Location: North 40.xx, West 028.xx (GPS on the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed July 13. 2016.
Information:
How to get there:
There is a detailed description on Peakbagger by Denise and Richard McLellan.
Driving east from Antalya on D400, pass through Manavgat, a bit later, turn onto D695,
there is a sign for Gundogmus. Continue to Gondogmus, that is leave D695, cross the
valley and continue to this village. In Gondogmus, take road 07-29, the sign reads Koprulu.
The road ascends to a col with a 3-way junction. Go left, continue to a new col, the descend,
cross a small concrete bridge, curve right and descend to a small cluster of buildings in a valley
basin. Continue left, the road will cross the creek and ascend to a higher level grass basin. Cross
the meadow and turn right, ascend a narrow valley, fork right (the main road) and arrive at a new
basin. Continue across a sloping hillside (steep down on your right), then ascend to a pretty
large (for being here) village. Park here, or if your car is up to the challenge, turn sharply
right and follow a rough, rocky road up to a small basin slightly higher than the main
village. Park here, location N36.90595, E032.14849, elevation about 2117 meter.
Route description:
Take the very visible trail from the meadow. Traverse the next slope and climb to what looks like
a notch in the cliffs higher in front. The easiest trail actually runs a bit further and
crosses the cliff in a couple of natural steps. You now arrive at a new meadow. Ascend gently a bit to the left, then
move right into the gully. A nice shepherd trail leads through the big boulders up higer. You arrive at a new meadow,
location N36.89771, E032.15854, elevation about 2490 meter
Ascend between the two depressions, gradually turning right, then directly up the slope to a broad
saddle. From here, follow a vague trail mostly below the ridge on its right side. Bypass a small
summit, pass a small notch, then traverse around a new summit (false). You are now at a pretty flat
area sloping gradually up towards the summit.
Comments:
This peak was really not well placed relative to our 3 planned "base camps" for
Heidi and me - summer vacation. I had sort of planned it from Egidir, however that
would be a very busy schedule. Since I was well ahead and everything had worked quite
well here in Kas, I decided to make a long (mostly driving) trip on Friday. I had declared
a swim/sun/rest day already on Thursday and the same would apply on Saturday. Thus, it
made sense to attempt this peak on Friday.
I got up shortly after 0300, and hit the road at 0320. The road to Finike was only 75 km, but
incredibly many sharp curves! The sun rose when I passed Antalya and all in all, I was quite
happy with the day when turning onto D695 with a sign for Gundogmus.
Driving to this trailhead was easy thanks to a good description by the McLellans, my odometer
ended up showing exactly one kilometer less at various waypoints near the end. I parked at
the same trailhead at 0830, a 5:10 drive. Next, I exchanged some few words with a local woman that came over to
check on the arrival of an unknown car, then on my way up the big trail at 0855.
Just across the first ridgeline, I observed sheep ahead. Sheep means dogs, but I quickly also
noticed a shepherd. The two dogs tried to scare me, but they were easy to handle, soon I could
exchange a friendly handshake with the shepherd. What was more unexpected was the weather,
big clouds higher up. The route was easy to find, I followed the trails from sheep, dogs and
shepherds, quite nice and heading in a good direction. The passage between all the huge
boulders was quite a fun route.
Next, I hiked into clouds with wind. This reminded me of the report by
McLellan, they had bad weather and strong wind, but in late October. The weather was
never a problem, but with fog and almost no visibility, I walked up on the false summit
before I realized that the summit was still ahead. I arrived at the proper summit by 1035,
wind and fog did not encourage a long stay. There is a concrete marker and a cairn about
10 meter apart, otherwise not much to report on. I left by 1045 and followed the same route
down to my car, now surrounded by sheep. Back by 1205, it had been a nice hike, good to move
around with such a long drive.
The sun was present everywhere except at the mountain. My drive back down was indeed
scenic and interesting. I arrived back at our hotel in Kas at 1730, 5:10 also on the
retun drive.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in our trip to Turkey.
