Uğur Uluocak

Yaşar Uğur Uluocak (1962-2003) was a Turkish multi-talented outdoor sportsman, photographer and editor. He was one of the most famous Turkish mountaineers known for climbing high mountains.

He was born 1962 in Ankara, Turkey. After finishing Saint Joseph High School in İstanbul, he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University.

Uğur started mountain climbing in 1984 at the mountaineering club of İstanbul Technical University [http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITUDAK (ITUDAK)] . Uğur was a complete sportsman. He competed four years in rowing, ranking on first place. He was a middle and long distance runner for eight years, and a scuba diver and cyclist for the last two years. As a worldwide mountaineer, he trained many young sportsmen both in theoretical and practical ways.

Since 1999, Uğur was working as a photographer, expedition coordinator and editor for the Turkish nature and outdoor sports magazine "Atlas". He wrote not only his adventures on high mountains but also mountaineering ethics and history with his friend Ahmet Köksal.

Uğur was a very influential figure to the Turkish mountaineering community with a very strong and dedicated personality and extremely high intellectual capacity. He was fluent in five languages.

Professionally, he was a lecturer in at the Marmara University in İstanbul. He was also an active opponent of the Communist Party of Turkey for over 20 years. Fact|date=November 2007

Uğur Uluocak died on July 2, 2003 while photographing on descent, as a rock broke off and he fell downwards at 4200 m of Alarcha Mountain in Kyrgyzstan. His body was recovered by his teammates Haldun Ülkenli and Alper Işın Duran, and brought to his homeland for burial. Uğur was the second Turkish mountaineer after Ali Kepenek to die 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 Ararat) (5,137 m), north glacier in summer and winter
* Mount Elbrus (5,642 m) in Caucassus
* Peak Vorobiyov (5,685 m), Peak Chetyriokh (Peak of Fours) (6,299 m), Peak Korzhenevskaya (7,105 m), Peak Communism (7,495 m) in Pamir Mountains
* Razdelnaya (6,248 m), Khan Tengri (7,010 m), Lenin Peak (7,134 m) in Kyrgyzstan.
* K-2 (8,611 m), two attempts in 1998 and 1999
* 1999 Shisha Pangma (8,013 m) in People's Republic of China
* 1999 Cho Oyu (8,201 m) in Nepal, alpine solo
* 2000 Annapurna attempt
* 2002 Mt. Reşko, north face, Cilo Mountains (Turkey)

References

* [http://www.hurriyetim.com.tr/haber/0,,sid~1@w~1@nvid~286633,00.asp Biography in Turkish]
* [http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2003/07/04/g01.html News about his last ascent in the newspaper "Sabah" in Turkish]
* [http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=80360 News about his last ascent in the newspaper "Radikal" in Turkish]