Ataturk 3756m. Cáucaso de Azerbaiyán.

September 25, 2023.

And we were in the tents in the acclimatization camp on the expedition in the Azerbaijani Caucasus to climb its highest peak, the Bazardüzü, a summit of 4550 meters, but first we would do the Atatürk summit of 3758 meters to get used to Heights.

It is half past five in the morning, it is night, Orhan calls us to get up, prepares us a coffee for breakfast and some food, the route up Mount Ataturk is short but demanding, about 1200 meters of elevation gain in just 5 km through a quarry that leads to a narrow channel full of vertical walls.
It is night when we get up to have breakfast, but little by little the darkness is dissipating, leaving a gray and cloudy day, the walk is short but quite steep, we have to go through a narrow gorge with a huge quarry guarding its entrance, defying our will. to ascend...
We start slowly but surely, first walking through the meadow that gets steeper with the progress of our steps, we arrive at a camp with a latrine, it seems that soldiers come up here and there is space to put up tents.
We are avoiding large rocks in the grass until there comes a time when we have to start climbing the quarry. There are several very small paths to follow along the quarry but none of them are marked or easy to follow. Angeloti is suffering a lot in The climb is not in good shape after 6 months of working tirelessly.

We enter the narrow gorge of high walls, we have to be careful so that stones do not fall for those who come behind, the weather is getting worse by the moment, we are worried about storms but at the moment we do not hear thunder.

Babek is in front of our entourage that stretches at times, Orhan stays behind waiting for Angeloti who is not having a good time...
The fog sets in and thin flakes fall on us, I would almost say very fine hail, we leave the bottom of the gorge to begin to ascend the left wall, which is rocky at this point of the climb.
We reach a large wall and there we meet again, there are barely 70 meters left to climb but the fog does not allow us to see anything, we leave a few minutes of recovery and continue, the climb is becoming very short for me, the summit is 3757 meters but we start to walk at 2500 meters, we haven't even gone 5 km, I haven't had time to find out, I hope the Bazardüzü is a little longer and with much less clouds...

We are on a plain, but the summit is 500 meters southwest with a very gentle slope, we don't see anything except snow and fog, Nayana drops her cell phone in the snow and down the slope it begins to slide quickly towards Russia , getting lost in the fog, Babek runs after him without being able to catch him, it will be very difficult to recover him.
We continue in the fog, getting closer and closer to the summit when a breeze begins to hit my face, somewhat cold and confusing.
• Master Wind, we meet again, this time very far from my house, I know you're going to tell me that you are everywhere and I can't hear you, but I'm glad to hear you.
• You know that I will never understand that you are surprised to hear me, foolish human, or rather to listen to me, you almost never listen, you never listen to your kind, lost in your meager existences far from your essence.
• You come very deeply to me today, at least you are not wintery, I have been very lucky with you today, you know that I always listen, I always try to do so...
• Don't lie to me, you foolish human, don't lie to yourself. You spend all your time immersed in your thoughts of the future or the past, without feeling what you are doing at the moment, which is the only thing that really exists, human, how many times do I have to remind you, you are never in the present.
• Of course I am, Master, I feel your cold breath on my face, I feel the fog that covers my eyes and my thoughts in white, and I feel how my ears are filled with the sound of my steps sinking into the snow, I feel how The weight of my body compresses the snow against the ground, spreading its softness on the print of my boot, causing a high-pitched crackling sob..., what more can I ask for, Master. Well, I ask you to let the clouds open to see the views, you owe me…
• How do I owe you, I don't owe you anything, you foolish human, I always do what I please when I please, for something I am the wind.
• Okay, Master. But listen to me this time even if it's just for once,… one more time.
And in a short time we found a human bust that tells us that we have reached the summit of Atatürk Mountain, the former president of the first secular and democratic republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Despite the shortness of the climb, and the lack of views, our euphoria is great without forgetting that this summit is a previous acclimatization step to climb to the top of Bazardüzü, our real objective of this trip.
It's a little cold, so we soon prepare to return to where we came up and suddenly a miracle happens, Master Wind blows with greater intensity and the fog opens, leaving the views to our gaze...
We start taking photos of the snowy and cloudy landscape while Orhan and Babek insistently look for Nayana's cell phone now that there is visibility, Babek seems like he is going to go down to the next Russia with which we share the mountain.

