Well .. I finally made it here .... been a long time wanting to do this -- climb Mt. Ararat -- and almost as long planning the trip.

Took advantage of the 2015 RAST conference to present a paper on the interesting work in "green propulsion" we are doing at Utah State. Gave me a "semi-legitimate" professional excuse for getting over here. 

The flight over here was a bit of an adventure. Weather delay brought us into Washington, Dulles about an hour late and I missed my connecting flight. So I ended up having a nearly 24 hour layover there; but, I gotta admit the airlines put me up in a dang nice suite. Normal rate was $450/night! Next day Iflew through London Heathrow and then onto Istanbul. Unfortunately, my baggage which included ALL of my climbing gear stayed behind in Washington. Glad I brought an emergency bag with a change of clothes.

The Istanbul airport was a madhouse and no one in "service" seemed to know anything. When I called United, they could not find any information for me at all. Fortunately, my best bud in Huntsville, Debbie Brooks got on the phone with United from the USA end and must have raised some real "Caine." Miraculously, suddenly United "found" my bags in Washington and they were on the plane the next day. Finally, got all of my gear -- and a change of clothes -- over here on Wednesday night.

The RAST conference was quite enlightening. I'm used to American professional conferences with all of the industry fat-cats hanging around and smoozing the NASA and USAF big whigs. This conference was much more youthful; mostly, made up of Turkish university students presenting their Thesis research. Very little in the way of corporate sales itches. Very refreshing. One of the highlights of the conference was the Wednesday evening Bosphorous Straight harbor tour. Lots of history, with an interesting juxtaposition of Old Byzantine and Ottoman structures contracted with ultra modern suspension bridges spanning the straight. If you took out the old castles and Mosques, it would look a lot like San Franciscoat Fort Point by the Golden Gate Bridge. Some cool pics of the cruise below.

   

 I sat with my friend and colleague Arif Karabeyoglu during the harbor cruise. Not only is Arif a world-class expert on hybrid rockets and one of the ten smartest people I've ever met; he is also an amazing historian. His presence was like having my own personal tour guide on the trip. I learned amazing things about the Ottoman empire, Mustafa Atarurk, and the formation of the Republic of Turkey. Amazing stuff. Thanks Arif!. I also learned about Raki ... a traditional Turkish drink. Like Ouzo with a bigger kick. From now on I'll be careful with that stuff!. If all else fails we could use it as a monopropellant in place of Hydroxyl ammonium nitrate! :-}

Ararat (Agri Dagi in Turkish) is a dormant volcano, and is the highest peak in the middle east. the summit altitude is 5137 meters -- or right around 17,000 feet. If I make it .. it'll be the second biggest peak I've climbed next to Cayambe in Ecuador.  The big draw for Ararat is that it  is also the landing point of Noah's Ark in the Old Testament Biblical legend. Image below shows the surrounding terrain.The physical scale is amazing! Its one darn big peak. The top 500 meters are glaciated and snow capped year round. The approach is from the Southwest starting near the city of Dogubayazi. The figure below the terrain map shows the final 2000 meters (6400 ft) of the climb route from the Yesil "Green camp" at 3200 m (10, 500 ft). That's about 4000 feet higher than my condo in Park City!

I'm headed out to Van in Eastern to meet up with my climbing group tomorrow. The group is being lead by the Saltik family, typical Kurdish mountaineers who have lived in the mountain area – the Ararat slopes for many generations. Their web link is http://www.ararattrek.eu/en/about-us/team. I'll have my cell phone ... and if its within cell range you can reach me at ...  (256) 483-0222. In Emergency please get a hold of Debbie Brooks in Huntsville at ..(256) 740-7599. See you'll on my blog tomorrow.!