It began with Mark Synnott’s question: Where haven’t I been? Looking for answers, Synnott, one of the most prolific exploratory rock climbers of his generation, found a reference to the “fascinating and mysterious Musandam Peninsula.” This actually wasn’t an unusual way for Mark to find somewhere for us to go—he’s led me to a lot of places I didn’t even know existed. For this National Geographic project, he persuaded me and four other climbers to sail along the northern coast of Oman so we could deep-water-solo jagged limestone above the turquoise water and look for long multi-pitch climbs on the cliffs above the Persian Gulf. Mark had never actually deep-water-soloed before. This was a soulful trip to what felt like a land lost in time.