MOUNT ARARAT & MOUNT ELBRUS

Climb the highest peaks of Eurasia, great Mount Ararat & Elbrus, a member of seven summits!

ITINERARY

Day 1: Meeting in VAN city airport before midday and driving to Dogubeyazit town in 3hrs average. On the way we stop by the "Muradiye waterfalls" and enjoy the view with Turkish tea. After lunch, check into the hotel, permits and gear check. Dinner and overnight in hotel.

Day 2: Transfer to Mount Ararat, former Eli village region at 2200m / 7250 ft. We then load the duffle bags on our horses and the start trekking for 4 hrs before arriving "Green Camp" at 3300m / 10850 ft.

Day 3: Rest at camp. Acclimatization hikes up to 4000m / 13150ft for 4-5 hours. Dinner and overnight at Green Camp.

Day 4: Hike up from Green camp to 2nd camp at 4150m / 13615 ft. (2-3 hours)

Day 5: Summit day. Early wake up call at 3:30 and start for the summit bid at 4:30 after a fine breakfast. We reach the summit at 5137m / 16854ft after 5-6 hrs hiking performance. It will take 2-3 hrs to descend back to the camp site at 4150m / 13615ft. Dinner and overnight in the 2nd camp.

Day 6: Descend all the way down to the village road to reach the minibus for the transfer to the hotel in Dogubeyazit before lunch time. After lunch, we will see the art demonstration's of the very best examples of local handcrafts and carpets. We will visit ancient Ishak Pasha Palace during the beautiful sunset. / Spare day in case of bad weather / Dinner and overnight in hotel.

Day 7: A) Transfer to Van airport early in the morning for the flight to Istanbul for stop over before fly to Min-Vody and drive to the mountain hotel in the Baksan valley near the foothills of Mt. Elbrus. Overnight stay in the hotel.
B) Stay in Istanbul in case the charter flight delays on the next day.

Day 8: A2) Free day of leisure- Free trekking
B2) Arrive to Mineralny Vody airport and transfer to Azau, dinner and overnight in hotel near the lifts.

Day 9: Acclimatization ascent (by ski lifts) of Cheget Mountain, 3600 m. Overnight stay in the hotel

Day 10: Ride ski lifts. Set up base camp. Acclimatization hike. Overnight stay in the Barrels hut on the slopes of Elbrus.

Day 11: Acclimatization hike and relaxation day. Overnight stay in the Barrels hut

Day 12: Summit day. Leave base camp about 3 am for the climb of Elbrus' west summit, 5642 m. Descend to base camp for dinner and overnight.

Day 13: Reserve day for climbing Elbrus (in case of bad weather) or descend to Baksan valley

Day 14: Reserve day. Descend to the Baksan valley. Overnight stay in the hotel

Day 15: Drive to Mineralnye Vody airport for international flights from Moscow.

DETAILS

A 15 day tour in 2 neighboring countries, covering two summits: Mount Ararat and Mount Elbrus. We start our tour from Van city. Our minibus will pick you up from Van airport and take you directly to Dogubeyazit town after a short stop at Muradiye Waterfalls. A short meeting will follow some rest and dinner in the evening. Next day is the departure for the mountain. We load all bags on our minibus and drive towards Mount Ararat. The journey will take approximately 1 hour, then we will stop at Eli village and load our bags and equipment to mules/horses, and continue the route on foot. On the way up to the 1st camp we will be able to see the Nomads and observe the Ararat mountain life. We arrive at Ararat base camp after 3-3,5 hours of walking. We spend two nights on this "Green Camp" at approximately 3300 meters of altitude. Once acclimatized, we hike up to the second campsite on the south ridge at 4150 meters.

Waking up early in the morning (03:30), we make a pre-dawn start at 04:30 for our summit ascent, crossing the upper snow covered slopes; we will reach 4950m where we will put our crampons on before the summit glacier. Finally reaching the summit of one of the world's most enigmatic peaks, we are rewarded by superb panoramic views of the surrounding plains and valleys on the frontiers of Turkey, Iran and Armenia.

Spending the night at 2nd camp after descending down from the summit, we will refresh ourselves for the next day's descend all the way to Dogubeyazit town before lunch. After lunch we will visit ancient Ishak Pasha Palace and see the art demonstration's of the very best examples of Turkish handcrafts before dinner and overnight.

