Mount Ararat CLIMBERS FOILED BY STORM NEAR SUMMIT

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28561, 15 April 1958, Page 12

Mount Ararat CLIMBERS FOILED BY STORM NEAR SUMMIT

[By a Special Correspondent of "The Timee")

How many people, . given a map, could place their' finger on Mount Ararat? Yet Ararat is one of the world’s most famous mountains, known to the mythology of three religions and still a name to inspire wonder and curiosity. It stands, flanked by its plasticine model Little Ararat, at the point where Iran and the Soviet Union converge upon Turkey. Snow rests perpetually upon its summit, like a spreading gloved hand. Its enormous bulk heaves out of the surrounding ranges like some prehistoric animal. The time was early September. Under sapphire skies, a rich harvest was everywhere being gathered by bright clothed, swarthy peasants. As tne corn was tossed to windward, the grain leapt clear of the chaff, slowly raising a neat golden mound. When our long journey from Ankara was completed, the herdsmen were already winding their way down to the valleys. The inhabitants -of Igdir, Agri, and Dogubayazit have an intimate knowledge of the foothills of Ararat, but many regard its summit as inaccessible. Legend of the Ark

To Christian as well as Muslim, Ararat is a holy mountain, the cradle of salvaged humanity. Being the highest peak next to the Taurus, it might well have escaped submersion, and archaeology has established the authenticity of floods in the region as recorded not merely in the Bible but in the Sumerian ’Epic of Gilgamesh.” Many people, not merely the local peasants, believe that the Ark is still there. Some believe it to be partially submerged in the Lake of Kop. high up above the isolated village Ahora. The Bible speaks of the “mountains’* of Ararat; the Ark s resting place, they say. might well have been on one of its sprawling flanks In 1876. Lord Bryce, the historian. found a piece of fashioned wood sin thick at about 13 000 ft which tie believed to form part of the vessel. Russian airmen claimed to haye photographed it masts and all. during the 1914-18 war. In 1952, members of a French party reported the outline of a keel of the requisite length in cubits in a glacier above the lake. Such claims may be discounted. The summit itself, in spite of rumours of magic, demons, and an airless zone, is certainly attainable, though those who say they have reached the top have not always caled the formidable ice-cap. Our own party, five Turks, two of them soldiers, and myself, owed such success as we had to the civil and military authorities at Dogubayazit. I do not forget the Government officials at Ankara, who gave advice, encouragement, and permits. With camping impedimenta and stores packed into a motor vehicle and trailer, we began to cross the 20-mile-wide plain just as the sun was tinting the ice-cap. It was with relief mixed with excitement that we at last saw the wisp of smoke where our Kurdish guide, who had awaited us since 4 a.m.. stood with his three pack-donkeys silhouetted against the sky. Sugar and Vitamins

A gruelling climb of five hours undertaken with regulation slowness and enlivened by half-hourly sugar loaves and vitamin tablets brought us with increasing labour and thirst to a rough, grassy slope Here, though appetite was at a minimum, we slumped down for our first meal of the day. A nibble of bread and meat gave place to gulps of tomato juice, the only nourishment we could tolerate with pleasure. The air. till now over-heated, began to cool and rarefy. Tachycardia and mild nausea developed. Throughout the afternoon and early evening we fought our way up a wide gully. Enormous boulders staggered and sometimes fell at our touch, and we went in fear of snakes. Meanwhile the summit had dropped out of view. We floundered and groped in a kind of concave wilderness. Above us eagles soared. Having planned to gain as much height as possible the first day, we passed the proposed camping place and pushed on to a point well over 13,000 ft. Here a convenient terrace provided good ground. The sound of water, which tantalises the climber on the lower slopes of Ararat, now became tumultuous. Underground streams formed by the melting snow welled up at our feet. Far away to our right, Dogubayazit came out in tiny light-spots. The moon slowly, glazed the mountainside with a silver patina. A wind caught and chilled us.

Wriggling into sleepink bags, we lay warm but sleepless, one ear listening to a racing heart, and the other cocked for the footfall of bears. An ominous sound outside my tent, intruding on semiconsciousness, proved to be the heavy breathing of an untethered donkey. Mountain Sickness By 4.30 a.m. the moonlight had faded. A skein of translucent pale greens moved into position in the east. This was to be the decisive day. Parting the tent-flaps, we eyed one another a little anxiously. Two of the party, ashen and dejected, had been seized with mountain sickness, a horrible and immobilising affliction. The others, one soldier, my chauffeur, and myself, were fit enough to tackle the last and worst stage. Above us. deceptively near, the ice-cap glittered in the strengthening sunlight. Exneriencing a leap of confidence. I felt my heart slow to normal.

With the minimum load we set off. Instead of taking the ridge over which previous parties had gone, we pustied up a ravine, soon reactiing the snow line, the first crevasses, and more volcanic boulders'. Some of these had been cleft from top to bottom by lightning. Water gushed stingingly cold. The gradient now sharpened to about one in three. Each movement was an ordeal, so that even the weight of a camera proved irksome. Worse still was the shifting scree or loose friable soil. A single step set in motion a whole tract of rattling pebbles Progress was achieved by pivoting upon a single stone, turning on one’s back, and edging up in search of the next purchase. The mountain flowed down and coiled in irregular terraces, merging into the shimmering plain. Little Ararat, though higher than Mont

Blanc, looked like an outsize slagheap. At this point climbers have reported a belt of shells. We have nothing. In spite of the hard going and increasing strain, we felt we were doing reasonably well. The summit seemed within our grasp. But Ararat springs surprises and sudden reversals of fortune. Crossing a glacier, one of the party slipped and spun down, -to be arrested in the nick of time by a jutting rock. Then, just as we had attained the rocky platform at about 16,500 ft, leading directly to the ice-cap, a handful of feathery snowflakes descended. We recognised a danger signal. As the sky suddenly frowned, a violent wind caught and nearly toppled us. To go round by the sickening precipice-path was out of the question in such weather. We should have to try to negotiate the frozen dome itseh, though the snow was likely to be thin and slippery. We sought shelter and waited. Then, extinguishing out hopes, the summit vanished behind angry clouds and the valley brimmed over with sleety mist. The cold became intense. Such storms sometimes pass, but our soldier-companion warned us that this had come to stay. He proved right. The summer weather had broken. Sweeping over Turkey. tempests were to cause havoc and floods in Ankara itself. In a mood of bitter resignation, we decided upon return. The descent nroved more nerve-racking than the climb. As we plunged farther into the moraine, we dreaded releasing an avalanche of rocks which would crash down upon the camp itself. Keeping well apart, we had only one aim. to reach the camp before our companions were forced to leave. We arrived thoroughly shaken, to find preparations for evacuation already far advanced. Then came a wearisome forced march over ground previously covered in broiling sun. We had to reach the little encampment of Elikoy or we stiould be caught at night in the open, drenched with rain and surrounded by wolves. We gained cover just in time and enjoyed our first sleep for three days.

In the morning, our first thoughts were of the mountain. There was Ararat, imperturbable: but the white-gloved hand had developed strangely elongated and fattened fingers, dangling well below our former camping place. We looked at one another thoughtfully and set our feet towards Dogubayazit.