 1 hour). We definitely recommend this route. It is much prettier, not to mention faster, plus it is the historical route taken by pilgrims up the mountain. Although guidebooks warn about this being a brutal ascent, with some steps over a meter high, we did not find it difficult and certainly did not encounter any meter-high steps! We recommend taking a flashlight (for each person, ideally headlamps) if you are going to undertake this at night or during the early morning.
Further, no matter which route you select, certainly bring a jacket because the wind really blows at the top.
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This image is in the public domain.