Mount Aratat & the Wonders of Turkey Expedition Dispatch

July 26, 2012 – The Summit

We reached the summit, 16,800ft. at 8am, six and a half hours after we started climbing. We left high camp at 1:30am. What a morning! Beautiful weather, who knows the mysteries this ancient icecap holds.

It is about 7pm now and we are back down at 7200ft. above sea level. This is where Duygu, Chet and I decided that the call of the showers was too great and decided to descend all the way out. A real long day! We are now going back to our hotel in Dogubeyazit.

Great accomplishment today, long walk down, we said goodbye to Mehmet at the Green Camp, our Camp 1. We are going to miss this mountain and we are going to treasure the time we had here.

We will be enjoying Turkey for a few more days with the satisfaction that we had stood on the top of Mount Ararat.

The view is amazing.

Chet getting close to the summit

Team on the summit