JAKARTA - Turkish mountain climbers who climbed the Kackar Mountains along the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey found a note left in a can by an Italian mountain climber who visited the area in 1972.
The President of the CAMADAN Mountain Climbing and Winter Sports Club, Metin Colak, and club members Hakan Demirci, Adem Sahin, Musa Kesimal, and Ercument Gumus carried out climbing activities in the Kackar Mountains about a month and a half ago.
During the climb, the climbers noticed a chimney-shaped structure commonly referred to as a "summit tugh," which is usually built by mountaineers to mark their presence.
Inside the upside-down can, weighted with rocks, they found a piece of paper wrapped in plastic containing a note: "20-8-72, Spedizione CAI Pordenone Italy, Quota 3510, Enzo Laconca, Giovanni Martin."
After researching the dates, addresses, and names written on the note, the group learned that the climbers were members of the Italian Alpine Club, quoted from Anadolu (9/1).
After contacting the mountaineering club through social media, Colak and other members learned that the record belonged to Italian climbers, Alleris Pizzur, Sisto Degan, Enzo Laconca, Gianni Martin, and Ezio Migotto, who visited the area in 1972 and were between 23 and 32 years old at the time.
Colak told Anadolu, the area they climbed was not a well-known location and said he was very surprised to find out that Italian mountaineers had been in the same place 54 years earlier.
He said five athletes from their club climbed the remote Atalani peak at 3,428 meters in the Kackar Mountains, which he described as a remote peak located in the middle of the mountains.
Colak said they were overjoyed after finding the note, adding: "It was as if the sense of time disappeared at that moment. It felt like they were there just before us. However, none of the five of us who reached the summit that day were alive when this note was left there. It was incredible."
Stating that the eastern Black Sea region is very suitable for mountain climbing activities, Colak said: "Our Italian friends climbed here 54 years ago. In our research, we also found a team from Czechoslovakia climbing in 1969."
"It's an incredible feeling. Knowing that other mountaineers have come before you and left this note for you like a letter written for the future," he added.
Meanwhile, club member Hakan Demirci said they contacted the Italian mountaineering club through social media after finding the note.
He said the club was shocked by the discovery, asked for photos, then followed up, contacted one of the original climbers, published a report, and have since maintained a positive and ongoing communication.
The climbers said the club kept the cans and notes and planned to display them in a proposed mountain climbing museum in Turkey's eastern Black Sea region.
They added that the Italian club had expressed an interest in attending the opening and helping to forge a relationship with the mountaineers of the era.
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