What is Svalbard anyway ?

Svalbard is an archipelago off the north coast of Norway and is a very interesting place from many angles. It is the northernmost place you can easily get to – a regularly scheduled 3-hour flight from Oslo takes you to Longyearbyen, the capital of the Archipelago, and the largest settlement. At 78 degrees north, it is closer to the North Pole than Oslo.

Being so far north, it has a polar night of 84 days and a long period of midnight sun with sun setting for the first time around August 25th. There are less than 3000 permanent residents at Longyearbyen, by far the largest settlement on the island, and just 1200 beds to accommodate tourists.

Svalbard has a special status – governed by the Svalbard treaty, which gives it ownership to Norway but allows other countries to operate in it. It is not part of the Schengen zone, and you do not need a work permit to work or open a business there.

The Arctic wilderness is just steps away. It is raw, untouched wilderness with no trail, bridges, or well-prepared camp sites. There are a lot of remains from old mining towns and exploration expeditions. Due to arctic conditions, everything degrades very slowly, and you can glimpse into the past, frozen in time.

Polar bears are a real concern. You must carry a gun outside of the town borders. Restaurants here serve reindeer, minke whale, and even seal meat. Longyearbyen has some 40km of car roads, and most of long-distance travel is much easier with snowmobiles during winter, which is by far the most popular motorized transport in town.

Most tourists coming to Svalbard choose to lodge in Longyearbyen, which has many very comfortable hotels with most of the modern amenities you would expect, and they do day hikes and boat rides from this base.

This was not enough for us; instead, we wanted to do a completely autonomous 4-day hike, staying in the wilderness in tents.

The initial plan was to take a boat and hike by some glacier, but it did not work out as someone made a mistake of offloading diesel in the local gasoline supply, making it useless, so the small gasoline-powered boats we planned to operate could not be used, so we ended up trekking from Longyearbyen. Initially, I was disappointed as I thought this would ruin the opportunity of being truly remote… but actually, I think this was a much better route than the one we had originally planned, as it allowed us to visit a number of ruins and Russian ghost towns, which is something I find very cool.

Here is how it went:

Day 0, Aug 6, 2025

We arrive from Oslo in the afternoon, a flight taking 3h or so. The airport is very small and efficient, and downtown is just a 10-minute ride away. We are met by our guide Erik and go to the office of our local partner – Snowfox Travel, to pick up additional equipment for our hike.

We are getting freeze-dried instant foods for all our meals, which allows accommodation for vegan or gluten-free options, tea, hot chocolate, and a bunch of sweets for snacks. Selection is decent but not great, through the good news you can supplement it with whatever you like found in the large grocery store in town.

Snowfox travel would also provide us with a Thermos, Nalgene bottle, poles, inflatable pads (some folks experienced leakage issues with those), -29C rated polyester filled sleeping bag, which was way too warm, large, and heavy for conditions (around +8C at night), and a sleeping bag liner.

I was glad I chose to bring my own much lighter and more packable sleeping bag and a proven sleeping pad.

After picking up our supplies, we check into the hotel, go to the local grocery store to pick up snacks, have a brief walk around the town, and go to the welcome dinner at the restaurant next door.

After dinner, we separate our “city stuff,” which we’re leaving in town, from the stuff we’re taking with us and get ready for the hike. The hotel told us we can’t really leave our bags with them for multiple days and instead had to leave our luggage with Snowfox Travel.

Our hotel (Svalbad Hotel), and it looks like many other hotels and museums have a no-shoes policy – you have to take off your shoes and leave them by the entrance… and you’re welcome to walk in your socks or borrow slippers.

Day 1, Aug 7, 2025

We met at 6:00 for a run. It was great that everyone in the group was a runner. Robbie found us a nice 5K trail taking us all through basically all the town. It is about 8C cloudy and windy, though we enjoy the run and it gives us a great feel for the city.

At 7:00, the buffet breakfast is served. It is surprisingly good for the remote location we are at. We also try to stuff up as this is our last “real food” for a while.

We are picked up by Erik, drop off baggage, and drive about 10 minutes to the end of the road towards Longyearbyen Glacier. From here, we start our hike.

First 500 meters or so we go together by trail with a group which is doing a day hike to the local summit, but when we wander off trail and on moraine, and when open glacier.

The first adventure that awaits us is a river crossing. It is not impassable, but on the high side for the season, as the weather was warm, so there is more glacier melt. It is good I have plastic shoes ala “Crocs” which we all can use for crossing. The water is ice cold, but feels good on your feet after walking. Alternatives to Crocs Crossing are either going in your boots and walking wet for the day, or going barefoot on sharp stones in a strong current, which is suboptimal.

The glacier is wet and rather slippery. Erik told us to leave microspikes, as we surely will not need them. This created an additional fun challenge of training to walk on ice. Poles are helpful. It is also good that the glacier is not steep and does not have any significant cracks.

We get to the top of the glacier to the pass, which is just about 650m from sea level. Not surprisingly, this is the lowest altitude glacier we’ve seen.

We cross into the valley, which looks rather green below. There are no trees anywhere on the island, but there is a lot of moss and grass.

After a brief descent, we find a relatively wind-free spot and have our rehydrated lunch, then continue our descent to find a place to camp for the night.

We had to cross one more significant river (which required shoe removal), which was quite fun and refreshing.

