Yeniden Kafkaslar ve Elbrus / Caucasus and Elbrus Again

Universite yillarimda gordugum ve tirmandigim Kafkas daglarina tekrar gidebilmeyi cok istiyordum ve bunu Turkiye’de oldugum bir zamana denk getirirsem yolu da kisaltabilirim diye dusunuyordum. Daha once 1999'da gittigim ama elimde neredeyse 3-5 siyah beyaz fotografi disinda birseyi olmayan Elbruz’a (bir de o zamanlar siyah beyaz çekiyormuşum :)) 2017 yazinda bir sekilde tekrar gitmek uzere karar verdim. En fazla! bir hafta ayiracaktim ve esas amacim bol fotograf, video ve de tabi ki antreman olacakti.

Dag ve bolgeyle ilgili elimde her turlu lojistik bilgi mevcuttu asinalik da dahil. Sonucta cok populer bir dag. Basta Amerika’dan niyetlenmis birkac arkadasim da, sonradan cok kisa bir tirmanis icin o kadar yol gitmek istemedi. Tek basima gitmek uzere hazirliklara basladim yavastan, bir yandan da belki Turkiye’deki arkadaslarimdan birileri katilabilir diye de dusunuyordum. Ilk aklima gelen tabi ki Halduncugum oldu. 25 yillik dostum kendi isini yaptigi icin bircoklarina gore daha rahat boyle birseye vakit ayirabilirdi (ve de guzel foto ceker kendisi! :)). Netekim takvimine bakti ve Temmuz icin bir hafta belirledik hemen. Tirmanis ile ilgili artik cok standartlasmis lojistik islerini email ile arka arkaya hallettim ve yola cikmadan birgun once Istanbulda bulusup son hazirliklari tamamladiktan sonra kendimizi Nalchik ucaginda bulduk. Bizi karsilayan arac ile Cheget koyune geldik. Burasi Terskol’un dibinde, daha kucuk bir yerlesim. Merkezde biraz dolandik, eksiklerimizi tamamladik. Ertesi gun, Haldun’un bitmeyen isleri uzerinde calismasi gerekti, ben de aklimatizasyon kosusuna/yuruyusune ciktim, bolca fotograf cektim. Ucuncu gun, bir kere teleferik iki kere de telesiyeje binerek cikabildigimiz en yuksege ciktik (~3800m). Zaten indigimiz yerin dibinde de icinde kalacagimiz silindir seklinde “barrel” denen konteynirler bulunuyordu. Bizimkinde halihazirda 4 dagci kaliyordu, 2 de biz eklenince 6 kisilik kapasite doldu (1999'da, daha sonraki yillarda yanan ve tekrar yapilan Prius hut’da kalmistik).

Bu arada bu yukseklige kadar bizimle cikan her cesit insan gorduk, yaslisindan, gencine, cocuguna, sporcu goruneninden sporcu gorunmeyenine, yani halktan her turlu insan buradaydi. Ne kadar guzel birsey, herkesin erisebilecegi bir mekan olmus, herkes de kalkmis gelmis.  Kimi kaymaya, kimi yurumeye, kimi fotograf cekmeye… Tesisler eski, ortam cok duzensiz vs ama gelmisler iste. Alplerde de cok gordugum ve cok sevdigim bir durum bu: Daglar herkesin.

Ertesi gun agirdan kahvaltimizi ettik ve aklimatizasyon yuruyusu yapmak uzere yanimiza birkac yiyecek birsey ve su alarak yola ciktik. Ikimizin de kondusyonu yerindeydi, Haldun kendisininkinin cok kotu oldugunu soyluyordu abartarak, hatta beni bir ara endiselendirdi bile, ama tabi ki her zamanki gibi nefesi bile teklemeden cikti. Klasik Haldun. Yolda inise gecmis birkac Turk dagci ile karsilastik, buyuk bir grup olarak gelmisler, birkaci zirve yapmis, asagi iniyorlardi. Biraz sohbetten sonra devam ettik ve baya iyi yol aldik: ~5000 metreye kadar ciktik. Gune biraz daha erken baslasaymisiz zirveye bile gider gelirmisiz (zirve 5642 metrede), hatta hayiflandik bu duruma. Ikimizin de durumu superdi cunku. Neyse, bol fotograf cekip geri indik. Bu arada Haldun telesiyej ve konaklama kosullarini surekli Alplerle kiyaslayip, buradakilerin ne kadar kotu ve pahali oldugundan yakindi. Evet farkli olmasi konusunda hakliydi: kosullar daha zor, daha az “luks” denebilecek seyler var konfor acisindan, ama burasi Rusya, daha az kalabalik ve daha kucuk Avrupa Alpleriyle kiyaslamak cok dogru gelmiyor.

