Jebel Akhdar

On a Cliffside in Oman, Para-Athlete Zainab Al-Eqabi Finds Her Freedom | Condé Nast Traveler

"High on a cliff in northern Oman, I clipped into a via ferrata—its steel cable cold, smooth, and unsentimental—and edged along a sliver of ledge above a drop that would turn your stomach if you dared look down. The day had started at sunrise, the path zigzagging across loose shale and burnt orange limestone as we scrambled over boulders and crept along brittle rock that flaked underfoot, with open air on one side. I hiked for hours with a small group of Omani adventurers I’d met online; after cheerful checks of my harness, the talking stopped as the terrain demanded focus. Moving with care, I placed my right foot, pivoted my hip to swing my prosthetic into position, and climbed rung by rung until I pulled myself over the final rung, arms trembling in the sun. The reward was a view that struck like a wave: mountains rippling like a bedsheet beneath a pale sky, wind shearing across the ridge—and with it, a quiet permission to belong there." - Scott Campbell