ITOTURUMU

Another Blast From the Past from 1988 in Turkey. I have put many hours into this and other images recently trying to restore them. They are scans from slides that had been damaged in storage with scratches and grit. I've imported them onto Brushes and zoomed up 100's of percent into the individual pixels where possible to remove the imperfections. It's a slow mesmerising job.

The image shows a rock pinnacle in the Taurus range in Southern Turkey called 'Itoturumu' meaning Sitting Dog as it looks like that from a distance.

The climber on top is Recep Catak who was killed two years later climbing Mount Ararat. He slid down an easy ice slope (walkable) and smashed his head on a rock at the bottom. He was unable to arrest his slide with an Ice axe and was not wearing a helmet.

There was no mountain or helicopter rescue in those days (today I'm not sure) and his friends (medical students) tried to release the pressure on his brain by drilling a hole in his skull with a penknife. But to no avail. He could easily have been saved if he'd been lifted to a hospital by helicopter in time.

(My photos have historical interest in Turkish mountaineering circles as very few people took photos at that time at least in the very small group involved in climbing then. Now it's vastly expanded and popular)

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I know posting something like this is not in the true spirit of the Blip Faith as written by the Founder. There are people out there, I'm sure, who see me as an unbeliever who should be taken out and beheaded.

Guilty as charged!