Mount Ararat

Ararat is a dormant volcano of 5,137 metres, the highest point in Turkey, and it stands more or less alone. The plain around it lies close to a thousand metres, so the cone rises about four kilometres in one uninterrupted sweep and carries a permanent ice cap on top. Its smaller neighbour, Little Ararat, sits to the south-east as a near-perfect cone. Climbs normally take four to five days from a road head around two thousand two hundred metres, with camps at roughly three thousand two hundred and four thousand two hundred, a long snow slope on summit day and nothing technical beyond crampon work. Permits are required and are arranged through licensed agencies well in advance.

What you actually see

• The cone from the plain - four kilometres of rise in a single sweep.
• The ice cap - permanent snow and ice across the upper mountain.
• Little Ararat - the smaller cone standing to the south-east.
• The high camps - tent platforms on scree at 3,200 and 4,200 metres.

When to go

The climbing window is July to September, when the snow line is high and the weather most settled. Even then the summit is often in cloud and the wind on the upper slopes is strong. Permits take weeks to arrange, so book with an agency in advance rather than turning up in Dogubayazit and hoping to join something.

Honest expectations

This is altitude rather than difficulty: summit day is long, cold and thin-aired, and people turn back with headaches every week of the season. The scree between camps is loose and tiring. Permits, guides and mules add up to a serious cost. Seen from below, the mountain hides behind haze and cloud for days at a time.

Nearby

Dogubayazit, the Ishak Pasha Palace and the Igdir plain.