Ugur Uluocak
Encyclopedia
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
outdoorsman, mountaineer
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
, photographer and editor.
Born in 1962 in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey, Uğur attended Saint Joseph High School
St. Joseph High School (Istanbul)
St. Joseph High School is a private high school located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is a French school founded in 1870. Classes are taught in Turkish, French, and/or English.-External links:* / *...
in Istanbul, and graduated in Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
from Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University
Istanbul Technical University is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third oldest technical university dedicated to engineering sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Turkey...
.
Uğur
Uğur
Uğur is a common masculine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Uğur" means "luck", and/or "auspiciousness".-Given name:* Uğur Albayrak, Turkish footballer* Uğur Güneş, Turkish volleyball player* Uğur Kapısız, Turkish footballer,...
started mountain climbing in 1984 with the mountaineering club at Istanbul Technical University (ITUDAK). Uğur was a complete sportsman. He competed four years in rowing
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, ranking in first place. He was a middle
Middle distance track event
Middle distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle distance event. The 880 yard run, or half mile, was the forebear to the...
and long distance runner for eight years, and a scuba diver
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
and cyclist for the last two years. As a globally known mountaineer, he trained many young sportsmen both in theoretical and practical ways.
From 1999 on, Uğur worked as a photographer, expedition coordinator and editor for the Turkish nature and outdoor sports magazine "Atlas". He not only wrote about his mountaineering adventures but also on mountaineering ethics and history with his friend Ahmet Köksal.
Uğur was an influential figure in the Turkish mountaineering community, with a very strong and dedicated personality and an extremely high intellectual capacity. He was fluent in five languages.
Professionally, he was a lecturer at the Marmara University
Marmara University
Marmara University is a public university in Turkey. Situated in Istanbul, Marmara University has succeeded in becoming the second largest university in the whole country...
in Istanbul and was also an active member of the Communist Party of Turkey for over 20 years.
Uğur Uluocak died on July 2, 2003 while on a descent in the Alarcha Mountain in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
when a rock broke off and he took a 4200m fall. His body was recovered by his teammates Haldun Ülkenli and Alper Işın Duran and brought to his homeland for burial. Uğur is the second Turkish mountaineer after Ali Kepenek to have died in a foreign country while climbing a mountain.
Achievements
- Direktaş, north face (solo, in 2 hours) and northeast dihedral, Ala Mountains (Turkey)
- Mt. Büyük Demirkazık, west face (solo) and north face, Ala Mountains (Turkey)
- Mt. Küçük Demirkazık, south face (first ascent), Ala Mountains (Turkey)
- Çağalın Başı, northwest face (first ascent), Ala Mountains (Turkey)
- Ağrı (Mount AraratMount AraratMount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
) (5,137 m), north glacier in summer and winter - Mount ElbrusMount ElbrusMount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia...
(5,642 m) in Caucassus - Peak Vorobiyov (5,685 m), Peak Chetyriokh (Peak of Fours) (6,299 m), Peak KorzhenevskayaPeak KorzhenevskayaPeak Korzhenevskaya is the third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It is one of the five "Snow Leopard Peaks" in the territory of theformer Soviet Union. It is named after Evgenia Korzhenevskaya, the wife of Russiangeographer Nikolai L...
(7,105 m), Peak Communism (7,495 m) in Pamir MountainsPamir MountainsThe Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable... - Razdelnaya (6,248 m), Khan TengriKhan TengriKhan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is located on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan border, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial cap rises to...
(7,010 m), Lenin PeakLenin PeakLenin Peak , rises to in Gorno-Badakhshan on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and is the second-highest point of both countries. It is considered one of the easiest 7,000 m peaks in the world to climb and it has by far the most ascents of any 7,000 m or higher peak on earth, with every...
(7,134 m) in Kyrgyzstan. - K-2K2K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest...
(8,611 m), two attempts in 1998 and 1999 - 1999 Shisha Pangma (8,013 m) in People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
- 1999 Cho OyuCho OyuCho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal...
(8,201 m) in NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, alpine solo - 2000 AnnapurnaAnnapurnaAnnapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....
attempt - 2002 Mt. Reşko, north face, Cilo Mountains (Turkey)