When you choose the camp here, you want it to be on the flat and reasonably dry and soft ground, close to the water, and have a good view of the surrounding terrain – you need to watch for Polar Bears, and you do not want to give them an option to sneak out on you.

We found a good location near an old Russian drilling site which fit all of those requirements.

The water situation is interesting – there are a lot of fast rivers in the area, yet they carry a lot of silt and are brown in color, and you do not want to drink that. What you’re looking for is running streams, but on the smaller side, which carry clean water. Because of the population of reindeer and the fact that it takes many years for excrement to decompose, you see it basically everywhere… including most probably your water source. Water is boiled but not additionally filtered before drinking, and you should believe it is enough. In our group, no one had any issues from consuming such water.

The most unusual thing about hiking in Svalbard is the Bear Watch. Local regulations and probably common sense require that there is a person awake on duty at any time to watch for Polar Bear. It is not super likely to see one as there are only an estimated 300 polar bears at Svalbard, which is more than 600.000 square kilometers, which makes it one bear per about 2000 square kilometers (though of course population is not evenly spread across all the land).

We have a group of 5 – 4 hikers and the guide, who does not technically have a dedicated duty but is on standby at all times with the rifle. We had split our shifts 10-12, 12-2, 2-4, 4-6, with the first and last shifts potentially being a little longer as people can go to sleep earlier or wake up later, but they also allow for uninterrupted sleep. First, we thought to rotate which shift you would have, but when we decided, it was most convenient to stick to the same schedule for all 3 nights.

During the Bear Watch shit you walk around the camp and watch out for Bears. You carry Flare, which you can use, and which can threaten the Bear and wake up the guide from the distance if needed, but the rifle stays with the guide for his exclusive use.

Another bear safety thing is to make sure you do not have food or food-smelling garbage in your tent with you; instead, it should be all placed in a separate pack – we used one of backpacks and placed it at least 200m away from the camp with hope that if a hungry bear there to come it would go for food, not for you.

If you wonder how you watch for polar bears during the night, I should remind you, during this season (we hiked Aug 7-10), the sun never sets, so it never gets dark.

Day Stats: Distance: 12.97km, Time: 7:15, Elevation Ascent: 634m, Descent: 573m, Min: 127m, Max: 610m

Day 2, Aug 8, 2025

I thought we would be up by 6, but with Bear Watch, we barely managed to get up at 7. After a quick rehydrated breakfast and coffee with cookies, we tear down our 2 tents and get going.

The weather is similar to the previous day, which is cloudy with rain sprinkles but no serious downpour or never-ending soaking drizzle, so getting wet from the top was not the problem.

On the bottom, though, you often walk by the water-saturated moss, often sinking some 10-15cm into it. Good, really waterproof, not merely water-resistant shoes are a must.

Terrain generally goes up with some gulley crossings requiring us to go up and down. There are a lot of reindeer in this territory, and there are lots of antlers lying around waiting for you to pick them up as a souvenir if this is your thing.

At some point, we reach something which resembles a long-abandoned road that Russian prospectors seem to have used to transfer supplies to numerous drilling sites we were passing.

This time we decided to only have a couple of snack breaks and have lunch when we reach the place for camp, which we do at about 14:00.

This camp is set on the plateau with a good view of the surrounding area and water access, but it is more wet. Our tents are good quality, though, so no water seeps through from saturated ground.

We set up the camp, have lunch, and in the afternoon we plan to leave our heavy backpacks behind and visit Coalsbuchta or Coless Bay – an abandoned Russian mining and port town. It is about 3km away from the camp, mostly going downhill.

Coles Bay is really cool – some buildings were moved and only stilts remain, some were clearly intentionally destroyed, and quite a few were still in quite decent condition, which was fun to explore.

As we were on the cliff overlooking the Coles Bay, we saw the boat leaving the town. Our guide Erik told us it looks like this is a boat attached to the research project with some scientists. By the time we descended, they were gone, so we could not learn what they were doing.

I also use this opportunity to take some cool drone footage while some other members of our team do a “polar plunge,” going for a swim at a local beach.

I wish we had more time to explore this Ghosttown including buildings which are further out, but we needed to head back to the camp

Hike up was a bit longer as now we needed to ascend about 400m, but it was an easy terrain to follow

Day Stats (to the camp only): 11.66km, Time: 4:25:34, Elevation: Ascent 371.8m, Descent: 216m, Min: 96.6m, Max: 369m

Day 3, Aug 9, 2025

We pack up the camp and continue following this old track on the plateau, going slightly up for the first part of the day.

About half an hour into the hike, one of us discovers he is missing his phone; it is in airplane mode with disabled Bluetooth, so we can’t be sure if it is traveling with us or was left at the camp. Erik, with his experience, says it is not very likely for it to be left at the camp, as he checked it for garbage and forgotten items when we were leaving. An extensive backpack search takes place, and the phone is located deep in the sleeping bag. Crisis averted, and we can continue on our way.

No rivers to cross, but there is a tiny glacier crossing. Eric is surprised how much things have changed compared to the last time he was at this spot about a year ago – glacier crossing became more dangerous and complicated as there is a meltwater running under the ice, and it is hard to know how stable the ice is

In the end, Eric finds the ice bridge he is reasonably satisfied with, and we have crossed the glacier rather uneventfully.

