Scott - Oct 26, 2023 12:43 pm Date Climbed: Oct 8, 2023
Ararat
Independent climbing is not allowed on Ararat so you are required to join a group. I went with Two Ararat since they were the only outfitter still climbing the mountain this late in the year.
October 6
12 of us met at the hotel and left to go climb the mountain. It was a diverse group with climbers from Turkey (Victor), Bulgaria (Zaho and ?), Netherlands (Frank), Spain (Sivin, and ?), England (Bill), Scotland (Alistair), and of course me from the USA. We started near the village of Çevirme at about 2150 meters and headed for Camp 1 at 3300 meters. The weather was clear, but it had snowed quite a bit two days prior so we started to hit snow at about 2700 meters. We arrived at Camp 1 which had a fair amount of snow.
The weather forecast was discussed. Since a storm and high winds were due to arrive on October 9, our planned summit day, we decided to summit the peak early and forego our acclimatization day. Because of this we hiked up to 3800 meters after getting settled into camp. The weather was beautiful.
October 7
In the morning we all hiked up to Camp II at 4110 meters. Things went well, but most of us could feel the altitude since we didn't have the extra acclimatization day. We went to bed pretty early since we were to wake at 1 AM for the summit bid.
October 8
We started up the mountain just after 2 am. I had to make some adjustments to some things so started later than everyone else. The weather was good, but cold, which is expected in October (most climb the mountain in July and August).
I eventually caught up with the rest of the group and passed several of them. Victor was the first one to head back down and the Spaniards headed back down about 1/2 way up. About 300 meters from the top, Frank headed down because he was cold.
The rest of us reached the glacier and put on our crampons. The seven of us reached the summit in beautiful and clear but cold weather. We all spent some time on top before heading back down.
The trip down was long. We all hiked down to Camp 1 where most of us opted to take a vehicle down while the Bulgarians walked the rest of the way.
It was a great climb! My only complaint is that Camp II could use a good clean-up from the many groups that use the place.
yxygan - Sep 11, 2022 1:29 am Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2022
A nice summer climb
As member of a Hungarian climbing group, we had a very good time, with perfect weather condition. Our tour operator was the http://www.ararattrip.com/ .
Thank you once again https://www.facebook.com/agnieszka.kere !
boriskrielen - Feb 6, 2018 11:21 am Date Climbed: Sep 17, 2012
Normal route
I joined a UK team and local guide Burhan Cevarun last minute. Climbed the normal route solo from BC.
Maartjeluisman - Aug 24, 2015 3:22 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2015
Wonderful climb
We succesfully climbed Mt Ararat with www.arrarattrip.com with our family of four incl two kids aged 14 and 16. It was a great trip, Saffet and Hazal too such goof care of us all week! We spend a week in the region, visited many interesting sites and also climbed Nemrut and did some hiking in the mountains near Ararat visting kurdisch villages and nomadic villages to aclimatize. Unfortunately we couldn't climb mt Suphan because it was closed by the police. The actual climb of Ararat iwas easy, for the final climb we left the second camp at 1.00 and we summited before sunrise. There was very little snow on the mountain this year, only the last 200 meters. It's a long way down afterwards......
belexes - Aug 23, 2014 8:44 am Date Climbed: Aug 20, 2014
From the South
Colorado Mountain Club adventure travel trip. There were 9 of us, total, including guides. We were on the mountain for 5 days, summited on August 20 in lousy weather. We started up around 2AM ın fairly decent weather, the wind began to pick up and clouds started rolling in around 15,000 feet. Heavy wind by the time we reached the glacier. The wind died down a little while we were on the glacier, but then we could hear some Armenian climbers singing, and I knew we were near the summit. Then the wind rose to fierce levels, with graupel. We couldn't see anything from the summit, so we headed back to high camp after only a few minutes. A successful day, most definitely worth it!
highpointa - Jun 18, 2013 11:12 pm Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2010
Two attempts, zero views
Unsuccessful in 2007 when a thunderstorm stopped us only 70 vertical meters below the summit. Returned in 2010 and had more luck, reached the top in complete whiteout. I've yet to see Erewan from up there ...
