Trip Reports

Mount Ararat - 25 August to 8 September 2012

Written by Leader Olan Parkinson, September 2012

It was an early meeting time at the check in desk in Terminal 3. Three members of the team would be meeting us in Turkey, for the rest of us it was a 3 and a half hour flight to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. We arrived on time and met with Gorkem Okur who was to be our local guide for the two weeks. A short bus ride followed, transferring us to Hotel Hali in Istanbul, where we met the other three members of the team. Once rooms were sorted we went out for dinner and got acquainted with some of the city’s evening sights. The following day was occupied by a sightseeing tour visiting palaces churches and underground cisterns, by four o'clock the team had had enough and the majority opted for a boat ride around the Bosphorus, before returning to the hotel.

Early Monday morning we transferred to Kayseri by plane and we were then brought by bus to a small mountain lodge at the start of the Emli Valley, where we had lunch and sorted kit for the acclimatisation trek in the Aladaglar Mountains. It was a short first day, into the Emli Valley and the first, very picturesque campsite. The huge rock walls that served as backdrop to this camp were just the beginning. The walls were to be a very prominent feature of the trek. The majority of these areas are unclimbed in terms of rock climbing routes. Every corner turned and pass navigated seemed to reveal even bigger walls and deeper gorges. The rock is limestone and very old at that. Time has taken its toll in this region, but that has only served to create some very interesting rock architecture and has revealed a myriad of colours within the rock strata.

On day 3 we reached our camp that was to be the staging post for our acclimatisation peak, Emler (c3,700m). This day had started with low cloud and the temperatures were reciprocally cold. We climbed steadily up onto the flanks of a broad rocky slope and as if on cue, the clouds cleared to reveal a vast swathe of (unclimbed) limestone, one of the more dramatic reveals of the trek. The cloud stayed away from the higher reaches but maintained its presence lower down, providing a cotton backdrop for the photos. Onwards to the pass at 3,500m on the southern edge of Emler. Our camp for that night was set below a stand-alone rock pedestal and on our first evening we were entertained by a team of three climbers working their way up a route which finished on the western edge. This camp is located at the eastern side of a large basin, the Yedigoller Plateau, and on gaining a bit of height one can look down on a virtual moonscape, surrounded on all sides by the aforementioned walls and with a lake set in the middle, slightly incongruous given the arid nature of the landscape.

On day 4, we left camp at 9am and made steady progress towards Emler. The route time was approximately 3 and a half hours, but the team managed it in 3 hours. We ascended a rocky spur on the north eastern edge and then across and up some very loose ground to the summit. We had lunch on the summit and thankfully had 360 degree clear views. Descending to the scree below took a degree of concentration and some careful spotting, but soon we were on easier ground and the team reached camp by 2 pm.

The walk out was relatively straightforward and we exited the mountains through a deep gorge. We were on a bus back to the lodge by 11am and then on for a visit to Cappadocia, which is an ancient region of eastern Anatolia, characterised by ‘fairy chimney’ dwellings and dates back to between 300-1200 AD.

The next stage of the trip was to catch an overnight train from Kayseri to Erzurum. It was a 2am departure and then 14 hours travel time. This was not to be, a freight train had broken down between stations which meant we had 3 hours in which to try and get some sleep before transferring by bus for 5 hours on to another train for a further 5 hours and then another 4 hour bus ride to reach our hotel in Dogubeyazit.

The next morning saw low cloud covering Ararat and as the previous day’s weather had given us nothing but rain, we were yet to size up our objective. The 4-hour walk in to Camp 1 (3,360m) saw little improvement in the weather and it was not until the dying hours of the first day that we were to lay eyes on the summit. The next morning, however, dawned clear, but it was still with intermittent cloud and views that we ascended to 3,950m for acclimatisation. We returned to camp 1 by 2.30 and rested for the remainder of the day. Camp 2 tomorrow.

The acclimatisation seemed to have worked well as we reached camp 2 at 4,160m in less time than it took to reach 3,950m the previous day. Camp 2, as with all high camps, is a rocky uncompromising place but it does have a good view of the route and more importantly the summit. As the evening wore on the winds picked up and the forecast was predicting clear skies and winds of up to 35kph on the summit, and just to add some meteorological veracity, snow plumes could be seen trailing from the top of Ararat reminding everyone that the summit is never a given until one is standing upon it.

We decided to split the team for the summit attempt as the ground is quite broken and strewn with pyroclastic debris, making progress quite slow. 2.30 am and 3.00 am were our departure times and everyone was punctual and eager to set off in time. We were sharing this day with 3 other smaller teams, most of which had not acclimatised to any great degree, an error which was to be evidenced by the fact that we met over half of them coming down having failed to reach the summit.

As dawn broke we were still on rocky ground, about 1 hour from the glacier, to the west, the shadow of Ararat on the plains below gradually growing shorter, heralding the rise of the sun. By 7.30 we had reached the glacier and it was most certainly crampons on as the wind had stripped most of the recently fallen snow exposing the grey ice below. After some careful double checking of crampons we were on our way. The gradient eased and everyone seemed to be moving well, thankful of the warmth the sun was now affording. Moving beneath an azure blanket, the summit was steadily getting closer and furthermore the forecasted winds failed to manifest, making this final section a real pleasure. By 8.50 am, almost 6 hours after the last team member left camp 2 and having negotiated the last 100m of 30 degree slope, we were standing at 5,137m, looking down on Little Ararat, not a cloud in sight.

Summit photos taken it was back to camp 2 and then on down to camp 1 for the night. By the time all the team were back it had been a 16-hour day but everyone was feeling strong despite the rigours of the day. The walk out to Eli the next morning was taken at a leisurely pace, clear and warm with Ararat overseeing our departure. From the small village we were transferred to Dogubeyazit for a visit to the Ishak Pasha Palace and then lunch before the 3 and a half hour drive to Van and our final evening in Turkey.

This trip was the first of its kind in Turkey for Jagged Globe and as such there were a lot of unknowns. However, our local agent and our guide Gorkem were excellent and the expedition was a real success. It is a journey of contrasts. The trek is spectacular in terms of the neverending rock and desert scenery, with excellent camps. Ararat is definitely a climb, accessible but in no way a pushover. Although lower than Kilimanjaro, it has many similarities in terms of terrain and the length of the summit day and it certainly packs a punch. But it has the added bonus of the glacial cap which makes it all the more worthwhile.

I must give thanks to all the team, collectively very experienced, as was evidenced by their self reliance and mountain sense, ability to drink large quantities of Cay and their complete lack of complaining. Congratulations to them all.

Gorkem was excellent, very professional and very good with everyone, I couldn’t recommend him and our agent strongly enough.

Thanks as always to Jagged Globe, especially for the opportunity to take this first team on this particular itinerary.

Olan Parkinson
Expedition Leader, Mount Ararat August/September 2012. « Previous report | Next report »

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