From here, we go up to a rather dry hill by the shore. No snow remains on him, and so water sources are extremely limited. After failing to find any decently running creeks, Erik decides we camp in the nice, dry, and flat spot, but bring water with us when we do our afternoon local hike

You can see some abandoned buildings and a drilling platform from the camp – remnants of a Russian drilling expedition of the 1980s, which Erik says we will explore tomorrow.

After a quick lunch and setting up our camp, we went for the local hike to visit Grumant – the old Russian mining town abandoned in the 60s. It is a pretty long way down.

The descent takes us through some of the remaining snow, which guides suggest we can slide on. After a couple of people have a faster-than-intended exit on the rocks below that snow the rest of the group decide it is not such a great idea and go around.

Descent continues off the beaten path, and we go over a series of very loose, unstable rock piles, which are fun for some but less so for others. About halfway, we get to what seems to be the remains of the old path, which workers probably used to take up the hill when the town was functional, which made descent easier.

To my surprise, Grumant is smaller and less preserved than Coles Bay – there are just a few buildings standing and a bit of abandoned equipment. Some of us went down to explore the buildings while others just enjoyed the view of the abandoned town, the bay, and the snowy mountains across it. The sun finally came out, and the view was gorgeous.

We also saw the boat here, which Erik said is a tourist boat doing a tour here, probably after exploring the big glaciers across the bay. They spent a few minutes looking at the city and headed back to Longyearbyen. I used this opportunity to fly my drone and take some cool shots with a boat and an abandoned town in the background.

If I choose one, I would go to Coalsbuchta rather than Grumant, though it was fun to explore both.

With some 500m ascent ahead of us, we wanted to leave no later than 18:00, so exploration time was limited. Perhaps looking forward to dinner, we moved quickly and got back to the camp in about 1h 30 minutes, which includes stopping to fill water for our dinner and breakfast the next day, as well as climbing back over pretty steep inclines.

Day Stats (to the camp only): Distance: 8.54km, Time: 3:51, Elevation: Ascent: 299m, Descent: 195m, Min: 388.4, Max: 517m

Day 4, Aug 10, 2025

Night was as uneventful as ones before – no Polar Bears were spotted by any of the sentries. The morning met us with gorgeous sunny weather, so we were looking at our best weather day yet.

We have our, by now, “standard” re-hydrated breakfast and coffee with cookies and tear down the camp quickly.

We go to explore an abandoned drilling platform. It looks like it is from the 1980s, based on date marks on some equipment, and also stable enough to climb, which we surely do.

There is also a massive garbage field by the platform. Lots of cans and glass jars, and bottles, some still completely intact, yet virtually no plastic, reminding us how much garbage content has changed over the last 50 years or so.

When we explore the cabins a couple of hundreds of meters away, where it looks like workers are lodged, we see soviet pots and pans and other soviet equipment from the 1980s, which very much reminds me of what was in use when I was at Kindergarten and during my early school years.

We see several boxes of potatoes, which look like they were abandoned on the last departure. The soft potato inside has rotten away, but dried potato peels still remain, showing how slowly things degrade here. The fact that there are not many visitors, and the type of people who come to visit, also explains why it was not all picked as souvenirs or vandalized, as happens in many easily accessible places

We continue towards Longyearbyen, and there are a few more abandoned drilling sites and some buildings to explore. It is fun to guess what it could be – for example, one of the ruins could be guessed to be a metal workshop in its glory days due to a huge pile of metal sawdust close to it.

As we continue on our way, we have to take a steep descent into the gulley through the loose rock. Which is not fun with heavy backpacks behind the back. Some of the members called this the hardest or most uncomfortable part of the trip.

In the end, though we’re rewarded with a proper trail – first one we see in 3 days – it is used by day hikers from Longyearbyen. Quick hike by this trail and we’re down in the valley, probably the most beautiful and green we’ve seen since our start.

Another half an hour hike down the valley, and we need to cross the river to get back. It is pretty wide and fast, so it takes some time for Erik to pick a time for us to cross. My “Crocs” get good use by everyone in the team again.

Finally, we’re back into civilization – we get to the old mine and meet the first people since leaving Longyearbyen 3 days ago. Day hikers look at us, carrying big backpacks with a lot of interest.

15 minutes more and we got to the car, which was left here for us by Snowfox Travel staff. Erik says they usually do not lock cars and leave keys inside, as no one steals cars in such a small community.

It is about lunch time and we’re all very committed to avoiding yet another rehydrated lunch, so we all go to a Thai restaurant, which as many things in Svalbard, carries “the most northern” destination. After living for several days on dried food and snacks, it feels really good.

Snowfox travel folks tell us there is something they want to offer us – as they could not take us anywhere by boat, we can change the BBQ planned for tomorrow morning and go on the Bay Cruise on a catamaran instead. After a quick discussion, we agreed to this change.

After lunch, we have a bit of time for rest and/or shopping, though it is Sunday, so most stores (except the grocery store) close at 16:00.

Next in plans is a Sauna with the opportunity of a polar plunge. We enjoy it a lot – after multiple days of hard work, it feels good on the muscles. Everyone uses the opportunity to take a dip in Arctic waters this time around!

After Sauna, we have dinner and head off to sleep as there is another day of adventures ahead.

