How to Climb Göllüdağ? - Behzat Taş
10-11-2023
19:39
How to Climb Göllüdağ?
The answer is quite simple: By vehicle... If possible, with a 4x4 off-road vehicle... In fact, the easiest way is to go with a tractor. In fact, the residents of Kömürcü village at the foot of the mountain offered an offer saying, "If you want, we can take you out with a tractor to a certain point"... I wonder who among us rejected the offer and gave the group the confidence that "We can go out ourselves"?
Could it be me? Of course I can. It seems to suit my style.
But what did we do? We drove the tradesman Caddy under us into the side of the mountain. When the car got stuck in the sandy terrain after climbing a few hundred meters, we encouraged each other and started moving forward, saying "There's no stopping, keep going."
So we decided to go to Göllüdağ on foot.
The adventure begins. It is free to laugh bitterly, dear friends!
***
Let's go back to the beginning. As five friends who called themselves Çizergezer, we turned the steering wheel towards Göllüdağ during one of our discovery tours of the mysterious points of Anatolia. And while the calendars were showing a scorching August... The aim was to climb the mountain, which has a settlement from the Tabal period, one of the Late Hittite kingdoms, at its 2300-meter peak. In this Niğde geography adorned with extinct volcanoes, we would both swim in the crater lake at the top and follow the traces of the ancient inhabitants of Anatolia. According to archaeologists, this was the sculpture workshop and quarry of one of the Hittite princes who escaped from Hattusa and hid far away after the empire collapsed. The gigantic sculptures made here are exhibited in Niğde museum. Göllüdağ remained hidden for centuries, but could only be viewed with drones in recent years.
At first the climb was uneventful, even joyful. As mid-fifties riders, we were proud of our performance as we climbed the trail that spiraled up the mountain. After a while, the village below disappeared from the frame and the towns in the distant plains began to appear. We had left the road used by the vehicles and were climbing at a more direct angle than ourselves. The slope gradually increased, and even the grass, let alone the plants, stopped growing where we stepped. Nothing but tuff rocks and unknown minerals were visible on the mountain, which obviously roared terribly at one time.
After nearly an hour of breathless climbing, the path below us disappeared. We were slowly ascending the mountain slope, just like in the folk songs. (Oh my God, how powerful and real those humble Anatolian folk songs sound in this geography!) We had to stop and rest every three to five minutes. At these moments, everyone is looking down, in the direction we came from; He was wondering how it would be if we went back. However, the theories of group and herd psychology began to work in reverse here. Probably because of the decreasing oxygen, everyone was doing it out of spite. We were trying to reach the unknown summit by supporting each other like the 4x100 Jamaican relay team.
Maybe somewhere in the middle of the road, we came across a sight that is impossible for a human being to see in his lifetime. The obsidian vein scattered from a crack at the edge of the path was fascinating with its pitch black light. Pieces of this volcanic mineral, which was formed within a few seconds during volcanic eruptions, were spilled out. We, strange travelers, were daydreaming as if we had found a hidden treasure. Obsidian, which means geology itself, was one of the progressive forces of the father of history... It was the raw material of arrowheads, spears, axes, knives, mirrors and all kinds of tools from the Stone Age until the invention of bronze, that is, for thousands of years. We were experiencing one of the indescribable lust moments of travelling. Could there be a better opportunity to preserve the memory of a crazy trip for a lifetime?
Of course no! We filled our pockets with these beautiful black stones and continued. However, we would soon realize our mistake. While we were struggling with our already tired bodies, you had no strength left to carry a few kilos of obsidian. Meanwhile, an intelligent member of the team put forward the thesis that this was a stone that absorbed radiation. As a result of an unscientific suspicion that the obsidian that fills our pockets might be loaded with radiation, the market was completely confused. In addition to the lack of oxygen, thirst was also mind-blowing!
We had to leave what we collected, except for a few small souvenirs. Moreover, we had no idea where the summit was. It was futile to try and figure out how far we had left. Göllüdağ was standing in front of us like a sharp and silent tower, and we were climbing helplessly and with that magnificent stubbornness specific to middle-aged people, without being able to make inferences such as the flight of a bird or a stone's throw, as we were advancing step by step as if we were wrapping around a screw.
Did I mention that the events took place in August?
When our throats became dry and everyone started asking each other for water, the bitter truth became clear. The 4x100 relay race had turned into a marathon and unfortunately, it was not the Kenyan athletes but us, who had not thought of taking water with us, who were just lying around. We sat down and talked seriously about going back. Because we were out of strength, up and down seemed infinitely far away. But as always, one of the team acted and stepped forward, saying "Continue, gentlemen." (Well, it wasn't me this time.)
After countless steps, minutes and exhaustion, the peaks appeared. I say “peaks” because mountain tops only appear as simple hills in cartoons. The place we actually reached was the lake on the low wing of the crater, which was a kilometer in diameter. I said lake, but it was literal... Where the lake was supposed to be, there was nothing but thick grass, reeds and mud. In short, there was no water. Naturally, our dream of swimming and cooling off was dashed. The ancient settlement was nowhere to be seen. However, we were so exhausted that we did not dare climb up to find the ruins of Tabal, which we later learned were a little higher up. In fact, this idea had flown from our minds.
We lay and rolled around for almost two hours at this altitude, where there was no trash or plastic, it was untouched by human feet, and it is doubtful that even animals had visited it. We enjoyed the summit, watching the earth and the sky with the pleasure of being in the middle of Anatolia. The return was fun. Because as we descended the steep mountain quickly, we often fell and laughed at each other. Hours later, we found the car and finally sat down to eat our fill at a restaurant. One of us vowed to come to Göllüdağ again and find the ancient ruins that we could not see. Others gave me dirty looks and said things I can't write here.
I won't say who took the oath.