Hazal - Oct 9, 2012 10:46 am Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2012
Nice Peak
Hi. Ararat is nice and easy Peak (of course if weather is good).
We had perfect weather. Only on the summit was VERY windy... so on photos from the summit everybody sit :)
We climbed with Saffet and Aga from http://www.ararattrip.com/
atavist - Sep 3, 2012 9:12 am Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2012
2 stormy days in Sept! Spaz!
Straight up from Güngören. The approach had an easy grade through rocky pasture land. After about 6 hours the ground is too rocky to support herd animals and grade steepens. I was hit by storm and snow so bivvied in boulder field. Next morning continued and despite fresh snow fall, crampons were not required until after reaching volcanic rim above 5000m. I followed major snow couloir west from the summit and reached a village after dark. The last 4 hours of descent was in hail, sleet and finally rain.
BLong - Aug 19, 2012 5:46 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2012
Ararat
A nice peak in a culturally rich part of the world. if you go only to climb, you are missing the point. Ararat would be a blast to ski in early spring.
Climbing with Shepherd Ahmed, shame that on the top was only clouds.
pablo - Aug 30, 2011 2:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2011
Route - Normal
Florence and I together with trekking group had a good 1 week preparation/acclimatization in capadoccia (+1000m) and Taunus range (3000). Then we moved to Ararat Mountain. We stayed in camp 1 (3200m) then moved following day to camp 2 (4200). Aug 18 at 3am we departed reaching summit around 7am and back to camp 2 where we collected our things and rested for 1h. Then down to camp 1 (3200) reached at 4pm. Our 1rst 5000m a great mountain a great experience and lot of emotions in the summit !!
rgg - Nov 9, 2010 6:39 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2005
Nice views
Our acclimatization was marginal, so we were rather slow, but the views were worth it!
Ides - Oct 20, 2010 8:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2007
Very nice but windy
See the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfRo6hTKEg
mpa - Aug 22, 2010 12:23 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2010
Very windy ascent
We climbed Ararat with a guided tour from "Hauser exkursionen". We started at 2:00 in the morning and reached the summit about 6:15. It was very windy and cold, so I started to decend after only a few minutes on top...
Psico - Oct 8, 2009 6:50 am Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2009
Portuguese Climbers
In the 16th August, 07h00AM A Group of Portuguese Climbers just summited the Ararat. A beautiful mountain!!!!- 17 celsius degrees!!
davelim - Mar 20, 2009 1:34 am Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2001
Neat Peak
" I was fascinated by the tale of Noah's Ark since I was a kid. In 1986 I took the opportunity to travel to that region in one of my best non-climbing trips ever. I recall Chris (my travelling companion) and I being kindly hosted by a schoolteacher after our bus left us stranded in Igdir late at night. In the morning, his hospitality extended to buying us tickets to Dogubayazit, the base of all Mount Ararat climbs. We were not experienced enough to climb it but the view of the peak was sufficient. In 1990, I had an official permit to go but passed it over for a climbing trip to the Mt Blanc region. Then in 1991, the Kurdish problems an the Gulf War instabilities made access by foreigners to the peak and the region very difficult for a decade. Having another chance to go and actually climb it is fantastic"
I led a group of clients in AUgust 2001. Great weather, and we were on the first foreigners to be allowed to climb it since its' re-opening in 2001. Alas, the kidnapping of 4 Germans by a revived PKK bunch of guerillas in 2008 has led to the peak being shutdwon indefinitely to climbers for the near future
Scott - Oct 26, 2023 12:43 pm Date Climbed: Oct 8, 2023
AraratIndependent climbing is not allowed on Ararat so you are required to join a group. I went with Two Ararat since they were the only outfitter still climbing the mountain this late in the year.
