Link: Technical Report Documenting the Results

Link: Matthew and Eric’s Project Blog Post

Last year I had the opportunity to invite longtime friends and fellow members of the MIT Outing Club Matthew and Eric Gilbertson to Saudi Arabia as part of their 10+ year project to be the first in history to climb the highest point of every country on earth.

The project was especially interesting since different surveys listed multiple elevations; some listing Jabal Al Souda (جبل السودة) - which is officially recognized as the Kingdom’s highpoint - as the higher of the two, while others listing the seldom-climbed Jabal Ferwa’ (جبل فرواع) as the highest.

On August 17 and 18 of 2018, Matthew, Eric, myself, and a team of hikers invited from across the Kingdom climbed the two mountains in southwest Saudi over the two days. The team found Jabal Ferwa’ to be approximately 3m higher, at 3001.8m in elevation than Jabal Al Souda, at 2998.7m, thus making it the new true highpoint of Saudi Arabia.

Matthew and Eric wrote a technical report documenting the results, which can be found here. The full trip blog post can be found on Matthew and Eric’s Country Highpoints website.

P.S. I’ve reached out to the Saudi Geological Society on a number of occasions to document the results, but have not received a response.

The team at Al Souda’s trailhead. From Right to Left: Eric Gilbertson, Albatool Baroom, Roua Basaad, Matthew Gilbertson, Me, Iyad Aldalooj, Hattan Alasali, and Ryan Olson.

Jabal Al Souda’s summit is located behind a communication tower, next to some cool petroglyphs. Pic: Ryan Olson.

Jabal Ferwa’ is a remote mountain an hour south of Abha, and doesn’t have a trail.