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