October 6
12 of us met at the hotel and left to go climb the mountain. It was a diverse group with climbers from Turkey (Victor), Bulgaria (Zaho and ?), Netherlands (Frank), Spain (Sivin, and ?), England (Bill), Scotland (Alistair), and of course me from the USA. We started near the village of Çevirme at about 2150 meters and headed for Camp 1 at 3300 meters. The weather was clear, but it had snowed quite a bit two days prior so we started to hit snow at about 2700 meters. We arrived at Camp 1 which had a fair amount of snow.
The weather forecast was discussed. Since a storm and high winds were due to arrive on October 9, our planned summit day, we decided to summit the peak early and forego our acclimatization day. Because of this we hiked up to 3800 meters after getting settled into camp. The weather was beautiful.
October 7
In the morning we all hiked up to Camp II at 4110 meters. Things went well, but most of us could feel the altitude since we didn't have the extra acclimatization day. We went to bed pretty early since we were to wake at 1 AM for the summit bid.
October 8
We started up the mountain just after 2 am. I had to make some adjustments to some things so started later than everyone else. The weather was good, but cold, which is expected in October (most climb the mountain in July and August).
I eventually caught up with the rest of the group and passed several of them. Victor was the first one to head back down and the Spaniards headed back down about 1/2 way up. About 300 meters from the top, Frank headed down because he was cold.
The rest of us reached the glacier and put on our crampons. The seven of us reached the summit in beautiful and clear but cold weather. We all spent some time on top before heading back down.
The trip down was long. We all hiked down to Camp 1 where most of us opted to take a vehicle down while the Bulgarians walked the rest of the way.
It was a great climb! My only complaint is that Camp II could use a good clean-up from the many groups that use the place.
yxygan - Sep 11, 2022 1:29 am Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2022
A nice summer climbAs member of a Hungarian climbing group, we had a very good time, with perfect weather condition. Our tour operator was the http://www.ararattrip.com/ .
Thank you once again https://www.facebook.com/agnieszka.kere !
boriskrielen - Feb 6, 2018 11:21 am Date Climbed: Sep 17, 2012
Normal routeI joined a UK team and local guide Burhan Cevarun last minute. Climbed the normal route solo from BC.
Maartjeluisman - Aug 24, 2015 3:22 pm Date Climbed: Aug 10, 2015
Wonderful climbWe succesfully climbed Mt Ararat with www.arrarattrip.com with our family of four incl two kids aged 14 and 16. It was a great trip, Saffet and Hazal too such goof care of us all week! We spend a week in the region, visited many interesting sites and also climbed Nemrut and did some hiking in the mountains near Ararat visting kurdisch villages and nomadic villages to aclimatize. Unfortunately we couldn't climb mt Suphan because it was closed by the police. The actual climb of Ararat iwas easy, for the final climb we left the second camp at 1.00 and we summited before sunrise. There was very little snow on the mountain this year, only the last 200 meters. It's a long way down afterwards......
belexes - Aug 23, 2014 8:44 am Date Climbed: Aug 20, 2014
From the SouthColorado Mountain Club adventure travel trip. There were 9 of us, total, including guides. We were on the mountain for 5 days, summited on August 20 in lousy weather. We started up around 2AM ın fairly decent weather, the wind began to pick up and clouds started rolling in around 15,000 feet. Heavy wind by the time we reached the glacier. The wind died down a little while we were on the glacier, but then we could hear some Armenian climbers singing, and I knew we were near the summit. Then the wind rose to fierce levels, with graupel. We couldn't see anything from the summit, so we headed back to high camp after only a few minutes. A successful day, most definitely worth it!
highpointa - Jun 18, 2013 11:12 pm Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2010
Two attempts, zero viewsUnsuccessful in 2007 when a thunderstorm stopped us only 70 vertical meters below the summit. Returned in 2010 and had more luck, reached the top in complete whiteout. I've yet to see Erewan from up there ...
