2nd - Summit

Wake up at 0230. Technically not really a wake up as you cannot wake up from not sleeping. Apparently most didn’t sleep much – if at all. Even our group leader (Bo, who has 2 8000m-summits under his belt) didn’t get much sleep, but that was mostly because his tent buddy was snoring (at least HE got some sleep!).

Could barely drink or eat anything for breakfast.

Departure at 0330. Not as much wind as expected, nice. Quite cool, but not cold enough to be a problem.

Starting climbing, out of the wind – nice! Seems like we are staying out of the wind for a while – double nice!

Ok, ok – this is getting quite steep, getting colder, wind picking up.

Not really freezing; occasional cold fingers and toes and once or twice the body gets slightly colder, but all this happens when having our short breaks. As soon as we are moving again warmth returns. Not like Elbrus at all.

Wind picking up, temp feels like its dropping but it’s probably just the wind chill, going through clouds, seeing the shadow of Ararat below us.

Groups leaving 1 and 2 hours before us are maybe ½-1-ish hour ahead of us.

Wind picking up, entering clouds, visibility drops to less than 40m.

Reaching the glacier at 4950m, other groups are returning. Luckily no need for crampons as it has been snowing. Taking the gloves off to attach them would have been hell in the low temps and high winds.

The top layer of the snow/glacier contains hail. Wind was earlier estimated to 40km/h but feels like much more. Visibility still below the 40m.

Wind, temp, (lack of) visibility and the resulting blowing snow/hail made the last 200 altitude meters a massive challenge – not least a mental one. Had to keep up as people ahead tend to fade out – luckily we had a couple of guides as the group was splitting up in two. Weirdly enough I ended up in the front group. Bo was running back and forth keeping track of us and keeping us updated on status. He ended in the back assisting.

Pole on a small hill coming into sight! Give it a final push! Or maybe just continue walking slowly ahead…

Summit! 0815! 04:45 despite planned 6 hours! @5137m.

Windy, cold, can’t see 30m. Clear weather gives a view into Iran and Armenia. Obviously not this morning.

Despite being a photo-op, view or not, I couldn’t bother taking my camera out; too tired, too cold, too windy, and others taking photos.

The last people arrive, some assisted, one stumbling and falling over (who had, he told later, been hallucinating last night – likely because of the altitude. Had we/Bo known of this before the ascent he would not have been allowed to the summit. Luckily no issues despite all this except from having a very slow descent).

Let’s get down! Oh, more photos? Ok, let’s wait.

Now? Awesome – race down the glacier, people constantly disappearing and reappearing ahead.

Getting off the glacier, little less wind, short break and it all feels a little calmer. Visibility already better.

Going down, down, out of the clouds, warmer, still windy but not too bad.

Descending – suddenly back in high camp at 1115.

Short rest, pack bags and tents and depart at 1230.

Back in base camp at 1530. Just a gentle breeze, comfortable temp. An hour later the horses arrive with all our bags and tents, so we start establishing the camp.

Dinner at 1715, and 2 hours later everything is quite.

Close to summit. Photo taken by Bo Belvedere Christensen.

Summit. Photo taken by Jens Gadegaard Jensen

Summit. Photo taken by Jens Gadegaard Jensen

1st - High camp

Today we relocated to high camp. We took down the tents and piled up all our luggage before breakfast, and left at the same time as yesterday. As we already had done the acclimatization walk the ascent today was much easier, but arriving at the camp we had to realize that the winds had picked up since yesterday. Setting up the tents were therefore made much more difficult than usual, and the ground was very rocky which made using the tent pegs impossible. There were plenty of small rocks laying around which we could use to put down around the tent, and otherwise the most important rule was to put the bags inside the tent at all times as soon as we weren’t there ourselves to weigh it down.

The terrain is very rocky, but the rocks lying around have all been moved creating clear patches for the tents that just fit surrounded by the rocks creating low walls.

The (rest of the) afternoon was spent on getting used to the winds and getting mentally and physically ready for the summit climb which according to plan will start at 0330 with a wakeup call at 0230. This can be pushed if the weather seems to be bad and the forecast shows that it will clear up within a couple of hours.

Lying in the tent looking up I can see the roof moving 15-20cm in the hard wind gusts. It sure is windy!

Setting up the tents among all the small rocks.

View from high camp.

31st - Acclimatization

The plan for today was to climb to high camp at 4200m to acclimatize and return to base camp after a rest. And at the same time hopefully be back before the arrival of the announced rain/hail in the afternoon.

We left the camp shortly before 0900 and 3 hours later of hard walk we arrived at the high camp. It was not surprisingly windy – but it wasn’t too bad, and the temperature was at a comfortable level, too.

After half an hour of having a break and keeping an eye on the clouds gathering around the summit we started our descent. While it was nice going downwards it was as usual a hard strain on the legs.

We were back in base camp before the bad weather. Actually; the bad weather never really showed its face. With some pleasant relaxing in the afternoon we had dinner and briefing like yesterday. The next couple of days are looking to be clear, clouds will be possible when starting our push to the summit, and winds.

After dinner and when it had gotten dark we were a few who went out to see if it was possible to get some good shots of the night sky. Moderate success considering there was only a single gorilla pod to share, but some of the resulting shots were not bad at all.

On the way up to high camp, looking down on base camp.

I wasn't the only one enjoying the sunset at base camp.

Stars, the Milky Way, a tent.

The Milky Way.

30th - Getting started

I realized that I had been misreading the trip information all along until arriving in Turkey. I was convinced that we were supposed to carry our own bags all the way but I found out that was not the case anyway. Out main bags gets carried up to the camps by horses while we won’t be carrying anything else than our daypacks. Something I soon found out would be a good thing.