Ertesi gunku hava durumu kotu gosterdigi icin birsey yapmamaya karar verdik.  Malzemelerimizi gozden gecirip cantalarimizi hazirladik. Ben gunun cogunda kitap okudum, Haldun yine islerini halletmeye koyuldu. Oldugumuz yerde 3G vardi, Haldun’un da onceki tahminlerinin aksine orada oldugumuz hafta son dakikada isleri cok artmisti. Sabaha karsi ayakta olacagimizdan erkenden yattik. Gece 4'te kalktik ve bir snowmobilin arkasina atlayip (Dagda vizir vizir geziyorlar ve gunubirlikcileri yukarilara indirip cikariyorlar. Gruplar icin de daha buyuk kar araclari var) ~4200 metrelerdeki Pastukhova kayalarinin oldugu yere kadar ciktik.

Onumuzde kafa lambalariyla tirmanisa coktan baslamis bir dolu ekip gorduk. Gunesin dogusuyla bolca fotograf ceke ceke ilerledik ve ona ragmen onumuzdeki butun ekipleri gectik! :) Dogu ve bati zirvesi arasina geldigimizde (“saddle” denen bolge, ~5410m) hava isindigi icin ustumuzdeki ekstra katmanlari cikardik, birseyler yiyip ictik ve tirmanmaya devam ettik. Yine onumuzde kim varsa gectik. Cok da acaip hizli gitmiyorduk ama o gun dagdaki en guclu tirmanicilardan oldugumuzu soylemek yanlis olmaz. Zirveye vardigimizda, insan sayisi 20-25 kadardi fakat herkes herkesin istedigi gibi zirve fotografi cekmesine musade etti.

Bu arada saat sadece sabah 9 gibi olmasina ragmen hava sicakligi acaip artmisti bile, oyleki inis bir cileye donustu. Ustumuzde tek katman kalana kadar herseyi cikardik. Ellerimizde incecik eldivenler, yuzumuz agzimiz kulaklarimiz kisaca butun tenimiz kapali sekilde ve gozlerimizde bile normal gunes gozlugu yerine kayak maskeleri ile inisi yaptik. Yine de nasil kavrulduk inanamadik. Sicaklik bizi perisan etti, bitirdi. Hem havanin kendi sicakligi hem de karin yansittigi sicaklik ile koca dag bir acikhava hamamina donmustu adeta. Ve inis bitmek bilmedi. Ertesi gun de donus yolunda teleferik ve telesiyej siralarindaki uzun bekleyislerde yine sicaktan perisan olduk. En sonuncusundan iner inmez kendimizi ilk lokantaya attik ve soguk iceceklerle bir kuzu sis soyledik. Bu bolgenin eti inanilmaz lezzetli ve yemeden olmuyor. En son bu kadar lezzetli eti 2009'da Aconcagua solo tirmanisimdan sonra Mendoza/Arjantin’de gezerken yemistim. Cok et tuketen biri olmamama ragmen oralarda gezdigim bir hafta boyunca hergun oglen ve aksam et yemistim parmaklarimi yalayarak, o kadar guzeldi yani. Dusundukce hala agzim sulaniyor. Kafkaslardaki etin de altta kalir yani yoktu.

