On our 2nd day we left Erzurum to travel in the direction of the Black Sea Mountains. The plan was to do a ski tour on our way up and after continue to Yusufeli, which lies just to the east of Kackar at the entry of the of the Coruh valley. As we drove we were absolutely blown away by the amount of big mountains surrounding us. Because we didn't have a decent map we just looked around for a mountain that appealed to the eye and any good skiing lines. Eventually we saw a mountain in the distance that caught everybody's attention and we tried to find a way to get as close as possible to the foot of it. Well aware that our hire cars weren't 4x4 we resorted to rally driving anyway!!! The track leading to our desired point was a certain mud bath that definitely wasn't designed for our vehicles but after all we came here for the adventure so we might as well have some! The going down didn't prove much of a problem for the cars..as we later found out, the going up did.
The mountain we decided to climb was in our view a mountain without a name. It did have one, but that we only found out after several hours in company of the Turkish Army on the same day....
As we headed out into the unknown we were all enjoying the magnificent views and the good weather. The snow was ok albeit it being somewhat moist. However slowly the weather started changing and by the time we hit the summit slope the weather had completely closed in and the visibility was virtually none. As best as we could we tried to find our way but there is definitely something discomforting about traveling into the unknown without a map. I had brought my GPS but that really only helped us for our way down...which we never took by skis as it turned out.
By the time we hit the summit rim we were all quite spaced out and I could only see Unai. As I was heading up I thought I saw one of the other guys standing on the summit rim and I was happily waving my hand and shouting hey Andoni.. But it wasn't Andoni!!! As reached closer I saw that the guy I had been waving at was a man in a army suit with a big gun and not a pair of skis in his hands!! The guy was distressed and was shouting at me and Unai. It was hands up for us and the only words that could come out of our mouths was friends and peace. He wasn't the only guy with a big gun! As I got to the summit plateau proper I could see something like a round weather balloon and a small tower. Our friends were already on their way to the tower. When we arrived we got pointed to leave our skis outside and enter the tower. It was like an old war film!! In the tower was only space for one person, below my feet was a latch and on the wall a telephone. The soldier phoned and exchanged a few words in Turkish. I was hopeful that the other guys would turn up but instead he opened the latch and pointed down with his gun for me to enter. It was the creepiest thing, believe me, I was truly scared!! I looked at Unai and as we tried to smile friendly at the soldier and trying to explain we would rather take our skies and go down, the guy just got a more serious and stressed look and we thought we better follow his orders. There we went into a tunnel...a very, very long, narrow concrete tunnel with a lot of doors going of in different directions with big skulls drawn on them. I was having visions of never leaving the underground world again and to vanish of the face of the earth. Eventually we reached a door where we were handed over to another soldier who took us further into the tunnel system.
Our new 'guide' took us into a room that looked like the head quarters where we were reunited with our friends who probably looked as dumbfounded as we did. In the room were several soldiers and one guy that looked like the main man. He was making several phone calls and asked us for passports and mentioned the GPS. I don't know what must have gone through their heads but initially they maybe thought we were spies or something similar. It must have been the weirdest thing seeing 5 chicos y una rubia on skis turn up on their secret base. The word America fell several times but since that was the only thing we understood I have know idea what else they talked about. Several soldiers were taking photos with their mobile phones and as time went on the atmosphere seemed to relax a little. We pointed at our food and our mouths to indicate that we would like to eat something. Hours had gone by and we were starving. We also pointed at the soldiers to indicate they would be welcome to share. They shook their heads but instead they asked us if we would like some Chai. This was the turning point. When they invite you for Chai it must be ok we thought! We drank our Chai and chatted amongst us speculating what would happen. Then the general or whatever his title would have been handed us back our passports and he indicated that we would be leaving. Hurray we thought, this is good and we tried to act out that we needed our skis and that we would ski down. There was no way they would let us ski down. The guy made another phone call and the word Gendarme fell. Nobody quite knew what was going on. We tried some English and the general actually responded in some broken words. I tried to ask him where we were and why there wasn't access to any maps for the mountains. I knew there were some as I found a web site belonging to the Turkish army that mentioned them but they weren't allowed to the public. He wrote down the name of the mountain, Kog Dagi (2980m) in the Kargapazari Daglari, and tried to explain me that this was a secret base and therefore maps were not accessible but he also told me for as far as I could understand that he thought that this was stupid and he he didn't mind disclosing the name because the Americans could follow everyone anytime anywhere anyway with Google Earth, so secrecy was obviously not that important!!
We were ushered outside into the mist under the watchful eyes and many mobile phones. In front of us was a small snow cat with our skis already in it. We were signed to enter. We were so disappointed that we weren't allowed to ski but once we were on our way down into the mist in the small vehicle sliding steeply down the slopes our disappointment soon made place for a big sense of adventure! The descent down was definitely more exhilarating in the snow cat than that it would have been on the skis!! We just pretty much went straight down the mountain and at times we were virtually on our side or the vehicle started sliding before the driver gained control again. Some of us had to brace firmly against the seats on the opposite side to prevent us from head butting the guys on the other side. It was actually brilliant. When we reached the snow line we thought they would let us out and walk the rest but we had to stay in place under guard of two soldiers. Since they had taken photos of us with their mobile phones and the atmosphere had eased we pointed at our camera to see whether it would be ok to take a picture. The soldiers laughed and were more than keen to get their snaps taken.
After about 10 minutes a police vehicle 4x4 turned up with 4 men in it. One came out and definitely looked like someone important who you didn't want to mess with!! At that point we were allowed to leave the snow cat catch our skis and put them in the back of the 4x4. We had to enter as well. The soldiers turned round and disappeared back into the thick mist. We were now left with some very unfriendly and distressed looking men. We couldn't crack smile instead just got irritated witch us trying to be friendly to them. From where the snow cat has dropped us off it was only 10 min walk to the cars...the police dropped us off after 5 minutes in next to the vehicles and then drove off in hurry without any words or a smile. It was the weirdest thing, we stood there looking the 4x4 carting off wondering what just had happened. We could only suggest that we were on such dangerous terrain that we weren't allowed to descend on our own until we would be completely off the mountain. It was the most surreal thing, we felt like as we just stepped off the set of a movie... As sudden as it had started it finished! Startled we stood there, our minds racing about what just had happened to us! Relieved we were, that for sure...and the movie of Turkish delight had only just started at that point!!
Turkish delight part 3,Yusufeli, the friendly Bull fighting festival and the drive up to Yaylalar, will soon follow, stay tuned!
Cheerio,
Christel
