Yaşar Uğur Uluocak (1962 – 2 July 2003) was a Turkish outdoorsman,

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, photographer, and editor. Born in 1962 in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, Turkey, Uğur attended Saint Joseph High School in Istanbul, and graduated in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

from

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical universit ...

. Uğur 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 Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

, ranking in first place. He was a middle and

long distance runner Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

for eight years, and a scuba diver and

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

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 Ahmet Köksal (1920 - 24 January 1997) was a Turkish poet and writer. Early life and education Ahmet Köksal was born in Kızılkeçili, Çanakkale, Kızılkeçili a village of Çanakkale in 1920. He went to primary and middle school in Çanak ...

. 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 ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

in Istanbul and was also an active member of the Communist Party of Turkey for over 20 years. Uğur Uluocak died on 2 July 2003 while on a descent in the Alarcha Mountain in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

when a rock broke off and he took a 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 Ararat Mount Ararat or , ''Ararat''; or is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and th ...

) (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 Peak Ozodi (russian: Пик Озоди), (until 2020 Korzhenevskoi Peak, russian: Пик Корженевской) is the third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It is one of the five " Snow Leopard Peaks" in the territory of th ...

(7,105 m), Peak Communism (7,495 m) in Pamir Mountains *

Razdelnaya Lisy Nos railway station (russian: Ста́нция Ли́сий нос), Fox Nose is a railway station in Lisy Nos, St. Petersburg, Russia. At the time of opening, in 1894, it was called Razdelnaya. It was built by the Joint-stock comp ...

(6,248 m),

Khan Tengri Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range. It is on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan tripoint, east of lake Issyk Kul. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial icecap rises to . For this reason, in mountaineering c ...

(7,010 m),

Lenin Peak Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Peak ( ky, Ленин Чокусу, ''Lenin Choqusu'', لەنىن چوقۇسۇ; russian: Пик Ленина, ''Pik Lenina''; tg, қуллаи Ленин , ''qulla‘i Lenin/qullaji Lenin'', renamed қулла� ...

(7,134 m) in Kyrgyzstan. * K-2 (8,611 m), two attempts in 1998 and 1999 * 1999

Shisha Pangma Shishapangma, also called Gosainthān, is the 14th-highest mountain in the world, at above sea level. In 1964, it became the last of the 8,000-metre peaks to be climbed. This was due to its location entirely within Tibet and the restrictions ...

(8,013 m) in

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

* 1999 Cho Oyu (8,201 m) in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

, alpine solo * 2000

Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the diffic ...

attempt * 2002 Mt. Reşko (4,135 m), northwest/north face, Cilo Mountains (Turkey)

References

Biography in Turkish

* ttp://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=80360 News about his last ascent in the newspaper ''Radikal'' in Turkish {{DEFAULTSORT:Uluocak, Ugur 1962 births 2003 deaths Istanbul Technical University alumni Mountaineering deaths Sport deaths in Kyrgyzstan St. Joseph High School Istanbul alumni Turkish atheism activists Turkish communists Turkish former Muslims Turkish male rowers Turkish mountain climbers Turkish photographers