Stairways 2 Heaven Full Loop - Extended Version

Update: RAKTDA has put a signboard in the starting point of Wadi Lithbah saying that illegal border crossing is prohibited and recently there is Oman military checking reported at the village (after the vertical climb). Please be safe and do it at your own risk.

If you have followed this trail and done your hike, please leave a comment and update so that it will be informative and useful for the other hikers.

This is the extended version of the notorious Stairways 2 Heaven full loop

One of the most popular hikes in the region, The Stairways to Heaven, which in fact has two ways, there is right bank - a well laid trail of about 6.5km going all the way up to Ras al Ghash village (people used to call it as woh village, but woh village is actually at the summit of Galilah trail) and then coming back through the same way.
Then there is the Full loop in which you have to go up through the left bank where there is no proper trail reaching Oman territory via climbing the vertical stairs and then coming back through the right bank.

The full loop is definitely tricky, you have no proper trail path for almost half of the trail and you have to do lot of bouldering, there are exposed areas, vertical stairs to climb etc.
This is definitely not for people have fear of heights.

The trail starts from Wadi lithbah, where you can reach with your off road car, or else you can park in Galilah dam and walk about 2km.

After walking the first 2km from lithbah, you have to take left (Way Point-1), from here onwards you have no proper trail path, however there are some rock cairns for guidance. After 1km, you can see 2 trees, head for the second tree and then after passing that keep left to see the hidden way (Way Point-2 & Photo-3). Within 200 meters, you can see the first stairs (Photo-4).

After climbing the first stairs, keep left and follow the rock piles, have to pass about 1km through multiple narrow / exposed places, boulders before reaching the big / longest stair (Photo-5).

After climbing the stairs, you have to cover few more exposed areas for another 400m before reaching a tree at the edge of the wall (Photo-6). The risky part ended here. Now you can just go up easily for about 100meter to reach the top of the wall which is Oman territory (Photo-7).

From here onwards, it is a looong walk. Passing the mountains one by one (when you see a mountain, you think that is the top, but when you reach there you see another one and realize that's not the peak you thought it is). There is no proper trail and you have to pass though the sharp big rocks (Photo-8).

After about 3km, there is the actual summit of Stairways to Heaven, at about 1700m height (Photo-9). From here, usually people turn right and head towards to the Ras al ghash village, and then descend through right bank to make the full loop of 17km.

But we deviated a bit and aimed for the UAE-Oman border summit (Jebel Jais true summit) at the elevation of about 1900m. This was a walk through an off road path for about 2km before reaching the highest point (Photo-10).

While coming back, we took the recently made highlander trail to reach the Ras al ghash village. We took some rest on the village (Photo-11), Sajjad the guy was in charge there is always kind and helpful, welcoming all the hikers. (Please consider helping him by giving some cash, food etc. as these people are welcoming us, treating us with their own food and water which they carry from the bottom)

After resting a while, we descended through the right bank (Photo-12), it has a lot of hand rails, resting shelters which recently made as a part of the highlander.

Overall we made it about 21km (due to some GPS jumping errors, in my wikiloc it shows 20km). This is a technical + endurance hike. Passing the stairs are a bit tricky, but the rocks has good grip. And once you pass the technical part, then you have the looong endurance hike for about 17km.

Wikiloc is just for reference, GPS is not always accurate, i strongly suggest not to do alone and do with someone who already did / experienced.

Points to note:
- Mobile network is not available so recommend to download the trial in advance in case you want to follow
- Trail starting point is accessible with offroad car cars however you can come with sedan and park in galilah dam and walk for about 2km
- Not recommended for people with fear of height, do not go alone, go with someone who did before

Location : Stairways 2 Heaven - Wadi Lithbah
Parking : 25.984692, 56.166693 (off road) 25.980998, 56.145431 (sedan)
Difficulty : Difficult
Highlight : Vertical stairs, Oamn village at the top, Highest point of UAE - Oman border

Note the waypoints and read their description. Please reach out for any further info / clarifications

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