Getting up at 0700 we started off with a small breakfast after which we carried our now prepared bags to the small busses waiting for us to take us to the climb’s starting point, a 45 minute drive from the hotel. Arriving at the base of the mountain the temperature had risen generously, making me feel relieved that we only had our daypacks to carry. Slowly we started the climb, and 4-ish hours later we arrived at base camp.

Most of the tents had already been pitched, and after a snack in the dining tent we started spreading out into the tents. I was looking for my main bag when I saw a large drop land on the ground. And then another one. And another one. Seeing my bag running in my boots suddenly became easy and I ended almost throwing myself headfirst into our tent with the bag under my arm. This started 2 hours of heavy rain, hail and quite a few wonderfully big thunderclaps.

Afterwards there wasn’t much to do and we had a small walk around in the camp to get a feeling of the area. One of the guys who lost his bag got a text from his wife saying that they had located his bag. It was still in CPH – without its luggage tag. The two who were bag-less had bought most of the necessary things in the previous town, and the “big” things (sleeping bags etc.) they were able to borrow from some of the locals.

Dinner at 1800, briefing for the next couple of days and weather forecast. Apparently it is to rain and hail again tomorrow afternoon, but otherwise the weather seems clear.

The night sky is beautiful; clear view of the Milky Way from one horizon to the other and lots and lots of stars.

The hotel was at an altitude of 1700m, the starting point at 2200m and base camp is at 3200m. No wonder I was walking around with a slight headache all afternoon.

We were recommended to bring 4 bottles of water (each 1½ litre) with us up for the days on the mountain. Despite the bottles looking flimsy we were promised that the local team had never had a bottle break yet, potentially soaking clean clothes or sleeping bag. Guess who received a bag with a leaking bottle? The bag compartment with my shoes and sleeping bag had been soaked – luckily none of the water had gone through the plastic bag I had wrapped my sleeping bag in, and only the shoes’ soles had gotten wet. No real damage after all!

Unpacking the busses and getting ready to start the first day of climbing.

Finally getting base camp within view!

The view after the rain and hail.

29th - Continuing east

The flight to Van had a boarding time of 0600. The locals said that we should depart the hotel at 0500 – something making us a little nervous considering it took us more than an hour to get to the hotel last night. But it was agreed, and wake-up calls were ordered for 0430. It was clear who had set their own alarms, as they were the ones ready to depart at 0500; the calls never came in. Delayed we left the hotel at 0515, and this time it took less than half an hour to get back to the airport. A little confusion about where to be and a few moves from counter to counter later we had checked in our luggage (again) and were ready to go to security. Stressful moment (“go to gate” when entering security, a couple of minutes later when having completed security “last call”) but we made it to the plane in time. The flight itself was (surprisingly) eventless.

Arriving at Van the two lost pieces of luggage hadn’t shown up but the rest of us received our bags without any issues. We also got to meet our local guide for the first time.

Bus app. 4 hours to get to our hotel in the village Dogubeyazik, and after check-in we had lunch followed by sightseeing the old palace Ishak Pasha located overlooking the town. It was a beautiful view of the surrounding area.

We came back to the hotel, relaxed a little were briefed on the next couple of days and went to dinner where we got back together with the two guys who lost their bags who had spent their afternoon on replacing most of the things.

Back at the hotel we went to the roof where we enjoyed a drink while having a closer view of Mt. Ararat.

Weird standing in the hotel room and seeing a sign pointing towards Iran.

Police car parked down town.

Ishak Pasha.

The view of Mt. Ararat from the hotel roof.

Sunset over Dogubeyazik.

28th - Going to Turkey

Met with the group at the airport and when our guide made sure we had all arrived we were brought to our own check-in booth. Luxury! But it’s pure guesswork if the dedicated booth was to make it easier for us or to protect everyone else. Despite spending a night in Istanbul we decided to check in our luggage all the way to Van to make it easier for everyone. Ahem… “easier”.

Departure went fine – 3 hour flight with inflight entertainment and full meal – but arriving in Istanbul our problems started. Someone in the group had read in the inflight magazine that if you have a lay-over and continue to another domestic airport you have to grab your luggage and manually get it back into the system – despite checking it in all the way from the beginning. Our guide got hold of one of the airport staff and 20 minutes after everyone else and at a different belt we got our bags. Well – “we” as in 12 out of 14 people in the group. After a lot of discussing with the lost and found office (I counted at least 4 of them when in the airport) we had to accept that two of us would be leaving empty handed. 2/14 – great statistics, Turkish Airlines!

The rest of us went to the domestic terminal and after having been forwarded around 3-4 times the staff informed us that they did not want to take our bags because they did not want the responsibility of holding them over night. What? Despite having already checked them in all the way.

We left for our bus and after an hour long drive we arrived at our hotel, 2-3 delayed. We checked in, greeted another group member who had arrived earlier, and then we left for dinner. We ended up at a nice local restaurant, and during dinner one of the guys who had lost his luggage got a call from what his phone said was Miami, Florida. He couldn’t hear anything before they hung up. Time-wise that could have been somebody finding his bag coming out of a plane.

Before getting back to the hotel we had a short walk by the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia which were just nearby. Couldn’t really get a good shot of Hagia Sophia but the Blue Mosque was beautifully illuminated in the dark.

The Blue Mosque

Small correction when going to Morocco

Again, just like the trip to Turkey, not enough people signed up for the departure that I chose. So the departure date has been moved up to the 21st of September. Apart from that there are no changes.

This also means that I will have 3 1-week trips (Turkey, Romania and Morocco) within a 4½-week period. Busy, busy!