Nasuh Mahruki
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Ali Nasuh Mahruki (1968) is a professional mountain climber, writer, photographer and documentary producer. An all-round outdoor sportsman, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and completed the mountaineering of the Seven Summits as the first ever Turkish person.
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[edit] Early life
He was born on May 21, 1968 in İstanbul, Turkey. He is in fifth generation descendent of Admiral Ali Pasha, commander of the Ottoman navy during Sultan Mahmud II. Ali Pasha was burned to death in his admiral ship during an attack after successfully controlling the uprising of the ethnic islanders against Ottoman Empire on the Aegean island Chios on March 23, 1822. Thus Nasuh’s family name Mahruki, which means, "burnt" in Ottoman language.
After finishing high school at Şişli Terakki High School in İstanbul in 1987, Mahruki attended the School of Business Administration at Bilkent University in Ankara, and graduated in 1992. During his time at the university, he was introduced to mountain climbing in the university climbing club, which he presided later. At the age of 20, he developed a passion for various outdoor sports. He made the first paragliding flight over Mount Erciyes, climbed up the Great Demirkazık mountain's north wall, and dove into the underground waters of the Altinbesik and Kirkgozler Caves.
[edit] Mountaineering career
Between 1992 and 1994, Mahruki climbed the five highest former Soviet mountains in Asia (Khan Tengri, Lenin Peak, Peak Korzhenevskaya, Peak Communism and Peak Pobeda), which are all over 7,000 meters high. This achievement gained him the honorific title "Snow Leopard", awarded by the Russian Climbing Federation. This recognition led him to his high altitude mountaineering career.
Mahruki summited Mount Everest (8,850 m.) on May 15, 1995 as the first ever Turkish and Muslim person. In 1996, he completed the climbing of Seven Summits in seven continents (Everest, Aconcagua, Vinson Massif, Kilimanjaro, McKinley, Elbrus and Kosciuszko) as the youngest mountaineer. In 1997, he climbed Mount Cho Oyu (8,201 m) solo, setting a Turkish record. His next ascend was to Mount Lhotse (8,516 m) without oxygen tank in 1998, and to very dangerous and difficult Mount K2 (8,611 m).
Nasuh travels a lot collecting data for his books and documentaries. He is president of AKUT Arama Kurtarma Derneği, a voluntary search and rescue organization based in Istanbul he co-founded in 1996. AKUT rushes to outdoor accidents and major natural disasters all over the world, like the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, the 2004 Southeast Asia earthquake and tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
Mahruki published four books and many articles about his outdoor challenges and travels all around the world. Among his other outdoor activities are climbing, scuba diving, paragliding, sailing, caving, off-road, motorbike and cycling.
[edit] Accomplishments
- Little Demirkazık (3,425 m) West face climb Niğde, Turkey July 1991
- Five climbs on Terskey Ala Too mountains: Uglawaya (3,900 m), Peak Studentin (4,202 m), Brigandina-Albatros traverse (4,800-4,740 m), Cigid (5,170 m), Kazakhstan, July 1991
- First Turkish ascent of Khan Tengri (7,010 m), Kyrgyzstan, August 1992
- Great Demirkazık North Face climb (3,756 m), Niğde Turkey, September 1992
- Winter ascent of Mount Elbrus (5,621 m), Caucasus, February 1993
- Lenin Peak (7,134 m), Kyrgyzstan, July 1993
- First Turkish ascent of Vaja Psavela (6,912 m), Kyrgyzstan, August 1993
- First Turkish ascent of Peak of Four (6,299 m), Kyrgyzstan, July 1994
- First Turkish ascent of Peak Korzhenevskaya (7,105 m), Tajikistan, July 1994
- Peak Communism (7,495 m), Tajikistan, July 1994
- Solo and first Turkish ascent of Peak Pobeda (7,439 m), Kyrgyzstan, August 1994
- First Turkish winter ascent of Mount Demavand (5,671 m), Iran December 1994
- Mount Erciyes (3,916 m), North icefall winter ascent, Kayseri, February 1995
- Completed the "Seven Summits" project of climbing the highest peaks of each of the continents, November 1996. The mountains are:
- Mt. Everest (8,848 m), Tibet, Asia, May 17, 1995. First Turkish ascent
- Aconcagua (6,959 m), Argentina, South America, November 1995. First Turkish ascent
- Vinson Massif (4,897 m), Antarctica, December 1995. First Turkish ascent
- McKinley (6,194 m), Alaska, North America, January 1996 First Turkish ascent
- Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), Tanzania, Africa, August 1996
- Elbrus (5,642 m) Caucasus, Europe, August 1996
- Cosciusko (2,228 m) Australia, November 1996
- Great Demirkazık (3,756 m), Peck route first winter ascent, Niğde, Turkey, December 1996.
- Güzeller (3,461 m), North face first winter ascent, Niğde, Turkey, February 1997.
- Solo ascent of Cho Oyu (8,201 m), Tibet, 6th highest mountain of the world. The highest solo ascent of Turkey. September 1997, without oxygen. First Turkish ascent
- Lhotse (8,516 m), 4th highest mountain of the world. West face, Nepal, May 1998, The highest oxygenless ascent of Turkey. First Turkish ascent
- Attempted Manaslu (8,163 m), Nepal October 1998.
- Mount Damavand (5,671 m), Iran January 2000
- Winter ascent of Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) (5,137 m), Turkey February 2000
- First Turkish ascent of extremely dangerous and difficult K2 (8,611 m), Pakistan July 2000. 2nd highest mountain of the world, The highest oxygenless ascent by a Turkish national.
- Muztagh Ata (7,546 m), China August 2001. First Turkish ascent. Highest ski-ascent of Turkey.
- There are 29 climbers, who have reached the summits of Everest, K2 and Lhotse mountains and today only 22 of them are alive.
[edit] Books
- Diary of an Alpinist (Yapi Kredi Press, July 1995)
- First Turk on Everest (Yapi Kredi Press, December 1995)
- In Search of a Dream (Yapi Kredi Press, December 1996)
- Roads of Asia, Himalayas, and Beyond (Yapi Kredi Press, September 1999)
[edit] Awards
- "Best Climber of Turkey" and was nominated as a candidate for the "Best Sportsman of Turkey", 1992 and 1994. (No elections in 1993)
- "Snow Leopard" by the Russian Mountaineering Federation after completing the ascents of 5 seven thousand meter peaks of the CIS, August 1994. At that time there were overall 214 climbers who were awarded with that title of which 3 were Western climbers.
