St Catherine's Mount

(Local Name: Gebel Katerin) The ascent of Gebel Katerin, St Catherine's Mount (8,668ft/2,642m), is more strenuous than that of Gebel Musa, requiring a full day. The route to the summit from the Deir el-Arbain is marked by cairns set up by pilgrims. There are three peaks Gebel-Katerin, the highest summit in the Sinai Peninsula, Gebel-Sebir and Gebel-Abu Rumel. It can be very cold on the top, and snow lies in crevices in the rock right into summer. On the summit are a modest little chapel and some irregularities in the ground, explained by the monks as the marks left by St Catherine's body, which is said to have lain here after her execution for 300 (some say 500) years before being revealed by the light radiating from it. From the summit there are magnificent I views, interrupted only by the massive bulk of Gebel Umm Shomar (8,449ft/2,575m) to the southwest. To the southeast can be seen the broad Wadi Nasib and the Gulf of Aqaba, the Arabian Mountains and, in good weather, Ras Muhammad at the southern tip of Sinai. To the west and southwest is the arid El-Qaa Plain, ending at El-Tor. To the north rear up to the peaks of Gebel Serbal and Gebel el-Banat, and farther north can be seen the light-colored sandy plain of El-Ramle and the long ridge of Gebel el-Tih.