Mount Ararat

Ararat was made by a volcano.

Long ago, hot melted rock came out again and again. It cooled and piled up into a giant mountain. Later, smaller openings on its sides made little hills of rock.

Ararat stands on the Armenian Highland, a high, rugged region of western Asia. Britannica explains that the highland is part of a zone where the land has been folded and volcanoes have formed.

The Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program explains that Great and Little Ararat were built first. Then many smaller eruptions burst out on their sides, often along long cracks running north to south. They made clusters of small cinder cones, rounded lava domes, and lava flows. One dark lava field to the south covers about 80 square kilometers. People have lived near Ararat for a very long time: hot volcanic flows from one eruption, about 4,500 years ago, covered tools and other things left by people of the early Bronze Age. The volcano erupted again around 550 BCE and in July 1840.

Britannica places Ararat on the Armenian Highland, a region of about 400,000 km² with average elevations of 1,500 to 2,000 m, which it calls a segment of the Mediterranean alpine volcanic zone of folding. The Global Volcanism Program describes Ararat as Türkiye's highest, largest-volume and easternmost volcano, a stratovolcano whose construction, together with Little Ararat's, was followed by extensive flank eruptions, many along north-south fissures.

The first flank stage produced a cluster of cinder cones and dacitic-rhyolitic lava domes around Great Ararat and pyroclastic cones and domes on Little Ararat's west flank; a small cone about 8 km southwest of Little Ararat appears to be the source of a dark lava field of about 80 km². Pyroclastic-flow deposits overlie early Bronze Age artifacts and human remains, and the program lists three confirmed eruptions: about 2450 BCE (plus or minus 50 years) on the northwest flank, about 550 BCE, both dated by archaeological correlation, and 2 July 1840 on the upper northern flank, an explosive event with a pyroclastic flow and avalanche at the time of an earthquake and landslide, reported in a 2002 study. Eruptions in 1450 and 1783 are listed as uncertain. Britannica notes that neither summit keeps clear evidence of a crater, though well-formed cones and fissures mark the flanks.

The top of Ararat is snowy all year.

Lower down, there is grass. Herders bring their sheep to eat it. Very few trees grow on the big peak. Little Ararat has a few birch trees.

Ararat has zones, like layers on a cake. The top is covered in snow. By the end of summer, the snow line, the lowest edge of the snow, has crept up to about 4,300 meters. Great Ararat's only true glacier lies on its north side, near the summit.

The middle of the mountain, between about 1,500 and 3,500 meters, is covered in good grass and some juniper bushes, and local Kurdish herders graze their sheep there. Most of Great Ararat has no trees, but Little Ararat has a few groves of birch. Surprisingly, Britannica says, the Ararat area is short of water, even with all that snow on top.

Britannica describes a seasonal snowline that retreats to about 4,300 m by late summer, with the only true glacier on the northern side of Great Ararat near the summit. The middle zone, from about 1,500 to 3,500 m, carries good pasture grass and some juniper, grazed by the sheep of the local Kurdish population. Great Ararat is mostly treeless, while Little Ararat supports a few birch groves.

Despite the abundant snow cover, Britannica notes, the area suffers from a scarcity of water. Satellite and space-station images collected by the Global Volcanism Program show the glaciated main cone, the Ahora Gorge cutting north from the summit area, large recent lava flows darkening the ground south of the main cone, and lava flows with levees erupted from vents between the two peaks, one ending in a fan-shaped lobe.

The top of Ararat is very high, cold and icy.

Only trained climbers with guides go to the top. Families can enjoy the view from far below. Up high, tell a grown-up if your head hurts.

Ararat is beautiful to look at from the plains, and that is how most people enjoy it. The summit is over 5,000 meters high, with snow and a glacier near the top, so the climb is only for fit, trained mountaineers with experienced guides. Bring plenty of water: Britannica notes that the area is short of water even though the top is snowy.

The height is a danger by itself. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says altitude sickness can start for people sleeping at about 2,450 meters or higher, and that children get it as easily as adults. A headache is the main sign. Go up slowly, and go down if you feel worse.

Great Ararat rises about 4,300 m above the surrounding plains, carries a summit glacier on its north side and a snowline that only retreats to about 4,300 m in late summer, and lies in a region Britannica describes as short of water. An ascent is therefore a high-altitude mountaineering undertaking that calls for experienced local guides, proper equipment and careful acclimatization; check current access rules with the Turkish authorities before planning a climb.

The CDC Yellow Book notes that unacclimatized travelers are at risk of altitude illness at sleeping altitudes of 2,450 m or more, that children are as susceptible as adults, and that above 3,000 m sleeping altitude should rise by no more than 500 m a night; descend if symptoms worsen despite rest. The Global Volcanism Program lists Ararat's last known eruption as 2 July 1840.