Yıldızbaşı Peak Climb: Taurus Mountains / Aladağlar
Once again, I am back in my house in Aladağlar. I came to Taurus Mountains Aladağlar on September 6th for the Alpine climbing training of Turkish Mountaineering Federation. After serving as a coach here, and having some free time for a few days, we did some rock climbing and whatnot. When no one was left to climb, the summit of Yıldızbaşı, which I climbed 7 years ago, came to my mind. After a long hiatus, I was going to do an activity alone for the first time, and with the excitement it brought, I decided how to proceed.
So, on the night of September 12th, at 04:50, I set off from the mountain house. Although doing activities alone can be a bit scary, I think it is very beneficial for finding oneself. You walk for hours, pass through many challenging areas, climb rocks, and overcome many things. You get the chance to think and talk to yourself, things like that. In short, as I said, I set off at 04:50. My first goal was the Sokulu Pınar camping area, and I arrived here within an hour. Then, I reached the Arpalık area within forty minutes. The real beauty began after this point. The journey to Dipsiz Göl (Bottomless Lake), a place where a huge valley opens into a giant basin, starts from here. The Dipsiz Göl camping area has always impressed me.
With a quick ascent from Arpalık, I reached the Kapı (Door) area twenty minutes later, and then quickly descended to Teke Pınarı (Teke Spring). After drinking some water there, as I progressed towards Dipsiz Göl, I saw my friend Muhammed Eke. As soon as he saw me from a distance, he recognized me; he was grazing sheep on a rock on the opposite side. When he asked me to boil water and have tea in his tent at the Dipsiz Lake (Göl) camping area, I couldn’t refuse. After leaving Muhammed’s side quickly, I drank tea and rested in Muhammed’s tent at Dipsiz Göl before leaving at 09:50. I reached Dipsiz Göl 10-15 minutes later. The lake had receded quite a bit, so I passed by and headed towards the path to Yıldızbaşı summit.
By traversing some trails and rocks, I reached the Yıldızbaşı summit at 11:50. After snacking a bit at the summit, I left the summit at 12:20 and headed towards the Dipsiz Göl camping area. After reaching the Dipsiz Lake (Göl) camping area, Muhammed and his father had come to the tent; they were having dinner, and they invited me too. I sat down and had a snack with them. When Muhammed said they would pack up their tent here and carry it down, I decided to stay and help them. We all packed up the tent together, loaded it onto the mules, and reached the mountain house down below by evening at around 9:00, thus ending the activity.