The next day, we will drive to Van Ferit Melen Airport to fly to Istanbul. Afterwards will depend on the flight availability. We either fly to Russia - Mineralnye Vody, on the same day, if flight schedules permit, or we stay one night in Istanbul and fly to Min' Vody the next day. After we arrive at Mineralnye Vody airport, we take a 4 hour bus ride to Baksan Valley, and we reach our mountain hotel "Scheherazade" near the foothills of Mt. Elbrus. The next day, after breakfast, we walk from the hotel to Cheget. When we reach Cheget village we use ski lifts (chairs) to get as high as possible into the mountain and follow the mountain's edge to the summit of Cheget Mountain, 3600 m (11,800 feet). If the weather is good we can spend 40 minutes on the top taking pictures and sightseeing. Then back down to Cheget village again and have a lunch in a local cafe. On the way back we can visit a mineral spring (natural, with gas). We return to the hotel at about 4-5 pm. We have dinner and stay overnight there.

After breakfast we start from the mountain hotel with all necessary climbing gear. You can leave anything not required at the hotel. We set our base camp at the Barrels huts (3900 m/12800 ft). You will carry your own equipment/clothes from hotel to lifts (5 minutes) and from lifts to the huts (5 minutes). Sometimes (not often) the 3rd leg of the lifts is closed and it may occur that you have to walk some of the way from the lifts to the huts. It takes about 40 minutes along a good trail. That is why we recomend you carry a backpack not a handbag with your gear. After a short rest and tea we start for a hike up to the beginning of the Pastuckhov rocks and probably higher (4200-4300 m/ 14100 ft). Depending on weather and time your guide may offer to give a short snow\ice\rope\self-belay technique courses. Lunch, dinner and overnight at the Barrels huts.

The barrels huts are not the highest huts but are the most comfortable ones. There is electric power, light and heaters, personal beds, a separate big dining room and a kitchen. One of the important rules for acclimatization is: walk as high as you can but sleep as low and comfortable as it is possible. This allows you to relax and rest after a hard day. Having a night on a high elevation in bad conditions will makes a climber feel more exhausted when waking, without any activity.

We believe it to be favourable to have a good rest before a summit day. That is why on day 4, we will go for an acclimatization hike not higher than 4300 m (14100 ft) and return to the huts for rest. Depending on weather and time your guide may offer to give a short snow\ice\rope\self-belay technique courses. Our tours do not assume any previous experience and many participants in groups are novices. Your guide will give some training only to ensure you feel more comfortable with crampons or an ice axe, we do not expect you to use any climbing technique when it really concerns safety. If there is any danger our guides will rope you up and make a proper belay.

Although we do not recommend strenuous hikes on this day if you want to go higher our guide can accompany you, although not higher than Pastuckhov rocks. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, overnight in the Barrels huts.

Sometimes if all people in a group are in a very good shape and have good acclimatization we can climb to the top even on this day. However the decision about this must be taken on the first day at Baksan Valley.

Day 12 is the summit day for Elbrus. We wake up early in the morning (at about 2am) and leave The Barrels after breakfast at about 3am. The idea is to meet the sunrise somewhere over the Pastuckhov rocks. It is possible for the group to hire a snow-cat (Ratrak) for this part of the trek. This vehicle carries climbers (12 people) up to Pastuckhov rocks, saveing 2 hours and a lot of energy. Generally, for an average group, it takes about 7 hours to reach the top and 3 hours to come back to The Barrels.

Generally we stay at the Barrels for this night. If a group returns to the Barrels before 2 pm we can discuss the possibility to descend to the valley and spend the night at the mountain hotel. However this will require an additional payment for the hotel, because this night has been paid for the huts. After breakfast at Barrels, we descend back to the mountain hotel and have a rest day with short hikes around or shopping at the wool market. In case we do not reach the top the day before due to bad weather, we will reserve two days for the summit and return back to Baksan valley.

On our last day in Caucasus, we will drive back to Mineralnye Vody airport for the end of services.

For Moscow hotels, and international flight tickets back to home, you can ask for a quote from our staff.

PERMITS & VISAS

ARARAT CLIMBING PERMIT & VISA

It is well known that the Ararat Mountain, which had been a favorite for climbers until 1980 was closed to the public during the Kurdish insurgence. It was reopened to visitors in 2001 when security in the area was reestablished. Nevertheless, to ensure continuance of security, visits to Mount Ararat are now under strict government control.

Individual climbers are subject to security investigations and only those who are approved are allowed to visit.

