OTHER Trip Report 08/30/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Ararat - 16854
Date Posted:	08/30/2014
Date Climbed:	08/20/2014
Author:	jsdratm

Mount Ararat, Turkey
This August I joined a Colorado Mountain Club trip with the goal of climbing Mt. Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey, and Musala, the highest peak in Bulgaria. We had a total of 8 people on the trip, which made for a nice sized group and a fun adventure. I wasn't able to find much information about Ararat online so I thought I would post some information about it for others who are interested. I left for Istanbul a few days early to check out the city and then met my comrades at the airport for our flight to Van, Turkey on the 12th. We arrived and met our guide from Middle Earth Travel, a nice Turkish fellow named Tuna. Despite two of our party missing bags, we left for Dogubayazit and spent the night in a hotel before heading out to the trailhead in a van. Ararat is organized by the Kurds to use horses for pack support, so we had our duffel bags loaded onto horses and just carried our daypacks. Ararat is a prominent volcano that dominates the skyline in eastern Turkey. It is believed by some to be the place where Noah's Ark came to rest after the great deluge and it is also a sacred mountain for the Armenians, who don't like the way the borders were drawn after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The entire area shows signs of volcanic activity, with massive boulder fields and lava flows covering the landscape. The mountain itself has a lot of green grass up to 10k feet or so that is used by shepherds for grazing sheep. Above that it is mostly rock and dirt, with a glacier covering the top thousand feet or so. The route we took was the south ridge, which starts off of a dirt road north of Dogubayazit. Our local guide was a Kurd named Rashid who didn't speak English, but we had our Turkish guide Tuna to translate. We also had a cook named Mustafa who didn't speak English, but cooked very well. After arriving at the trailhead, we followed Rashid up a dusty trail through some boulder fields and shepherd villages to the first camp, at about 10,000 feet. The camp is organized by a guy named Barzani who is the boss and determines who camps where and he also provides protection for the camp and organizes the porters. They had our tents already set up with a dining tent to eat in. There were also some primitive bathroom tents and an excellent water system that brought potable water from the melting glacier via hoses. I was able to drink this mountain water without iodine. The second day, we did an acclimatization hike to the high camp, around 13-14k feet and back down. By this time we realized that two of our teammates would not be getting their duffel bags in time for the summit attempt and they were forced to get by with only what was in their carry-on bags. Luckily, our guide was quite good at getting them some crampons, trekking poles, and sleeping bags to help them get by. The third day we packed up and moved to the high camp. Along the way there is an enterprising Kurdish guy selling sodas and beer to travelers. At high camp it is very rocky, but it is organized so that several tent pad areas have been cleared of rocks, so the sleeping is mostly level and flat. The dining tents are shared and left up all season in both camps so it makes setting up camp easier. The toilet tent at high camp is a real horror show, so it may be preferable to bring a wag bag or avoid going #2 up there altogether. High camp is also next to a large gully that has frequent rockfall to keep you entertained. After eating and sleeping, we woke up at around midnight and started the summit attempt close to 2 AM. This last leg of the climb is the steepest and loosest, so it takes some time to make it up the south ridge. The trail is similar to a lot of Colorado peaks, with a lot of loose dirt and rocks, but the rocky part is comparable to going up West Spanish Peak IMO. Several other groups were starting around the same time, including some Russians and a large Armenian group. A Kurdish shepherd dog decided to follow us on our summit attempt and seemed to have no problem working its way up the mountain. We reached the edge of the snowfield shortly after sunrise to put on crampons for the final push. The snow was very crunchy and perfect for crampons, plus the grade was such that everyone was only using trekking poles instead of ice axes. By this time the wind was quite strong, but we continued on to the summit after putting on more layers. The Armenian group was up there waving their Armenian flags and we enjoyed the summit for a short while before a storm moved in with high winds and ice pellets, forcing us to descend. The visibility was low, but Rashid and Tuna were very helpful in making sure all of us were descending the correct route. We regrouped at the edge of the snowfield, ditched our crampons, and kept moving down quickly, making it back to camp within two hours. There were snow pellets all over the mountain, but the descent was not terribly difficult as long as you are careful to avoid triggering rockfall on people below you. After a short rest, we descended to the first camp for another night and packed out the next day to return to Dogubayazit. Overall, I thought it was a very interesting mountain to climb in an unusual part of the world. If you are interested in climbing this peak, you are required to have a Turkish guide and I would highly recommend our outfitter, which was Middle Earth Travel. Although Ararat has had some incidents a decade or more ago, it is now perfectly safe and has many tour operators running on the mountain. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mount Ararat, Turkey

This August I joined a Colorado Mountain Club trip with the goal of climbing Mt. Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey, and Musala, the highest peak in Bulgaria. We had a total of 8 people on the trip, which made for a nice sized group and a fun adventure. I wasn't able to find much information about Ararat online so I thought I would post some information about it for others who are interested.