Day Stats: Distance: 11.01, Time: 4:53:43, Elevation Ascent: 164m, Descent: 624m, Min: 16m, Max: 572m

Day 5, August 11, 2025

This is our “City Day”, though it is also now full of activities. We’re being picked up at 8:15 to go on the Cruise. With some miscommunication, we waited for Snowfox Travel guys to pick us up, where it was rather a bus, parking behind the hotel to pick people up for this activity. It was not super smooth, but in the end, we got on our cruise on time.

The Catamaran was quite nice with 3 decks accessible to guests, and there were fewer than half of the maximum people on board. The day was also gorgeous with mostly sunny skies and almost no waves.

As they sailed through the bay, the crew did a presentation about Svalbard’s history as well as marine life and wildlife.

We saw Walrus, Puffins, Beluga, and Minke Whales while underway, but not particularly close.

There were some human-made attractions too – cabins, broken down ships, and abandoned mines, but the biggest and most interesting was the semi-abandoned Soviet town of Pyramiden, once one of the two major Soviet mining towns on Svalbard (the other being Barentsburg, which is still active). It was a popular place to visit before the Russia-Ukrainian war broke out. Now, most Western companies do not do commercial tours there, but some people still go there, and from what we heard, there is a hotel/bar that still functions.

After viewing Pyramiden from a distance, we continue on our way to the Glacier, sliding directly into the fjord. There are really no fresh icebergs today, and we see no additional wildlife. There is a cool waterfall going from under the glacier, though.

After spending 15 min or so by the glacier, we head back. Light lunch of lentil soup and bread is served on the way, and tea/coffee and snacks are available from the bar.

We arrive back about 14:30 – stop by at the Svalbard Museum, which is a nice little museum about Svalbard’s history. It hosts special exposition now too – it is the 100-year anniversary of the signing Svalbard Treaty this year.

Next, we have a bit of time for shopping and exploring the town. For a little town of 2500, there are plenty of souvenir shops around.

At 17:15, we’re to be picked up for our final activity, Kayaking. However, as they come to pick us up, they tell us it is too windy and Kayaking is cancelled, offering to rebook it for another day… it will not work as we’re leaving the next morning.

This cancellation gives us an opportunity for a nice early dinner and time to pack. We make dinner reservations at Vintergarten restaurant, which is famous for its great atmosphere and having unusual items such as Whale and Seal Steaks on the menu. Amazing deserts too.

Before that last dinner in Svalbard, I took a couple of hours free to go and hike one of the abandoned mines, which you can see on the hills from the city. The hill also offers fantastic photo opportunities for the down below, especially on a sunny day as we had.

After dinner, we pack for departure

Day 6, August 12, 2025

We did not quite feel like running, but also wanted to stretch before the long travel day ahead of us, so we met about 6:00 and went for a walk to explore one of remaining parts of the city we did not see before, in particular old coal processing facility – very distinctly looking building on stilts which you can see almost from anywhere in town. It is actually a museum which I would enjoy visiting… of course, it is closed at this hour

Me, Robbie, and Jon are flying to Oslo at 10:50, and Yurii departs in the afternoon. We’re picked up from the hotel at 9:00, and it still gives us plenty of time to get to the airport, check in our bags, etc. – the place is pretty small and efficient

Good bye Svalbard, I’d love to come and see you again.

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While there were a couple of other structures higher up the mountains to explore, we decided to leave them for next time as sunset was fast approaching and descended through the official trail, enjoying more great sights along the way.

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Mid-January 2025  we attempted to climb Mt Washington. We did not get to the top but it was an awesome experience anyway. 

For those who do not know it – Mt Washington is a relatively low mountain in the White Mountains range in New Hampshire (some 3h away from Boston).  Despite its low altitude, it is famous for some very mean weather, including some wind speed records and there are more rescues (and deaths) than you would expect from such a mountain. 

During summer it is a rather boring mountain, considering there is a road going to the very top, so you can drive there. In winter though, it becomes a great mountain for those who want to explore easy technical mountaineering without travelling far away and dealing with altitude and challenges and acclimatization time which come with it. 

Initially, I was thinking of doing this climb unguided, but reading reviews and because we had a child among us we decided to hire guides and also do the training session the day before the climb.

In the end, we settled on having it as an extended weekend adventure – arrive on Thursday by the end of the day;  Training Day on Friday;  Summit Attempt on Saturday and some additional activities and departure on Sunday.

The training session was frankly not the best – the first part of the day we went through the gear, mainly on a theoretical level… there was no practical stuff like how folks show us how you pack a backpack, get your ice axe on it etc.     In the second part of the day, we had a practical session to learn self-arrest and how to walk in crampons.  While I would expected us to drive up to the altitude where there was some snow and ice, we stayed low, there were only very small patches of snow which we used for training, which was not as interesting or effective as other training I participated in.  The most interesting part for me was learning how to use the rope for descent without the harness.

My biggest regret perhaps is we had this training day at all, as this is the day the weather actually was quite good and perhaps we would have done better just pushing for the mountain in the good weather and doing some additional skill polishing training the next day. 

On Saturday, the forecast was increasing winds by the midday and the afternoon so we started early, around 5 AM.  If it were me I would have started even earlier as love the crispy silent night and walking with headlamps… until you meet the sunrise and gorgeous views open up. 

The Winter trail for Mt Washington starts at AMC Pinkham Notch Visitor Center  – It was great to see free parking, no pass required and the “get ready” room for climbers open 24/7

The first part of the trail was easy walking – no crampons required.   After some hours, we came to the start of Lions Head trail put on crampons and got out ice axes.   I think we could do it 15-20min later, but perhaps for those of us doing crampons for the first time, it was good to start on easy terrain first.

