Climbing Articles
As we ascended, the greenery of the lower slopes gradually made way for volcanic boulders. The trees thinned out and became steadily smaller until finally nothing but a few spikes of grass remained.
By
evening we had reached a height of 2600 meters and the landscape was a
truly familiar mountainous one. We set up camp and then watched the sun
sink between the clouds, realizing what it meant to be on a truly lonely
volcano. Towards the west the plain far below stretched out as far as
the eye could see. It was like looking down from an airplane. I was reminded
of a wall painting found at Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest cities of the
world dating 8000 BC, in which Hasandag, together with its secondary peak
to the east, is depicted with smoke emerging from the summit. It was hard
to believe that this serene mountain had still been erupting at a time
when our prehistoric ancestors were around to witness the event.
The second day began with sunshine. Since we were on the western face
of Hasandag we watched its triangular shadow fall on the plain. Then we
packed up and began to trek over the snow, which each day melted in the
warmth of the spring sunshine and then froze over once again at night.
Towards noon it clouded over and the incline became steep. We no longer
felt like mountain hikers but now faced the business of serious mountaineering.
At one point we even considered getting the ropes out, but before long
we were at the 
3260
meters summit. Later we realized that we had been lucky, and unknowingly
reached the highest point of a crater whose diameter was approximately
500 meters. Following a tradition on Turkish mountains we found the summit
book and recorded notes about our climb. It was curious to come across
a notebook at a point no one else would be likely to find, and read the
account of others as mad as yourself and write your own account for others
who come after you. With all solemnity of an ancient ritual of antiquity
the three of us signed the book.
As evening was falling on the second day we noticed a patch of snowless ground on an interesting ridge in the center of the crater. We mountaineers boast about camping in the most severe conditions, but still do our best to find the most comfortable camping place.