Aksamuzeri Nalchik’a geri donmustuk, ertesi sabah 6'da da Istanbul’a varmistik bile. Sonuc itibariyle, istedigim gibi hizli ve verimli bir foto/video/antreman tirmanisi oldu. Kafkaslara tekrar gidersem kisin kayak yapmaya gitmek istiyorum sanirim. Cok harika cok guzel daglar. Tekrar tekrar gidilesi ve lojistigi Turkiye’den acaip kolay. Bir de bu bolgedeki (Kabartay-Balkar bolgesi diye geciyor) insanlarin, ozellikle de yaslilarin Turkce anlamalari ve konusmalari harika birsey. Bundan bagimsiz, iletisim kurdugumuz herkes samimi ve guleryuzluydu, kimse kazik atmaya calismadi, heryerde rahat ettik, isimizi gorduk. Cok keyifliydi.

I have wanted to go back and climb in the Caucasus mountains again since my college years. I thought I could arrange it during a summer when I am in Turkey to shorten the overall trip time. And I decided to go back to Elbrus, since, from my first time there in 1999, I only had a few black and white photos (I was into black and white photos then :)) and also it has been so long! This time it was going to be a one-week trip (max) and about photos/videos/training.

I was familiar with the area and the mountain and had all kinds of logistics info (well, it is kind of a very popular place). At the beginning a few friends in the US were interested too but then they didn’t want to travel that far for a short expedition and a quick climb. I started to organize myself to go perhaps on my own but I thought maybe some of my friends from Turkey could join me. The first person came to mind was of course my dear friend Haldun of 25 years. He has his own business so I thought he could perhaps arrange a time to come along with me relatively easier (he also takes great photos! :)).

After talking to him briefly, we already set a time in July for a week. I solved the now-very-standardised logistical stuff with emails and we met one day before our departure in Istanbul to take care of a few last minute things for our trip. And we were already on the Nalchik flight that same night! The driver I arranged picked us up from the airport to go to Cheget – a small village next to Terskol in the valley. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we wondered around a bit. The next day, Haldun stayed behind to take care of his never-ending business calls and emails and I went for an acclimatization run/hike and took some photos. The following day, we set out for the mountain and after changing one cable car and two chairlifts, we reached the base camp area called the barrels at ~3800m/12,470ft (basically some cylindrical containers). We found ours – there were already 4 Russians inside. With our addition, the 6-person capacity was now reached (In 1999, we stayed in the infamous Prius Hut which was burned down but rebuilt later).

Meanwhile, there were all kinds of people going up in the chairs with us: older, younger, kids, people who looked like athletes, people who didn't at all looked like athletes: the full spectrum. I love-d seeing people from all walks of life were taking the time and putting the effort to come up to walk, to take photos, or to just simply be in the mountains (despite the crappy infrastructure around and all). This is a familiar scene from the Alps too and I always love it: Mountains are for everyone.

The next morning after a slow breakfast, we packed some bars and water and went on an acclimatization climb. We were both in great condition. Haldun had been telling me over and over that he was not in shape at all to such extent that I had started to worry – until he started walking up without any changes in his breath. Classic Haldun.  On our way up, we saw several Turkish climbers coming down. A few of them summited that morning and now they were on their way back. We continued and made it all the way to ~5000m/16,300ft – we were moving really well and if we had started our day earlier, we could totally made the summit that day (the summit is at 5642m/18,510ft). Anyway, we took lots of photos and came back down. Meanwhile Haldun was passionately comparing the place with the Alps: where the mountain infrastructure (including huts, toilets, chairs, etc) are relatively nicer and more organized. He was right, things were better in the Alps in those aspects but this was Russia and I personally didn’t find the direct comparison to Alps with only a few million people around as fair.

The weather didn’t look very promising the next day so we decided to take it easy and went over our gear to prepare our summit packs. That was over quickly so I read books most of the day and Haldun tried to catch up with his work since there was 3G where we were. Haldun’s schedule and work load shifted significantly at the last minute for the very week we planned this expedition. The next morning we got up at 4am, and then jumped on the back of a snowmobile we arranged the day before and went up to around ~4200m/13,700ft, near Pastukhova Rocks (There were lots of snowmobiles and snow-cats on the mountain taking daily visitors, hikers, or mountaineers up and down all the time).

There were lots of headlights ahead of us. We started climbing up and although we were stopping a lot to take sunrise photos, we passed every single group/individual ahead of us! :) When we reached the saddle area (~5410m/17,700ft) between the east and the west peaks, we took some layers off, as it was starting to warm up, and continued after eating and drinking a bit. It didn’t feel like we were moving super fast but we were passing everyone – it wouldn’t be wrong to say that we were some of the strongest climbers on the mountain that day.