When there comes the steep section. It is wooded, meaning if you fall you’re unlikely to go down very far, on the other hand, you have very little time to self-arrest, before the tree “arrests” you, which might be quite unpleasant.

Our guides had to set up a rope in one of the places, which was pretty steep. I did not use it, though some others in our group did.

While we were in the trees, there was not a lot of wind… just an occasional sound of the wind blowing, as we got above the tree line we started to feel the wind blowing, though it was relatively mild.    The trail very much flattened at that point and I do not really understand why Guides had us walking with ice axes – I think using crampons and poles would be preferred at that point. 

As we got higher up, getting closer to the Lion’s Head some of us were getting tired – Mountaineering is a very much endurance sport and you need to be sure you can keep the pace for many hours in a row.  We were considering splitting the group with some of us going down… but decided to get all together to Lion’s Head and decide.

After the Lion’s Head, the trail goes by the open ridge for a while… which was Really Windy.  Guides suggested we get out from the rocks to see how the wind feels…. And O boy it feels…  I was kicked down from my feet by wind gusts before deciding it was unsafe to continue.    This is the point we turned down.   The weather station on the top of the mountain reported wind gusts of up to 95 mph (150+ km/h) at that time.

To go down we went the summer route as avalanche danger was not bad, per our guides, and it was pretty cool – navigating through the deep snow on a relatively steep slow. 

As we got down below the tree line, nothing showed the windy hell up the mountain – it was Saturday and there were a lot of people hiking and skiing at the lower section of the mountain.

As we got back we discovered a significant storm was expected the next day afternoon which could close down Boston Airport and roads, so we all decided to depart early instead of doing a morning of winter activities.

Takeaways

Even though we did not make it to Mt Washington summit, I still think it is a good beginner mountain for experienced hikers looking to try their hand at mountaineering.     Now I’ve been through the main technical section of the train I also would be comfortable doing it on my own. 

I’m surely planning to get to Mt Washington Summit in Winter – perhaps I should look at the weather and do last last-minute quick weekend trip to climb it sometime. 

If you would like us to repeat the trip as a Geeks Go Peaks adventure too, let us know!

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Mount Ararat is recognized as one of the most accessible peaks above 5000 meters, particularly when ascended during the “summer season.”Yet keep in mind that the easiest 5000m mountain is akin to the easiest marathon—something that still requires most people’s training and grit to complete. 

We climbed Mt Ararat in early September 2024 as a sizable group of 17 people. For many, it was their first attempt to summit a mountain exceeding 5000 meters. 15 people got to the summit, one stayed in Camp 1, suffering from altitude sickness, and yet another developed HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) complication from acute mountain sickness, required evacuation, and spent a few days in the hospital. 

Day 1 – Van and Doğubayazıt

You can fly to multiple airports to climb Ararat – Igdir and Agri are the closest. I was with the part of our group that flew from Antalya, which had only direct flights to Van, the town with fascinating history, though a little further away (some 2h from Doğubayazıt). 

If you have a chance you can arrive in Van a couple of days in advance to explore the surroundings, especially if you’re a fan of ancient history. 

I did not have a chance to explore the town and surroundings, though. We got on the road directly from the airport. We stopped at Lake Van (the largest lake in Turkey) to take a swim, which was quite an interesting experience, as the water in the lake is so rich in minerals!

The second stop we made was Muradiye Şelalesi Falls, which was not what I imagined – it is a pretty crowded tourist trap right in the town. Can be a good stop to stretch your legs, get an ice cream, and a couple of photos, but nothing else. 

One thing you notice while traveling is the heavy military presence – you pass through several block posts and see a lot of heavily armored vehicles on the roads – the fact you’re in the Kurdish territory and close to the border can be felt.

In the early afternoon, we arrived at Doğubayazıt (1650m) and checked into Tehran Boutique Hotel which was pretty simple but clean and comfortable. 

While serving as the base for Ararat climbers Doğubayazıt is not a very touristic town. If you are interested in the real locals’ life rather than a tourist show, it is great to visit. There is a local market to hit, as well as plenty of tea houses and kebab shops. Locals are very friendly, and you should not be surprised if you’re invited by someone you see for the first time to join them for tea.

Day 2 – Trek to Camp 1 (3300m)

We store our “city luggage” at the hotel, load it into minivans, and leave for the mountain around 9:30 in the morning. It is about a one-hour drive and another 15 minutes on the block post, checking our permits as I can assume. 

This day, and every day on the climb we were given “packed lunches” containing some juice drink, some local sweets for a snack, and a sandwich, which we could consume during the break as desired. There was enough proper food at camps so I left most of my “lunches” untouched. 

Mini-buses drop us off at the Ararat foothills at around 2200m and we start our trek to Camp1 at 3300m. The trek is 7km long and takes our group around 4.5 hours at a leisurely pace. A section of the route follows an unpaved road that isn’t heavily trafficked, but the few cars that do pass by create bothersome clouds of dust… Other times the path takes a shortcut and goes by the dedicated trail, shared only with horses, which is much more pleasant. 

The horses were also responsible for carrying our duffle bags all the way to Camp 2, so the only thing we needed to carry at all times was our daypack with the required clothes, water, and food for the day.

