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How to ski down Mount Ararat or search of the Noe's arch continues uf uf... that would be a precise describtion of what we have experienced in the last two days here in eastern Turkey As already mentioned in the last news, we moved from bellow Suphan dagi volcano to the border town of Dogubeyazit some 30km from Iranian border... The proximity of the border can be experineced everywhere you look. Each of the hill on the mountain ridge dividing the two countries has an observation station atop and there are thousands of soldiers and tanks in the city and its surrounding. It is strictly forbidden to take pictures of soldiers, policemen and their facilities if you do not plan to be invited for two-days all inclusive stay in Turkish prison... we rather did not attempt this kind of holiday and booked som rooms in once a glamorous three-star, now ruined hotel with direct view of Ararat (Agri Dagi in Turkish) The area of eastern Turkey is densly populated by Kurdish people. They are friendly, curious, smiling and even thank you for taking a picture of them... They take their hairstyle very seriously and even the streetkeepers wear a suit. Despite that, dusta and many improvised solutions can be seen everywhere... As mentiooned already, we are almost at the border... The drug trafficking route from Afganistan through Iran leads through Turkey to the balkans... hence, it is not a seldom view to see a leather equipped VW Touareg or Mercedes parking right next to a desolated house here.. . Local people are very hospitable and every business made is a reason for an invitation for a coup of tea no matter if you have a hairstyle done or if you are buying gas bombs to your stove. As the Turkish smoke literarly everywhere, you can enjoy a cigarette and a cup of tea while the barber is cutting your hair... In Dogubeyazit, we had to wait for better weather and for a local guide who was responsible for taking an eye on our group, as you can not move out of the set path due to concentrtion of military... On 10th of April, we set out and the van orgnized by our guide took us to 2200m. The weather was surprisingly good and almost the whole mountain could be seen. It is a giant. The same day, we hauled our Trek Sport backpacks up to a campside we set up for ourselves at analtitude of 3450m. Our guide is unhappy for our fast pace. Usually, it takes a night at 2900 and then a highcamp in 3800 to make the summit... We feel well and so we set out for the summit push on the following day... the sky is star-lit as we proceed through numerous lava ridges. We underestimated how demanding the mountain could be and now it is showing us its harder face. We pass the highcamp with numerous germans and our guide in it and having obtained the route description, we proceed towards the top. 7 hours later, we stand on it. on the summit of biblical Mount Ararat. The top of the mountin is covered by a shiny ice cap and it looks as if a river of ice was streaming out of it into three sides... amazing view I have never seen before. All of that in 5165m. Not a piece of wood is left after the Noe's arch and so we descent the glaciated part carefully on the crampons, as any mistake would lead to a big slide ending somewhere in a military camp on the prohibited side of the volcano thousands of meters bellow. Finally, we are at the snow fields stepping into our ski bindings. The dream of ultimate skiing with perfect views into the valley was covered by mist and snow tht ended the good weather p[eriod. Snow is quite \OK but the legs feel the tiredness of the long ascent in an altitude to which we are so far not totally aclimatized. Turn after turn, we descent to the camp... uf uf... Ararat above us, we are packing our gear and the same day, we are heading towards the town to enjoy a beer and a good dinner... Today, we spent some time in Turkish spa to recover and tomorrow, we will set out for |Teheran and eventually attempot to climb and ski down small ararat en route... stay tuned, greetings from turkey Posted at: 12.4.2007
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