VILNIUS - A group of Lithuanians, led by world traveller Seda Bukauskiene, have become the first foreigners to climb the northern route of Turkey's Mount Ararat. Vytautas Bukauskas told the Baltic News Service that he and his compatriots were the first non Turks to summit the 5,165 meter mountain. The Lithuanian group climbed Mount Ararat, the tallest peak in Turkey, in late August.
The first permits to climb the mountain from its northern side were distributed in 2005 to Lithuanian and Spanish groups. Unfortunately, neither of the teams managed to reach the top due to unfavorable weather conditions.
The northern side of Ararat has been inaccessible to climbers since after World War I, when the Soviet government closed the mountain. When the U.S.S.R. collapsed in 1991, the mountain remained closed on account of the Kurdish rebellion in Turkey.
Turkish authorities still refuse permits to climb Mount Ararat from the eastern side, as well as its adjacent 3,925-meter peak, "Small Ararat," since minefields remain at the base of both routes.