It is sunny so it is hot and good suncover and sunscreen are a must. 

The Camp 1 sites are accessible by SUVs which means they are easy to supply, as well as making evacuation from them rather easy.

There are many camps, starting around 3000m, and ours was one of the furthest out. The camp was very comfortable with a dedicated kitchen gathering tent as well as many permanent framed tents with 1 or 2 elevated beds, a hot shower, and a toilet with running water. 

At this time we were only a group at the camp which meant we did not need to share the facilities with anyone.

There was also a good cell phone connection, including LTE, as everywhere we were on the mountain. What was missing though was charging – 

Upon arrival, we were served with tea and snacks and could rest until dinner time at 6:30 pm. Some of our group used this opportunity to take a nap while others explored the surroundings. 

I am a big fan of the “hike high, sleep low” acclimatization method so I always take a chance to hike up 300-500m if the situation permits.

Day 3 – Acclimatization Hike to Camp 2 (4100m)

We wake up at 7; have breakfast and go on an acclimatization hike, taking the same trail as we take the next day to move to Camp 2. There is another (slightly steeper) trail to go to Camp 2, which I would have preferred we used for acclimatization to keep it more interesting. 

The guides told us the hike up should take 3-4 hours – we did it in 2.5 (3.3km, 750m elevation gain) with everyone in the group moving pretty well. The trail from Camp 1 starts as rather flat but gets a lot steeper as you approach Camp 2, so it is a great test to see how the crew is handling steep terrain at altitude. 

At Camp 2 we get some tea and snacks, take pictures and just hang out for a little bit less than 2 hours for acclimatization purposes, and then we head back to Camp 1 using the same route. 

In the afternoon there is an opportunity to chill or hike around. 

Day 4 – Moving to Camp 2 (4100m)

Today we’re moving to Camp 2, meaning all our stuff, not just the day pack needs packing. We pack our duffle bags and leave them for the horses before breakfast and then take a leisurely hike up. We are going even slower today.

One of the group members has been suffering from Altitude sickness and did not sleep well for the last two nights, so he decided to stay behind and wait for our return back at Camp 1.

Upon arrival at Camp 2, we settle into two large framed tents – 8 people per tent. Those who did not have their own crampons get them issued now. There is no snow or ice close to Camp 2, so there is really no opportunity to learn how to use crampons in real conditions. I would wish our guides to find a way to show the group some crampon usage basics as poor crampon technique can cause danger to yourself and your fellow climbers. 

After getting the crampons and preparing gear for the night start some of the group took a nap, before an early dinner, others went to climb up a bit by the same trail we were to start during the night. 

We got an early dinner around 5 pm and went off to bed to wake up around 12:30 am and start-up.

Day 5 – Summit Push

I was too pumped with adrenaline to sleep well, plus there was an altitude… others in the group had mixed success but because of the loud snoring at least some of us were able to sleep. 

From the camp, we could see the lights of Doğubayazıt and many smaller towns and villages all around us, showing how close we are to civilization, and to the same extent how far.

As we had “breakfast” one more member decided he would not continue up because he did not feel well… this turned out to be a serious case of HAPE requiring evacuation, which I covered in detail in another article.

As we started up we moved at a very slow comfortable pace. I ended up having more layers than I usually would for conditions. The trail-up was pretty easy, with just a few moderately steep parts. 

The forecast from Mountain Forecast was calling some 25km/h winds at the top and -1C. It ended up being a bit colder – some -4C as we were nearing 5000m. Stronger than expected wind made it even colder. I ended up putting my ski mask and balaclava to good use as well as warm mittens. 

I had single-layer mountaineering boots on my feet which were doing quite well. Some people have even lighter footwear and I do not think anyone had a problem. 

As we reached the glacier we stopped to put on crampons. It was in a rather windy and uncomfortable spot. 

We indeed used crampons for a very short time and on rather non-technical terrain. Some other groups told us they only used crampons on the way down, but we ended up using them both ways.

On the summit, it was very windy, to the point you had to be careful with your backpack and poles as they were looking to fly away. We could even barely hear each other. So no drone shots or fun activities on the summit – we barely took a few pictures and hurried down the mountain. 

All 15 folks who left Camp 2 made it to the summit, even without requiring us to split the group into faster and slower subgroups. I appreciate everyone who signed up for this expedition trained so well and also worked so hard during the summit push!

Descent to Camp 2 was quite uneventful and by 10 am we were back at the camp. 

Dealing with the HAPE emergency and arranging for the evacuation messed up our plans a bit. Overall though we had a snack, took a brief rest, packed, and went down the mountain. Because our guides were tied up handling evacuation we went down on our own in small groups. 

Overall, I made it to Camp 1 by 1 PM, and the rest of the group arrived within the next hour.

We chose to have an early dinner and go to bed early as it had been a long day after a sleepless night for most of us.

Start: 1:30 am; 7.6km roundtrip to summit around 8:30h; Took us about 5h to reach the summit; Total Ascent by GPS 1250m

Day 6 – Return to Doğubayazıt, Ishak Pasha Palace, Hamam

We chose to start early to reduce the amount of time we had to hike under the hot midday sun. Beautiful weather and lots of opportunities for pictures on the way down. It took us 2:30h to cover 7km and descend 1200m.

