News

More Mount Ararat Summits

The September 2022 team after their ascent of Mount Ararat
News

David Pickford's team summited Ararat last week. David writes:

The Jagged Globe expedition to Mount Ararat in the far east of Turkey has just returned after reaching the summit on September 16th. Mount Ararat is a unique mountain in several respects. It’s a permanently snow-capped, dormant compound volcano in the far east of Turkey, which lies very close to the Iranian and Armenian borders. It is also the highest mountain in Turkey and the highest summit of the Lesser Caucasus mountains, the range that extends eastwards from Georgia’s Black Sea coast all the way to Azerbaijan-Iranian border. It’s made up of two separate volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. The highest summit, Greater Ararat, rises to 5,137 metres above the surrounding high desert environment, and was the objective of this expedition. The ascent of this mountain involves a big summit day, with approximately 1000 metres of altitude gain from the high camp at 4100 metres all the way to the ice-capped summit, before descending all the way down to base camp at 3200 metres. So that’s 2900 metres - or just a touch under 10,000 feet - of up and down. 

Uniquely, this expedition also incorporates a short visit to the Old City of Istanbul, one of the wonders of the Mediterranean world, a trip to the 9th Century Church of the Holy Cross, an ancient Armenian church on a small island in Lake Van - Turkey’s largest lake - plus visits to Van Fortress, a citadel that towers over the modern city of Van dating back to the time of the Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, and finally to the Ishak Pasha Palace, a uniquely preserved Ottoman palace containing a large mosque that clings to the mountainside high above the city of Doğubayazıt, the starting point for the climb of Mount Ararat.  

All the team members did extremely well, bringing different levels of high mountain experience to bear and pulling off some impressive personal achievements. For several members, it was their first summit over 5000 metres, or their first Greater Ranges mountain, or their first high mountain involving scrambling, ice, and pathless terrain. Good effort all!

Our next trips to Mount Ararat are in 2023.

« Latest news 21/Sep/22
Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.

Categories
Archives
 
Follow Us:
1