I left for Istanbul a few days early to check out the city and then met my comrades at the airport for our flight to Van, Turkey on the 12th. We arrived and met our guide from Middle Earth Travel, a nice Turkish fellow named Tuna. Despite two of our party missing bags, we left for Dogubayazit and spent the night in a hotel before heading out to the trailhead in a van. Ararat is organized by the Kurds to use horses for pack support, so we had our duffel bags loaded onto horses and just carried our daypacks.

Ararat is a prominent volcano that dominates the skyline in eastern Turkey. It is believed by some to be the place where Noah's Ark came to rest after the great deluge and it is also a sacred mountain for the Armenians, who don't like the way the borders were drawn after the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. The entire area shows signs of volcanic activity, with massive boulder fields and lava flows covering the landscape. The mountain itself has a lot of green grass up to 10k feet or so that is used by shepherds for grazing sheep. Above that it is mostly rock and dirt, with a glacier covering the top thousand feet or so. The route we took was the south ridge, which starts off of a dirt road north of Dogubayazit.

Our local guide was a Kurd named Rashid who didn't speak English, but we had our Turkish guide Tuna to translate. We also had a cook named Mustafa who didn't speak English, but cooked very well. After arriving at the trailhead, we followed Rashid up a dusty trail through some boulder fields and shepherd villages to the first camp, at about 10,000 feet. The camp is organized by a guy named Barzani who is the boss and determines who camps where and he also provides protection for the camp and organizes the porters. They had our tents already set up with a dining tent to eat in. There were also some primitive bathroom tents and an excellent water system that brought potable water from the melting glacier via hoses. I was able to drink this mountain water without iodine.

The second day, we did an acclimatization hike to the high camp, around 13-14k feet and back down. By this time we realized that two of our teammates would not be getting their duffel bags in time for the summit attempt and they were forced to get by with only what was in their carry-on bags. Luckily, our guide was quite good at getting them some crampons, trekking poles, and sleeping bags to help them get by.

The third day we packed up and moved to the high camp. Along the way there is an enterprising Kurdish guy selling sodas and beer to travelers. At high camp it is very rocky, but it is organized so that several tent pad areas have been cleared of rocks, so the sleeping is mostly level and flat. The dining tents are shared and left up all season in both camps so it makes setting up camp easier. The toilet tent at high camp is a real horror show, so it may be preferable to bring a wag bag or avoid going #2 up there altogether. High camp is also next to a large gully that has frequent rockfall to keep you entertained.

After eating and sleeping, we woke up at around midnight and started the summit attempt close to 2 AM. This last leg of the climb is the steepest and loosest, so it takes some time to make it up the south ridge. The trail is similar to a lot of Colorado peaks, with a lot of loose dirt and rocks, but the rocky part is comparable to going up West Spanish Peak IMO. Several other groups were starting around the same time, including some Russians and a large Armenian group. A Kurdish shepherd dog decided to follow us on our summit attempt and seemed to have no problem working its way up the mountain. We reached the edge of the snowfield shortly after sunrise to put on crampons for the final push. The snow was very crunchy and perfect for crampons, plus the grade was such that everyone was only using trekking poles instead of ice axes.

By this time the wind was quite strong, but we continued on to the summit after putting on more layers. The Armenian group was up there waving their Armenian flags and we enjoyed the summit for a short while before a storm moved in with high winds and ice pellets, forcing us to descend. The visibility was low, but Rashid and Tuna were very helpful in making sure all of us were descending the correct route. We regrouped at the edge of the snowfield, ditched our crampons, and kept moving down quickly, making it back to camp within two hours. There were snow pellets all over the mountain, but the descent was not terribly difficult as long as you are careful to avoid triggering rockfall on people below you.

After a short rest, we descended to the first camp for another night and packed out the next day to return to Dogubayazit. Overall, I thought it was a very interesting mountain to climb in an unusual part of the world. If you are interested in climbing this peak, you are required to have a Turkish guide and I would highly recommend our outfitter, which was Middle Earth Travel. Although Ararat has had some incidents a decade or more ago, it is now perfectly safe and has many tour operators running on the mountain.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Jay521	Nice! 8/30/2014 11:53am How cool! I think I met one of your group leaders on Huron a few weeks back. Didn't catch his name but I think he said he'd been in the CMC for over 30 years. Nice guy!
Peak200	Cool 8/30/2014 2:05pm Interesting post. Something completely different then just colo peaks. thx
jsdratm	Re: 8/30/2014 7:54pm Thanks Jay, that sounds like Steve Bonowski, who organized the trip
kushrocks	This is 8/31/2014 7:19pm SaaaaWEETTT!!! Also, I know what its like to have the clouds close in on you on the summit of a big peak. Good stuff.
claybonnyman	Beautiful mountain 9/3/2014 3:15am Too bad its beauty must be sullied by people who believe in ridiculous myths. I think that mountain is more spectacular than any old fairy tale, all on its own.

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