We arrived at the hotel by 11:30. Although not everyone could check into their rooms right away, we were able to leave our belongings at the hotel, grab some lunch, and then set off for Ishak Pasha Palace by 2 pm—one of the best-preserved palaces of its kind.

From the plaza by Ishak Pasha Palace, you can see the ruins of an old huge Urarian Castle almost 3000 years old. I would wish we had time to explore those as they look very interesting and not developed at all.

Ishak Pasha’s Palace has most of its walls in good condition, but the lack of artifacts from its era makes it less captivating. A visit of about one to one and a half hours is sufficient to explore the site.

We return to the hotel, everyone gets their room and after an hour or so we go to the local Hamam (Turkish Bath) – a short walking distance from the hotel. 

The hamam we attended was set in the local apartment building and looked like a place where locals would go, rather than something focused on serving tourists. The surprising thing was that they had provided swim trunks for rent for those who thought they were going to the mountains, and so did not need one. 

We could enjoy a swimming pool, a dry and wet sauna, and a rather unusual form of massage, where soap is used instead of oil. It was a good way to clean up after a few days in the mountains. 

We ended the day with dinner at a local restaurant, indulging in more kebabs and saying our goodbyes, as some folks were leaving very early the next morning.

Day 7 – Departure Day

The groups of us were picked up and taken to the airport for our departure. Most of us were going to Istanbul from Igdir. 

Just before the time to leave for the airport, we got a notification our plane was going to be delayed. I thought it was not a problem as we would just have more time to have lunch at the airport. Rookie mistake! Igdir airport is actually located in the middle of nowhere and it is a very small airport without any decent food options – the “best” food you could get from that snack bar was a very basic ham and cheese sandwich. 

Considering we had plenty of time, a better option would have been to stop somewhere for lunch.

At Istanbul airport, another surprise awaited us. While the Uber application suggested a couple of convenient pickup spots, that was not the reality. Instead, the Uber driver navigated us to locations outside of the airport territory—about 15 minutes away—through a series of messages. If I had known, I would have taken a cab instead, which was readily available right by the exit door.

Summary

Overall, it was a fantastic experience. We appreciated the beauty and challenge of Ararat, as well as the opportunity to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. I wish we hadn’t had to deal with the HAPE emergency during the trip, and there were some logistical issues that could have been avoided. However, I believe Ararat is a great mountain for anyone looking to climb a 5,000m+ peak or seeking a fun and unique corporate team-building event.

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The post Climbing Mt Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) – 5137m appeared first on Peter Zaitsev.

We had an expedition to climb Mt Ararat during which one of the climbers developed mountain sickness with HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) also known as “Water in Lungs”, needed to be urgently evacuated and spent a few days in the hospital, including the ICU unit. In this blog post, I wanted to cover what this rescue entailed, as things at Ararat are different compared to Nepal, the Alps, or Aconcagua. 

First, developing severe altitude sickness at Ararat is not expected to be likely.  While Ararat is relatively high (5137m or almost 17000ft) during the standard climb you spend most of the time at about 3300m (3 nights) one night at high camp at 4200m and the total back and forth to summit from the camp takes up to 10h (we did it in 8). Also being a standalone Volcano Ararat typically allows for speedy descent – you can get from the high camp back to the base camp in about 2 hours, or descend from the summit to the high camp in about 3 hours. This means that when they start to feel bad, most people can choose to go down or at least not continue up, as happened with another group member.   

However, this also means that local guides are not experienced with anything other than mild altitude sickness. There are also no medical professionals in the camps, no standby rescue team or helicopter to take you down. Local guides cooperate to manage all the rescue needs to the best of their ability. There was also no oxygen (in our or surrounding camps) or Dexamethasone, which is often used as an emergency medicine in cases of HAPE or HACE. 

The complicating factor was also that the member in question was extremely athletic – An ultra-marathon runner, he knew how to tolerate suffering, so what could have made another person abandon the summit attempt was not enough to stop him. 

If you do not have extensive high altitude experience, lack of reference can be quite a problem – of course, you heard you’re expected to feel worse at Altitude, but how much? It can be a hard question to answer before it becomes too late.

Oxygen Saturation 

I had my finger Oxygen Saturation Sensor with me and we measured spending our first night at 3300m. The device did not show super reliable results, yet most members seemed to have an oxygen saturation of 85-90%, where this member had a saturation of about 75%. His Garmin watch showed a similar number. We discussed that he may have problems with acclimatization, but he assured us he feels reasonably well. In retrospect, Oxygen Saturation much lower than the rest of the group provided us with early warning and we could have paid more attention to it. 

Acclimatization Climb to High Camp

The plan for the day was to hike up to the high camp (4200m) and back for acclimatization purposes.  All the group did it with a very good pace – 2.5h to go up, instead of 3-3.5h guides originally expected, including the member in question. This reduced my concern a bit as in previous cases of severe altitude sickness I’ve seen, people had a hard time keeping pace. 

We came down, had dinner and everything was reasonably well. Some people reported headaches, poor appetite, and not sleeping well – things you would normally expect.

Moving to High Camp and Summit

The next morning we were moving to high camp to attempt a summit the following night. One of our expedition members did not feel good and decided not to continue. The member, who required rescue, later decided to continue. 

We went up at quite a relaxing pace, taking a longer time, this time around and the member could still maintain the pace.  Later in the evening, he mentioned it was a bit harder than usual for him to maintain the balance, but he felt strong enough to stay the night and see how he felt.

