Turkey's highest
mountain, Ararat, has a legendary status due to
its geologic location and the fact that it is
believed to have been the final resting place
of Noah’s Ark. This peak, mentioned in the Bible,
has several names in
different languages, the main ones being Ararat, Kuh
- i Nuh and Cebel ul Haristir.
Prof. Frederick Von Parat successfully reached its summit,
which Marco Polo said no-one would ever climb, on 9
October 1829. The former president of the Mountaineering
Federation, Dr. Bozkurt Ergor on 21 February 1970 made
the second ascent. Thousands of visitors came in 1980,
and ten years later climbing was banded but this was
lifted in 1998 when the Mountaineering Federation gave
permission to a group of climbers.