We begin to descend and we see on our way back clear of clouds another nearby summit that can be ascended, but the group begins to go down the way we came, Angeloti and I stay behind taking more photos, knowing that Babek continues looking for Nayana's cell phone. Much further behind us, we do not understand the rush to get down from a summit that cost us so much time to ascend, it is the curse that follows me wherever I go, mountaineers who spend hours and hours climbing up and then run down from the summits without hardly enjoying themselves. of the peaks, is one of the reasons why I go to the mountains more and more alone, at my own pace, at my own pace, without being pressured to go up or down, I have always been in favor of the mountain with pause, enjoying every moment…

Then suddenly in the distance I see someone who separates from the group and begins to ascend towards the next summit instead of going down, I am a little thoughtful, Babek is behind and Orhan is in front, and it has to be from our group because there is no There is no one else on the mountain, I leave Angeloti behind and I go down quickly until I reach the last of those who are coming down from our group and I ask him if he is from our group who is going up, and Iñaki, who is the person referred to, tells me yes, I look back I see the fog rising from the south and that could cover us again, I have not seen anyone with GPS recording the route except the guides, I hesitate for a second and decide to go after the person who has separated from the group, yes The fog covering him could be a problem, I literally run up the hill with everything my body gives me, and in just 5 minutes I reach him who turns around and waits for me when he sees me arrive, it is Artemio the canary, we are at the side of the summit so without hesitation we both go like little children behind our summit, it barely took us another three minutes to get there, we take photos of a plaque and a bust, there are no views, because the fog reached us, it is the summit of President Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president of Azerbaijan, a position that is passed for life from father to son in this supposedly democratic republic like Russia.

Just two photos and we left running down the hill through the snow, they had to be waiting for us, GPS shot because the fog closed in, and in five minutes at the intersection we met Babek who has already returned from his fruitless search for Nayana's cell phone , the three of us went down towards the group that is just a hundred meters below waiting for us on the large rock, we received a good reprimand because we left the group to make a summit when the group was already descending, and they have been quite cold while waiting for that we went down, I am truly sorry for not having turned back when I reached the height of Artemio, my desire and curiosity to see what was on the summit got me through, although I must admit that I liked running without noticing lack of air since this year I have barely made a mountain, thank you Artemio for this little 15-minute adventure even though we were later reprimanded, and whoever was cold, I remind you of an old Norwegian saying, "there is no such thing as cold but only a person who is poorly sheltered", you have to go to the mountain with clothes adequate although the guide in this case, Orhan, said that he was not going to see snow on these dates, it had not snowed in September for 15 years, but it snowed, the mountain is always a mountain and it is unpredictable, I was wearing all my winter clothes without caring Whether there would be snow or not, 4750 meters is a lot of meters and the Caucasus causes me as much respect as any mountain over four thousand meters.
We got off at the same place, now everything is easier downhill, the loose gravel is incredibly difficult to descend, we stop in the gorge with views of the walls that remind us of Cappadocia, where we take photos.
We have arrived at the camp, it tasted very unpleasant to me and I am in very poor shape. Orhan proposes lamb for dinner, and the majority who are not vegetarians think it is very good.
We have a snack and everyone goes into the stores for a nap, I can't, I have a lot of energy, we have barely walked ten kilometers, although my legs are heavy because it is the first day, so I sit on a big rock after a short walk, we share the meadow with sheep, with the mastiffs that take care of them and horses, all of them watched by a shepherd, since the packs of wolves abound and they have to watch closely, and at night they surround them and surround them by the six mastiffs so that the wolves have no chance.
And there in the silence of the meadow, not so silent because the sheep were getting closer and closer to me, was Master Wind's voice softly caressing my face...
• It seems that you have not gone to take a nap like the others, foolish human, perhaps you think you are better than them.
• Master Wind, my friend, you are very rough today. Nobody is better than anyone else, we all come and end up in the same place. Let me do whatever I want. You always do it, because you are free, you are the Wind. You listen to me now, because I do it...

Let me breathe your fresh air through my nose, slowly, let me,
let me feel the clouds that undress themselves in blue before my eyes,
let me smell the soft touch of the green grass that my feet touch,
let me savor the distant snows that appear on the horizon,
leave me, leave me in this moment of all-encompassing silence,
fills everything, rocks everything, in the space of your arms of wind,
that speaks, that whispers, that whistles silences of spaces and voids,
Let me, let me Master, you know that I have fallen hundreds of times...,
, but I have always gotten up, and although my heart bleeds,
here I am, once again, standing here, feeling, breathing,
willing to get wet in all the puddles, once again.
And don't judge me for it, don't judge me, because what I do is
simply… LIVE

I have been awakened from my lethargy by the bleating of the flock of sheep, while I was sitting a young shepherd appeared, Babek and Orhan, and they have surrounded a goat, which will be our dinner, and so it is, we live because others die for us, Even if you are vegan, you also end the life of vegetables, living requires death...
And that night Orhan and Angeloti prepared goat stew, and we went to bed with our dreams on the summit of Bazardüzü, that the next day all-terrain vehicles would come to pick us up to take us to the base camp at more than three thousand meters, it seems that it begins with end of the adventure...

And we went into the tents with some clouds, but according to what they told us there were no rain forecasts and starting the day after tomorrow there would be very good sun until the end of the week, it seems that we will have our summit of 4500 meters if the mountain allows it...