During the night he coughed a lot. I asked him if it was a dry cough (rather common in the mountains) or a wet cough (one of the symptoms of HAPE), and he said it seemed dry.   Later on, some climbers reported it was a wet cough, highlighting it might be hard for climbers to self-evaluate wet vs dry.

In any case, he did not feel well and the Oxygen Saturation sensor for some reason did not show any data for him (neither finger-based nor one in Garmin watch),  so he decided to stay at the camp and go down with us when we’re back from the summit.  This sounds sensible as it is not great to descend in the middle of the night and he was doing reasonably well (at least confidently walking by himself). We left him with the camp manager to look after, and around 1:30 am departed to push for the summit. 

It Looks Bad, Really Bad 

Around 10 am when we were coming back from the mountain, I could see a person moving very slowly to the restroom with another person’s assistance and recognized this is our member, who have deteriorated very significantly during the 9 hours since I last saw him. At this point, it became clear to me that urgent action was needed.

As I spoke to the member, he was really tired and lethargic, he was sitting in direct sun, not caring if he got sunburn. I asked him and the guides about the plan, and they told me he would go down on horse as soon as our horses came and guides would accompany him to prevent fall.  This sounded like a reasonable plan.

At this point, I asked if they had any doctor on call, where they could consult about the situation, and maybe we could give him some meds to improve the situation. The guides said not to worry, as they had been guiding Ararat for 25+ years and he would get better when he went down.  Gave him some water with electrolytes and this was it. 

We packed member’s things from the tent, as he was not in condition to do so… and were waiting for the horses, while he was getting worse almost by the minute. I saw he had a hard time sitting on the chair and was almost falling asleep.  He was also breathing very heavily and had a very high pulse rate.   

Long Way Down

Seeing this, the guides told me they were concerned if he could sit on the horse or fall asleep and fall from it… and their suggestion was maybe he needed to get some sleep. I think for some reason they thought he took some sleeping pills which was causing this behavior, while he told them he only took some paracetamol for headaches. I told them it is not the option and he needs to go down right now, and we need to figure out a way to do that. 

The guides briefly considered carrying him down, enrolling our group for help but in the end decided to tie him down to the horse and have one person leading the horse and two guides by the sides to catch him if he fell. Finally, he started to be transported down. 

At the same time, we contacted his emergency contact (the great thing about Ararat is good Cell coverage anywhere on the standard route on the mountain) and insurance to report the situation and got their confirmation he can be treated at any hospital in the area. We also arranged for him to be taken by the SUV from the base camp to the local private hospital to be seen immediately. 

As he was brought down, the guides told me it looked like he was getting better and if he wanted to go to the hospital, or maybe he just wanted to recover at camp.  As I saw him, he still could not walk on his own and was not thinking clearly, so I told them we needed to take him to the hospital. I told the member he would be taken to the hospital and he agreed.

As he was taken to the hospital I had a chance to talk to the guides to ask them how often they had to deal with something like this, and it turns out it is rather a rare occurrence – they have to take people down on the horse but usually because of broken legs or twisted ankles, not severe case of altitude sickness.

Hospitals

First, the member was taken to the “Özel mediza hastanesi”, Private hospital in Doğubeyazıt.  They gave him oxygen and some meds, did an X-ray to discover liquid in his lungs, and decided they were not set up to deal with his condition and he needed to be moved to the teaching hospital in Agri, some 120km away (by the ambulance) It must be said they arranged all of this very quickly.   

I was surprised though – the hospital closest to the mountain seems not to be set up or experienced dealing with altitude sickness conditions. I am comparing this to a very small hospital in Lukla, Nepal, which nevertheless seemed to be confident dealing with HAPE in the situation I experienced in the Nepal expedition.

It was very lucky we had Yulia, our expedition coordinator stayed in Doğubeyazıt while we were on the mountain, so she could accompany the member to the hospitals, and serve as a communication channel between his emergency contact, medical team, and us. 

In the Teaching hospital, the member was admitted to the ICU, where they confiscated his cell phone which made communication challenging. In this government hospital, they did not have all the meds they needed so they sent Yulia to buy some at the pharmacy.

With oxygen and other treatment, the member felt better almost immediately, yet they held him in the ICU for 3 nights, and as I write this he is not yet discharged from the hospital. His partner could fly in to help with care.

Learning Experiences

It looks like the member is making a full recovery, yet of course, he gave us all quite a scare – with altitude sickness with HAPE and HACE, there is a possibility of really bad outcomes.

There are quite a few learning experiences here though:

• You need to do a lot of research, as your expectations may be very different from reality on the ground in different countries.
• We did a lot of research and interviews selecting local guides for this expedition, but still, it came up with some surprises. We need to press even more into specific help, medical supplies, and attention available in case of emergency.
• Understand what certification guides have and what they really mean (this is where things are highly different between countries, in some, you do not need any particular training to guide people) 
• Neither local guides nor insurance had a doctor on call, perhaps I need to find a medical professional with high-altitude medicine experience to be able to call in case of an emergency.
• Do not just rely on your guides, do your evaluation, and help members to make good decisions.
• Have a supply of emergency meds, if guides do not have them.
• If practical consider having a trusted certified guide with you, one you can trust to take proper action in such situations

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The post Ararat Rescue: Severe altitude sickness with HAPE appeared first on Peter Zaitsev.