When we reached the summit, it was already crowded with 20-25 people with more coming in but everyone gave each other enough space and time for summit photos. It was around 9am when it started to feel really warm. On our way down, we were stripped down to single layers on top and bottom. We covered our hands with thin gloves and faces and heads with buffs. We also had ski goggles on although there was no wind, we wanted to protect ourselves from the sun as much as possible. Still though we were miserable from the heat. It was super hot and with the heat reflection from the snow, the mountain felt like one big altitude sauna being baked with sunshine. It felt like a never ending decent. The next morning again the heat did beat us up in the long chair lines trying to go down. When we finally reached the bottom, we sat down at the closest restaurant and ordered some cold drinks as we were completely dehydrated at that point. We also ordered some grilled lamb! The meat in this region is incredibly delicious so really hard to pass on. The last time I had such great meat was when I was wondering around in Mendoza/Argentina in 2009 after my solo climb of Acouncagua. Although I am not into meat much, at the time, for one whole week I ate meat for every lunch and dinner. It was just incredibly tasty. The meat in this Caucasus region was similar.

We were back in Nalchik at the end of the day and in Istanbul by 6am the next morning. At the end, it was a very efficient photo/video/training expedition – just the way I had in mind. If I ever go back to Caucasus though, I’d like it to be in winter for some skiing. Such great place, such wonderful mountains. Also, many people in this region (which is called Kabardino-Balkar), mainly the older folks, speak and understand some Turkish so it was really nice to be able to communicate with them so easily. Regardless, everyone we interacted was very sincere and kind – we were very comfortable everywhere we went and were able to care of what we needed. Overall, it was very pleasant to be there again.

Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace - Squaw

Daha once birkac kere kostugum Miwok100k yarisindan iki gun once baslayan bogaz agrisi, her tur pastili, corbayi, cayi denememe ragmen iyice kotulesmisti. Ustune ustluk son gece bir de atesim cikmisti. Yine de sabahin 5inde Stinson sahilindeki baslangic noktasina gittim, olur da yaris basladiktan birkac saat sonra kendimi iyi hissedersem diye. Baya zorladim ama inisli cikisli parkurda 25 mil/5 saat kostuktan sonra gittikce kotulesen bogazim yuzunden dogru durust birsey yiyemiyordum ve cok gucsuz hissediyordum. Yarisi o noktada birakmak zorunda kaldim. Daha once kostugum bir yaris oldugu icin cok fazla uzuldugumu soyleyemem. Esasinda cok hastaydim, oyle ki kendime gelmem bir 10 gun surdu. Ama bu yaris icin baya iyi antreman yapmistim,  bosa gitmemesi icin de ne zamandir aklimda olan ve birkac hafta sonra yapilacak Squaw kayak merkezindeki Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace’i dusunmeye basladim, ve genelde bu islerde yaptigim gibi son dakikada kararimi verdim. Cuma ogleden sonra yola cikip 3-4 saat uzakliktaki Tahoe’ya geldim. Direk Squaw’a gidip kaydimi yaptirip yaris paketimi aldim ve yaris toplantisina katildim. Bu sene cok fazla kar yagdigi icin dagda hala cok onemli miktarda kar bulunmaktaydi. Bir dolu yere sabit hat cekilmisti. Yaris organizatorleri herkesi kar konusunda surekli uyariyordu oyle ki parkurn %70i yeryer dize kadar kar icinde kosulacakti. Yaris sirasinda kayak yapanlara da dikkat etmemiz gerekiyordu cunku kayak sezonu daha kapanmamisti! (bu kis cok kar yagdi). California’nin unlu dag kosucularinin da cogu oradaydi, bircogu zaten o bolgede yasiyor ve antreman yapiyor. Bir de hem kar uyarisi yapildi hem de asiri sicak uyarisi! Enteresan bir gun olacagi belliydi. Ertesi sabah 7de yaris basladi. Ilk kisim nispeten az egimli ve agaclarin arasindan geciyordu ama daha sonra parkur diklesti. Ya cok dik inisler ya da cok dik cikislar vardi (Sadece 200 m kadar olan tek duz alan da Squaw’in zirvesindeki plato idi!). Birkac dere gecisinden sonra ayaklarim tamamen islak ve camur icindeydi, kar’in basladigi noktaya o sekilde ulastik. Kar icinde kosarken bir ara ayak parmaklarim tamamen uyusmustu, dogru durust hissetmiyordum, ayni anda da inanilmaz bir sekilde sicaklamis durumdaydim oyle ki yardim noktalarinda yanimdaki bandananin icine buz koyup boynuma doluyordum. Kosullar ayni anda hem kis hem de yaz idi! Uzerine bir de irtifa eklenince gercekten baya zorlayici bir yaris oldu. Ama inanilmaz guzel manzaralar esliginde. Cok guzel bir dagda cok harika bir yaristi dogrusu. Bitiste madalyami aldiktan sonra daha yeni Everest’e oksijensiz tirmanmis olan ve Tahoe’da yasayan Adrian Ballinger ile karsilastim. Yaristan ve daglardan konustuk, sonbahardaki antreman ve tirmanis planlarindan beni haberdar edecek, boyle tecrubeli insanlardan ogrenilecek cok sey var. Yaris sonrasi da Avustralya, Kanada, Yeni Zellanda, Kolombiyali arkadas grubumla harika bir yemek yedik. Ertesi sabah sicaga ve kalabaliga kalmamak icin sabah saat 5te yola ciktim, 8de San francisco’da evimdeydim. Yaris sonuclarina bakarken yas grubumda 3. oldugumu da ogrendikten sonra keyifle butun gun dinlendim. Harika bir haftasonu olmustu. Yarisin kisa ve uzun videolarini asagida gorebilirsiniz. Fotograflarin bazilarina da Broken Arrow Skyrace facebook sayfasindan bakabilirsiniz.

