Ararat: rockfall near the 4,200 m camp

Turkish agency DHA and local outlets report that on 12 October 2026 on Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) a summit-bound climbing party faced a rockfall near camp at about 4,200 m. Large blocks and stone masses broke loose from steep slopes and rolled downhill toward people.

According to those reports, one climber spotted the danger and shouted a warning; the group ran clear of the fall line. No deaths or injuries are reported. The episode was filmed on a phone and spread quickly through Turkish media.

Judging from the circulating video, this was not the collapse of a monolithic cliff face but a scree / talus slide (kurum).

The slide started well below the summit, near the snowline. A plausible large-scale driver is melt of snow and glacier ice.

In the first half of the clip the likely onset of the slide coincides with climbers walking that section: huge blocks appear to move under their feet — so formally the party itself may have triggered the rockfall.

In the second half the same fallout has almost reached the assault tent camp at 4,200 m, with enormous blocks bouncing down the slope.