UKC

Two competant mountaineers wanting to climb Mt Ararat in Turkey. The peak is under military control so you MUST hire local GUIDES i think this means people who have walked the hill a few times and know the route not UIAGM Guides.

Anyway our first quote is £900 each and expensive guiding fee for a walk up a 5000m hill.
Does anyone know a way round this, we dont want posh hotels or equipment hire or any skills training just a local guide because we sadly have to have one!!!!????????????

Rich

Penrith

In reply to riggs100:

depends how long it takes (ive been around ararat but not up it. its pretty distant. where you going out of, dogubayzit?).

if its a 3 days thing, including permits and road transport its not outrageous. even for 2 days its acceptable i think - ararat is pretty out there - but youre gettting gouged if the 900 doesnt include EVERYTHING.
the guides are likely important as translators, cultural go-betweens, connections with the military/police and knowing the way. its a wild part of the region.

In reply to riggs100:
Hi,
I'm also thinking about Mt.Ararat in 2013.
I've asked my turkish collegaue about it and he told me you/we can go to the summit only as team memeber because of traceability needed for recovery.
Individual request so hard to get approval due to healty/security.

So, I would like to join to a local organized team.
btw, about the price, last trip to the summit which was orgenaized by hungarian outdoor company was same as you mentioned. ( w/o airfar, food,)

I am still looking for turkish climbers who can help us.

Csaba

In reply to riggs100: It is a wild region, with security restrictions, so difficult to avoid the whole regulation/permit issue. it might be worth contacting Recep Ince at Aladaglar camping- he's based (as it suggests) in the Aladaglar, but operatesd around Turkey. if he cant run the trip himself he's ikely to know someone who can. Good luck, it's an interesting part of the world.

In reply to riggs100:

I did Mt. Ararat a few years ago and can highly recommend it as a non-technical peak over 5000m. Before choosing who we went with, we did an awful lot of research into what person/company was the the best value but also the most trustworthy.

Here is the trip report and at the bottom is a link to the guiding company we used.

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-ararat-hike/741315

Enjoy.

In reply to Ragingpossum: Thanks for info. It was very useful. Csaba