I got a really bad sore throat right before this year’s Miwok100k race – which I had run a few times in the past. Although I tried all kinds of remedies, it didn’t get any better and I started to get fever on top of it. Still though, I made my way to the start at 5am at Stinson beach thinking perhaps I'd feel better in a few hours into the race. I didn’t. I pushed it and was able to run only 25 miles/5 hours up and down on the trails. I couldn’t eat much due to my throat and felt very weak. I had to quit at that point and I really didn’t feel bad for quitting since I was feeling very sick. And also I had run that race before. It took me almost 10 days to fully recover. Since I trained for it and was in good shape already, I started to look for a new race. I was thinking about the Broken Arrow 52K Skyrace at Squaw ski resort for some time and decided to do it at the last minute. I drove to Tahoe in 4 hours Friday afternoon directly to Squaw to register and to get my race packet. At the race briefing, we were told that there was a lot of snow on the mountain and they placed fixed lines at some spots. It snowed a lot this year and apparently 70% of the course was still covered in snow. And the ski season was still on so that meant there would be skiers on the course as well. So there were warnings about snow and also about the heat since it was going to be a very hot day too! Plus some of the famous trail runners in California were at the race. It was shaping up to be a very interesting day. The next morning the race started at 7am. The first sections were relatively smooth through some trees and then we hit the super steep ups and downs (as a matter of fact, the only flat section of the course was the small plateau on the summit of Squaw!) After a few creek crossings, my feet were completely wet and covered with mud when we hit the snow line. After a while, my feet was so cold and numb and my head was having a heat stroke such that at the aid stations I’d put ice in my bandana and put it around my neck: winter and summer at the same time. And the elevation on top of that made it very challenging. But the views were fantastic. It was a great mountain race overall. After picking up my finishers medal, I did chat a little bit Adrian Ballanger, who just got back from climbing Everest without oxygen. He lives in Tahoe and will keep me posted about training runs and climbs – there is so much to learn from people like him. Post-race dinner was great with friends from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Colombia. To ovoid the heat and the traffic, I left at 5am the next morning and was back in San Francisco by 8am. When I checked the race website, I found out that I was 3rd in my age category! Then I rested at home peacefully and happy! It was a great weekend. Some of the race photos can be seen from the Broken Arrow Skyrace facebook page.

