If a visit to Turkey is a stimulation of the senses the arrival in Istanbul is a bombardment.

Within a few hours of departing any European capital you can be standing on the busy banks of the Bosphorous peering across to Asia. Our single day in Istanbul was inevitably crammed and included visits to the remarkable Aye Sofya & Blue Mosques in Sultanahmet; a walk past the hundreds of fisherman on the Galata bridge (in true fishing style not catching anything); a delicious fish & salad sandwich whilst perusing the eclectic wares of the Golden Hourn fish Market and a wander along the Grand Boulevard, the incredibly lively main street of ultra modern and sophisticated Istanbul. Brief respite from the bombardment came in the form of Turkish coffee bars where a step out of, and view back in to, the unending procession of people could be had. Further, warmer & wetter relaxation was found in the echoing confines of the 300 year old, charismatic and squeaky clean ‘Cagaloglu’ hamman.

A culinary highlight of any trip to Istanbul / Turkey and at 4 Turkish Lira a cheap & healthy meal!

Evening entertainment in Istanbul could easily continue long & hard in to the night and in spite of our 0430 reveille next morning we sampled enough to get a flavour for the incredibly lively and cosmopolitan atmosphere. Despite being one of the largest cities in the Islamic world the atmosphere felt more like a good night out in the West End than trying hard to find a beer in Islamabad.

Slightly bleary eyed, next morning we disembarked into a driech morning in Van with a strong feeling of being firmly in Asia now. The day was spent exploring the 10th century church 3km out in to Lake Van and some ancient Armenian tombs en route to the slightly uninspiring small town of Adilcevaz. The weather was a tad on the uninspiring side too although occasional breaks gave fleeting glimpses through the clouds to various large snowy peaks including tomorrows objective.

Ski Touring around Lake Van, Eastern Turkey

Suphan Dagi(4058m):

Having met the rush hour (about 1000 goats!) on the dirt track to the small hamlet of Adyinlar we left the bus at 2295m leaving us a substantial 1700m of skinning & booting to summit of Mount Suphan. Our small group stopped short at the fine ski summit of 3700m and embraced the ski descent with soft fresh snow on soft spring snow. Challenging skiing inspiring the phrase

“you've got to ski the whole mountain!”

After an interesting two and a half hour drive with views of old volcanic lava flows and a mist shrouded Ararat we reached the Kurdish town of Dogubayazit which is both the gateway to Ararat and the frontier road to Iran.

Mount Ararat (5137m)

Day 1: Next morning a 45 min drive up a bumpy muddy track took us to the road head at around 2200m where locals from the village of Eli and their ponies took our heavy ski, mountaineering and camping gear to Base Camp. Three easy hours walking took us into camp, superbly situated at 2900m with wide views over the flat valleys lying at the base of the concave volcanic slopes of Ararat. Whilst putting the tents up impressive thundery storm clouds passed by delivering heavy showers in the valley but fortunately not us. An evening novelty in what felt like an expedition environment was to have Turkish cuisine and not dhal bat for a change!

Ararat is one of best known mountains around due to its biblical description as the final resting place of Noah’s Ark. We didn't see the ark during our visit although, to be fair, the mountain was almost constantly shrouded in mist. The scale of this seriously impressive and isolated volcano is such that the perimeter road around just the western and northern aspects alone is 99km.

Poor weather descended the mountain to greet us and foil our Ararat summit plans. Another one to 'go back for!'

Day 2: After a traditional Turkish breakfast of bread, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, goats cheese and hard boiled eggs we made the pleasant steady 400m skin up to camp 2. A kit stash was deposited before continuing up the route on Ararat to a convenient mini cave at 3900m. The weather was deteriorating rapidly and thick hail poured through heavy grey clouds. A brief but timely clearance gave way for some clean crisp turns on a shallow layer of fresh snow all the way back down to the tents. With no mess tent in camp dinner was a quick and basic affair and folk rapidly retreated to their own tents for what would turn out to be the start of a sleeping bag marathon.

Day 3: The extended sojourn was part voluntary, as today was scheduled for further acclimatisation, but mainly enforced by the competition raging outside to see whether hail, wind or thunder could make the most noise shuddering the tent. Today would be a full tent rest day interrupted only by occasional goggle clad visits to the snow walled toilet!

Day 4: after 42 hours tent bound it was time to give the mountain a try despite the forecast being a lot better than the actual weather. Much of the fresh snow had been scoured off the south facing slopes above camp but as we climbed steadily up the thick grey cloud base descended to meet us. So, at camp 2.5 at 3800m we gathered for a quick group picnic and watched the mist intensify. The decision to retreat was made easily and a great ski down rapidly saw us repacking bags in base camp and enjoying the contrast of trekking back through grassy alps filled with spring wild flowers.

Turquoise waters of Lake Van looking inviting below

Mount Artos (3556m)

To make the most of our final day we took an evening drive to the bustling city of Van on the southern shores of Lake Van. A final alpine start saw us trekking in trainers through scrubby Mediterranean meadows, an unusual start to a day’s ski touring. But a fine days touring it was with 1600m of sustained skinning to the impressively situated Artos. To the south the clouds were thickening over the Hakkari Mountain Range with a myriad of attractive looking ski peaks extending toward the border with Iraq. The shimmering turquoise waters of Lake Van were a constant frame in the views north and had provided a central structure to our ski touring trip in Eastern Turkey.

We had not climbed Ararat on this trip but this seemed of little consequence amongst the rich variety of experiences on, and off, the skis in this fascinating part of the world.

Not only was the ski touring of a high quality but it is set against a dramatic geographical and political background unique to Eastern Turkey.

Go and experience it for yourself.

Ski Touring in E. Turkey & Mt. Ararat (5137m)

Ski Touring above Lake Van in Eastern Turkey

Steep skiing off the N. side of Mount 'Artos' (3556m)

Mount Ararat Base Camp, Turkey