Foreigners traveling alone who wish to climb Mt. Ararat should apply to the Turkish consulate in their country and apply for an "ARARAT CLIMBING" visa. Even individuals from those countries that do not require an entry visa to Turkey, should have their passports stamped with a special purpose visa by the Turkish consulate in their own countries. Applications made through the consulate are then sent to the office of the General Staff of Turkey, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, and the Ministry of Tourism. Those applications that are approved are then forwarded to the office of the governor of Agri city and the local military police. The same documents are sent to the Turkish consulate of the originating country. Upon entry to Turkey these special visas are shown to the appropriate offices.

These procedures generally take up to two months for individual applicants, but if you join in our Ararat tours, we carry out the proper procedures on behalf of you which is the fastest and easiest way to obtain the necessary visas and permissions.

CAREFULLY FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

1) In the booking form, please fill all personal and passport details completely.

2) Send your booking form together with a scanned photocopy of your passport either by fax to number: +902164184522 or by email to address: info@anatolianadventures.com

3) It is important that all participants should inform Anatolian Adventures about the name/location of the Turkish Consulate or Embassy closest to their hometowns. This location can't be changed after we send the application, and it is the place where you will pick-up your special purpose visa stickers when the permit procedure is complete.

Because of the sensitive position of Mount Ararat, being on the border of Turkey, it is officially declared to be 2nd degree Military zone. So without any exclusion, all EU members, USA citizens and citizens of all countries which Turkey does not demand ordinary visa procedure, will have to apply for the Special purpose visa, stating sportive aim.

As soon as we get the passport & Consulate information we apply to the Ministry of Tourism for the permit authorization with an official paper. The Ministry of Tourism applies to the other authorities for authorization; The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Military. When the Ministry of Tourism gets authorization from all these authorities, Anatolian Adventures will be informed about the permit. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send an official paper to the Turkish Consulate or Embassy named by the applicants previously. We will then inform the participants to go to this consulate or embassy and collect their special purpose visas.

RUSSIAN VISA

All foreign nationals are required to have entry visas to travel to the Russian Federation. Russian entry visas can be obtained at your local Russian Embassy or Consulate. A proper invitation (visa support) from a specially authorized travel agency (host company) is required.

A visa for the Russian Federation is a document, permitting a stay in Russia for a specific period of time. A visa lists exact entry/exit dates. You can enter/leave Russia on any date within the visa period but to overstay is a serious violation and in the case of an overstay, leaving the country could become much more troublesome than entering it.

We can send visa support for more days than the period of our main service but for not more than 20 nights. If you need a greater period please make real reservations in hotels through us for the extra days or contact a visa company to purchase the proper kind of visa. A sample of a visa company: www.visatorussia.com

Requirements for foreign citizens to enter Russia (tourist visa)

- Passport: must be valid 6 months beyond intended stay
- Russian Visa: required
- Vaccination: not required

Requirements for obtaining Russian tourist visa in a Russian Consulate.

- Your original passport with at least 2 blank visa-designated pages (passport must be valid for at least 6 months after intended departure date from Russia).
- Two copies of Russian visa application form (Consulate's Questionnaire), completed and signed.
- One passport-size photo signed on the back.
- Visa support (invitation) page(s) from host company. ('Voucher' and 'Confirmation' forms)
- Consular fee (different in different countries) must be paid.

We will send you your visa support (invitation) page as an email attachment. It is a page with two forms: "Voucher" and "Confirmation of Hosting". You have to print it out and take to the Consulate along with the other necessary items. There will be some comments sent out with the visa support, these comments will help you fill out the Consulate application form (questionnaire). If you are going to apply for the visa in a country that is not of your citizenship, let us know the country as some Consulates (such as in France, Japan and others) have their own demands for the visa support edition.

All Russian Visas should be registered upon arrival to the Russian Federation.

According to Russian law, your Russian visa must be registered within 72 hours upon your arrival (excluding weekends and official holidays).

If you stay at a hotel, the hotel will register your visa. You will be asked to provide your visa and passport, a small registration fee may be imposed.
If you are not staying at a hotel and travel on a tourist visa you will have to register your visa at the Passport and Visa Department of the local Police Precinct (OVIR/UVIR office).
In the case that you have a tour organised with a tourist company, they will register your visa themselves.

Please note that not registering your Russian visa may lead to serious problems: detention by police, fines on departure, prevention from boarding the plane, etc. We strongly advise you to register your Russian visa to avoid possible unnecessary inconveniences. Paying a fine does not free you from registering. If you do not register within 72 hours you must pay the fine before you are able to register.