Chamonix ve etrafinda donem tatili / Spring Break in Chamonix and around

Verbier Kayak Merkezi - Isvicre'de en tepeden manzara / View from the top of Verbier Ski Resort - Switzerland

Courmayeur Kayak Merkezi - Italya / Courmayeur Ski Resort - Italy

Arkadasim Kat ile harika bir donem tatili! Bu tatilde Chamonix’den Zermatt’a meshur Haute route uzerinden kayaklarla gitmeyi dusunuyorduk ama baska bir zamana ertelemeye ve Chamonix’de kalmaya karar verdik. Chamonix gercekten harika bir dag kasabasi. Turistiyle, yerlisiyle her tur insan var. Cok meshur biryer olmasina ragmen hicbir zaman cig hissettirmiyor kendisini, ve de herkes cok sakin ve huzurlu genel olarak. Ayrica, buradaki ve etrafindaki kayak merkezlerinde kayak yapmak cok asiri pahali degil (Tahoe’dakileri ya da Amerika’daki benzer sekilde meshur kayak merkezlerini dusununce). Birgun Alplerin Isvicre tarafindaki Verbier kayak merkezine, bir baska gun ise Italya tarafindaki Courmayeur kayak merkezine gittik. Cografya her mekanda bir degisik, yeme icme daha degisik, ve genel olarak ortamin havasi bile degisik! Kayak disinda, cok sicak olan birkac gun Chamonix vadisinde kosular da yaptik. Bir taraftan da Kat, Kathmandu’ya Lhotse ekspedisyonu icin gitmek uzere hazirliklarini yapiyordu. Son dakika alisverisleri, ekipman kontrolu, ve canta hazirlama ile ugrastik ara ara. Bu hazirlik kisminin parcasi olmak da cok guzel ve heyecanliydi. Ve tabi ki bir dolu tirmanis ve kosu plani da yapildi! Bu arada Kat, daha yakin zamanda, Guney Kutbu’na 4 kisilik bir ekibin parcasi olarak desteksiz!!! 6.5 hafta suren bir ekspedisyon ile kizaklarla ulasan ilk Ingiliz kadin! 915km/560 mil ucsuz bucaksiz sastrugi denen dalgalanmis buz uzerinden kayak/kizakla! (Genelde insanlar son enlemi -89.cudan 90.ya kadar- kayak/kizaklarla gecerek Guney Kutbu’na ulasiyorlar, Antartika’nin bir kiyisindan baslayip butun yolu gecerek degil!). Harika bir ilham kaynagi ve cok sevdigim bir arkadasim olan bu kadinin Lhotse ekspedisyonunu ve gelecekteki maceralarini Instagram hesabindan takip edebilirsiniz: @k2koolkat.

Grand Montets Kayak Merkezi - Chamonix / Grand Montets Ski Resort - Chamonix

Spring break well spent with Kat! We were thinking about skiing from Chamonix to Zermatt – the infamous Haute route but postponed that plan to another year and stayed in town. Chamonix is such a cool mountain town with all kinds of people including tourists and locals. Despite being a very famous touristic spot, I find this place to be very chill and normal. And it is not super expensive to ski around there (compared to what you’d pay in Tahoe or in some other very touristic places). One day we went to ski at Verbier in Switzerland, another day we were skiing in Courmayeur in Italy! Each about 45 min drive away! Yet the terrain is different, the food is different, and the overall vibe is different! A few days were very warm so we also opted for some runs in the Chamonix Valley. Kat was also getting ready to leave for Kathmandu for her Lhotse expedition so there was some last minute shopping, gear-checks, and packing involved. It was so good to be part of the excitement and it was a great time overall – as always with Kat! including lots of planning for future running and climbing expeditions together. She actually very recently got back from South Pole where she became the first British woman to reach South Pole fully unsupported!!! in 6.5 weeks as part of a 4-person team that she did skied/sled all the way of 915kms/560 miles on endless sastrugi from the coast to the pole! (Usually people chose to ski/sled the last degree –from 89th to 90th- in a week or so to get to South Pole). She is such an inspiration and such a great friend! Follow her Lhotse expedition (and future adventures) on Instagram: @k2koolkat.

Vadideki kosularimizdan / From one of our runs in the valley