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Without much time to rest, the climb team left the camp at midnight that day, and reached the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895 m, on the early hours of September 5, 2008. The summit is also known as the Uhuru Peak.

 

At this emotional moment, blind mountain climber Turhan displayed two banners at the peak, which read: "It is not the eye, but the heart that climbs a mountain" and "It is the heart one needs to love life, and effort to achieve success".

Blind athlete continues his "Five Continents, Five Marathons, Five Summits" project, and aims to climb Mont Blanc (4810 m), the highest point of the Alps, as his next target.

Necdet Turhan has completed the marathon part of his global project with five international marathons: New York (2002), Athens (2004), Sydney (2006) and Egypt-Luxor (2007) marathons, in addition to the Blind Marathon of Japan (2005), with an average time of 3 hours 53 minutes.

The athlete, a long-time mountaineer, also climbed Turkey's highest mountain Mt. Ararat (Agri Mountain) (5165 m) in 2002.

Notes: if You climb Kilimanjaro You can contact ERnest Minja Hou a team leader for climbing Kilimanjaro...
His e-mail adress;
eminjakili@yahoo.com

Turkey’s first visually impaired mountain climber, Necdet Turhan, is looking for a sponsor to make possible the shooting of a documentary about his upcoming Kilimanjaro climb


    Despite many physical and financial hardships, Turkey’s most successful visually impaired mountain climber and runner is readying to reach the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro this month.
    
    Necdet Turhan, who has been unable to see since age 23, has so far run in the New York, Athens, Sydney, and Egypt’s Luxor marathons, and in Japan as part of his “Five Continents, Five Marathons, Five Summits" project. Conquering the legendary Mount Ararat twice, he is now impatient to climb Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain at nearly 5,895 meters in height, together with a professional team, at the end of August.
    Turhan said his objective was to complete the climbing leg of the project and demonstrate that his disability does not constitute a barrier for him. “Being impaired isn’t a handicap, but a specific situation the limits of which can be expanded,” said Turhan. “There is a certain prejudice against us, but handicapped people can too do anything, provided that they are offered sufficient opportunity.”
    Turhan used to climb Mount Uludað in Bursa, where he lived before he lost his sight, and he said his university years at Middle East Technical University were a turning point in reviving his athletic life. He joined the university’s mountaineering and winter sports club and began athletics training.
    “I couldn’t see in my university years, but my experience with and aspiration to mountains in my early years led me to be engaged in climbing again as well as to attend athletics trainings,” he noted and added that he started competing in marathons in 2000.      
    Born in 1957, Turhan is the first visually impaired sportsman to take part in the Eurasia Marathon and to climb 5,137-meter Mount Ararat, the highest mountain in Turkey. He is also the first visually impaired athlete to represent Turkey abroad in the New York Marathon, which he did in 2002. Following his Kilimanjaro climb, Turhan’s next target is to reach the peak of the Alps in Mont Blanc, Switzerland, which stand at a height of 4,810 meters and to release a book on his Five Marathons, Five Summits project. 

    [HH] Despite hardships
    In his adventure of climbing and participating in races as a visually impaired athlete, Turhan faces various problems, including physical and financial obstacles. The major difficulty for him is to find a guide who will assist him during his runs and climbs.
    “I need to take the support of a guide athlete while running and climbing, as we are tied to each other and he acts as the second athlete next to me during runs. I can run thanks to that string,” Turhan said.       
    “It is again the guide sportsman that assists me during climbs. He carries a brass bell and I follow him.”
    He said, however, that climbing also requires a great deal of his own initiative. “I need to visualize the physical landscape and the route well while climbing and my former experiences in Bursa in helps me a lot in this sense.”
    Another problem he comes across is finding a sponsor for his projects and activities. He said he had received little positive response in this respect. “Maybe I fail to promote myself sufficiently and professionally, but if I get further support including the media support, I believe I can achieve better results,” he noted. 
    
    [HH] Target documentary, if sponsor found   
    Turhan’s achievements have become a source of inspiration to many, and veteran mountain climber and organizer Ertuðrul Melikoðlu plans to shoot a documentary to capture his Kilimanjaro adventure. He said Turhan is a symbol of strong will power and determination as well as an inspiration to others who share the similar destiny with him.
     “He does something that even the healthy people wouldn’t venture. He expands his limits and sends a meaningful message to visually impaired. He is a kind of a public hero and I just thought he will be awarded what he deserves via the project.” The problem, however, is to find a sponsor for the project, he acknowledged.
    
    Turhan will climb Kilimanjaro together with his guide climber, Nevzat Öntaþ accompanied by a team of 10 mountain climbers. Turhan and Öntaþ’ expenses will be covered by Explorer and Bursa’s Nilüfer Municipality, but a sponsor is needed for filming the documentary.
    If a sponsor is found, Melikoðlu will too join the group, together with a cameraman to film Turhan’s Kilimanjaro climb, to take place Aug. 29 to Sept. 9. All kinds of technical preparations have been finalized concerning the documentary and even Digiturk’s documentary channel, ÝZ TV, will broadcast the documentary if it is shot.  
    Turhan’s Ararat climb went unnoticed in the media, but Melikoðlu hopes that to this time reward the athlete by filming his journey to the peak of Kilimanjaro.   
    “I respect what Turhan does. If he proves to be successful in this trial, I will encourage him to try South America’s highest peak, Mount Aconcagua, next.”
    For further details you can contact or visit www.necdetturhan.com, necdetturhan@gmail.com, info@explorer.com.tr or call 0 312 438 0095.