Son günlerdeki soğuk havaların etkisiyle İzmir’in çevresindeki doruklar beyaz örtülere bürünmüşken, PetkimTrek olarak Manisa Çaldağı Etkinliği düzenledik. Aynı yere üç sene önce yaptığımız gibi, Turgutlu ilçesine bağlı Temrek köyünden etkinliğe başlayacağız. Gene aynı şekilde, Çaldağı zirvesini aştıktan sonra Yakuplar Köyü’nde etkinliği bitireceğiz.

Bugün PetkimTrek olarak güzel bir katılımla 15 kişiyiz: Zafer, Mehmet, Atalay, Aynur, Canan, Çetin, Demirhan, Ergün, Faruk, Ferda, Gökhan, Murat, Servet, Şinasi, Ömer. Çok uyumlu bir grup disiplini gösterdik; çatlak ses yoktu, gruptan ayrılan olmadı, birlikte başlayıp birlikte bitirdik.

Günün beklenmeyeni, bu kadar uzun süre karda etkinlik yapmış olmamızdı. Bir çok arkadaşımın da ifade ettiği gibi, sadece zirve civarında bazı kar geçişleri yaparız diye bekliyorduk. Ancak öyle olmadı, neredeyse 6 saat karda yürüdük. Hadi bıktık demiyeyim, karda yürümeye doyduk diyebilirim rahatlıkla.

Beklediğimiz gibi soğuk bir gün oldu. Özellikle zirve konisinde yükselirken esinti iyice üşütüyordu. Ve en yukarda ise, bıçak gibi kesiyordu(!); ilk fırsatta dağın öbür tarafına attık kendimizi.

Tepenin arkasında rüzgârdan kurtulduk ama, bu defa da hiç ummadığımız kadar birikmiş karla karşılaştık. Kimi yerde neredeyse batonlarımızın tamamı kara saplanıyordu. Bunu beklemediğimiz için ne tozluk almıştık yanımıza ve ne de batonlarımızın kar tapalarını takmıştık. İyice ıslanan pantolon paçalarımız ayakkabılarımızın nemlenmesine sebep oldu.

Kar örtüsü bittikten sonra öğle molası vermeyi düşünüyorduk ama saat neredeyse 14:00 olduğu halde, hala karda yürüyorduk. Bu nedenle mecburen molayı kar üstünde güzel bir düzlükte yaptık. Gene Zafer ve Mehmet Tural’ın ikramı üzüm suları(!) öğle yemeğine keyif kattı.

Esas şenlik, pervane gibi fıldır fıldır çevirdiği kuyruğu ile minik bir av köpeğiydi; herkesten yiyecek bir şeyler almak için koşuştu durdu öğle molası boyunca.

Bu etkinlikte çektiğim fotoğraflardan ve arkadaşlarımın medyada paylaşılan fotoğraflarından seçtiklerimle hazırladığım albümü aşağıdaki linkten izleyebilirsiniz.  

Not: Aşağıdaki fotoğrafları herhangi birine tıklayıp, açılan penceredeki veya klavyeniz üzerindeki ok işaretleri yönünde izleyebilirsiniz.

ÇAL DAĞI EVENT – January 12, 2020

With the influence of the cold weather in recent days, while the peaks around İzmir were covered in white covers, we organized the Manisa Çaldağı Event as PetkimTrek. Like in the event we held in the same place three years ago, we will start from Temrek village of Turgutlu district. Likewise, we will finish the event in Yakuplar village after passing the Çaldağı summit.

Today we have 15 people with a good participation: Zafer, Mehmet, Atalay, Aynur, Canan, Çetin, Demirhan, Ergün, Faruk, Ferda, Gökhan, Murat, Servet, Şinasi, Ömer. We demonstrated a very harmonious group discipline. There was no broken voice, no one left the group; we started and finished together.

The unexpected of the day was that we had been doing activity in snow for so long. As many of my friends have stated, we were just waiting for some snow crossings around the summit. However, that’s not what happened, we walked in snow for almost 6 hours.  Let me not say we got tired, I can easily say that we are full of walking in the snow.

It was a cold day as we expected.  Especially when rising at the summit cone, the breeze was getting cold.  And at the top, it was cutting like a knife;  at the first opportunity, we threw ourselves to the other side of the mountain.

We escaped the wind behind the hill, but this time we encountered more accumulated snow than we ever expected. In some places our poles almost completely sunk. Since we did not expect this, we did not take leggings with us, nor did we attach the snow baskets of our batons. Our wet trousers caused our shoes to become damp.

We were thinking of taking a lunch break after the snow cover was over, but even though it was almost 14:00, we were still walking in the snow. We had to take a break in the snow at a flat area. Zafer and Mehmet Tural’s grape juice (!) serving added pleasure to the lunch once again. The main festivity was a tiny hunting dog that turns its tail fast like a propeller; it kept running to get something eat from between someone to other, during the lunch.

While continuing the descent after the lunch break, we again walked in the snow for a long time. Since the path Zafer was looking for was under the snow cover, we made a suitable shortcut and entered the dirt road that would lead us to the village. Right here, we arrived at a fountain covered with blue tiles, which the villagers called İkizoluk.

After taking a little breathing in İkizoluk and pouring its delicious water into our bottles, we continued walking on the road again. The snow on the ground surprisingly survived all the way down. Apparently, I thought the snow would never end until the village. Where the snow finally began to dilute, it was nearly 5pm.

After that, we walking curlingly continuing again on the dirt road and when I personally got bored with a pronounced feeling of fatigue, we saw the view of the village where the big mosque and its high minaret were chosen. While drawing a large V to the left and then heading towards the village, at the behind us the peaks of Çaldağı with the transmitters on it were actually seemed quite far away.

When I arrived at the village as the last person, it was 18 o’clock and the ones who came from the front were sipping their tea at the cafe. I learned from my friends that the total distance is on average 15 km since my cell phone is running out of charge. Because of we started walking around 9:45 in the morning, it means that it lasted more than 8 hours as a climb and descent hiking in snow. I felt “satisfied-happy” because I finished this challenging event with a very slight pain on my left knee!

You can watch the album I prepared from the photos I took at this event and the photos shared by my friends in the media from the link below.

Note: To watch the photos below, you can click on any of them and watch them in the direction of the arrow in the pop-up window or by using the arrow signs on your keyboard.