Hazal - Oct 9, 2012 10:46 am Date Climbed: Aug 5, 2012
Nice PeakHi. Ararat is nice and easy Peak (of course if weather is good).
We had perfect weather. Only on the summit was VERY windy... so on photos from the summit everybody sit :)
We climbed with Saffet and Aga from http://www.ararattrip.com/
atavist - Sep 3, 2012 9:12 am Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2012
2 stormy days in Sept! Spaz!Straight up from Güngören. The approach had an easy grade through rocky pasture land. After about 6 hours the ground is too rocky to support herd animals and grade steepens. I was hit by storm and snow so bivvied in boulder field. Next morning continued and despite fresh snow fall, crampons were not required until after reaching volcanic rim above 5000m. I followed major snow couloir west from the summit and reached a village after dark. The last 4 hours of descent was in hail, sleet and finally rain.
BLong - Aug 19, 2012 5:46 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2012
AraratA nice peak in a culturally rich part of the world. if you go only to climb, you are missing the point. Ararat would be a blast to ski in early spring.
PUCHMAN - Nov 19, 2011 5:34 pm
Ararat and Kackar tripClimbing with Shepherd Ahmed, shame that on the top was only clouds.
pablo - Aug 30, 2011 2:51 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2011
Route - NormalFlorence and I together with trekking group had a good 1 week preparation/acclimatization in capadoccia (+1000m) and Taunus range (3000). Then we moved to Ararat Mountain. We stayed in camp 1 (3200m) then moved following day to camp 2 (4200). Aug 18 at 3am we departed reaching summit around 7am and back to camp 2 where we collected our things and rested for 1h. Then down to camp 1 (3200) reached at 4pm. Our 1rst 5000m a great mountain a great experience and lot of emotions in the summit !!
rgg - Nov 9, 2010 6:39 pm Date Climbed: Jul 4, 2005
Nice viewsOur acclimatization was marginal, so we were rather slow, but the views were worth it!
Ides - Oct 20, 2010 8:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2007
Very nice but windySee the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfRo6hTKEg
mpa - Aug 22, 2010 12:23 pm Date Climbed: Aug 17, 2010
Very windy ascentWe climbed Ararat with a guided tour from "Hauser exkursionen". We started at 2:00 in the morning and reached the summit about 6:15. It was very windy and cold, so I started to decend after only a few minutes on top...
Psico - Oct 8, 2009 6:50 am Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2009
Portuguese ClimbersIn the 16th August, 07h00AM A Group of Portuguese Climbers just summited the Ararat. A beautiful mountain!!!!- 17 celsius degrees!!
davelim - Mar 20, 2009 1:34 am Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2001
Neat Peak" I was fascinated by the tale of Noah's Ark since I was a kid. In 1986 I took the opportunity to travel to that region in one of my best non-climbing trips ever. I recall Chris (my travelling companion) and I being kindly hosted by a schoolteacher after our bus left us stranded in Igdir late at night. In the morning, his hospitality extended to buying us tickets to Dogubayazit, the base of all Mount Ararat climbs. We were not experienced enough to climb it but the view of the peak was sufficient. In 1990, I had an official permit to go but passed it over for a climbing trip to the Mt Blanc region. Then in 1991, the Kurdish problems an the Gulf War instabilities made access by foreigners to the peak and the region very difficult for a decade. Having another chance to go and actually climb it is fantastic"
I led a group of clients in AUgust 2001. Great weather, and we were on the first foreigners to be allowed to climb it since its' re-opening in 2001. Alas, the kidnapping of 4 Germans by a revived PKK bunch of guerillas in 2008 has led to the peak being shutdwon indefinitely to climbers for the near future
bruno baschung - Jun 15, 2008 2:50 pm
nice peakA nice peak to climb without much difficulties,beautiful view,in a pleasant environment. Probably more challenging in winter / spring with skis...
Bruno baschung