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Members of the CAMADAN Mountaineering and Winter Sports Specialization Club, based in Trabzon's Black Sea province, found a second note left by Italian climbers during a 1972 expedition to the Kackar Mountains, a range along Türkiye's northeastern coast near the Georgian border.
The discovery follows a similar find last year and comes as the club plans to extend its search to 15 additional peaks.
Club president Metin Colak said members located the note this year inside an effervescent tablet box on a summit within the range. Written in Italian, it read: "Kosan Dagi 3350 m.
Two main peaks ... August 1972 CAI Pordenone Expedition Italy."
Colak said the note was wet when found and could not be opened on site; members dried it before identifying the handwriting as belonging to Silvano Zucchiatti, a member of the original Italian team.
The club contacted the Italian Alpine Club, which confirmed the note belonged to the same expedition responsible for a message Turkish climbers discovered last year inside a tin can.
That earlier note read: "20-8-72, Spedizione CAI Pordenone Italy, Quota 3510, Enzo Laconca, Giovanni Martin."
In response to the first discovery, the Italian Alpine Club sent CAMADAN a 2006 book in memory of Zucchiatti, containing photographs, notes and maps from the 1972 expedition.
According to Colak, the book showed the Italian team completed 35 climbs that summer and left notes on 19 separate peaks.
Using the maps from the book, Turkish climbers have so far reached four of the mapped peaks, finding the effervescent tablet box note on one of them. The club now plans to attempt the remaining 15 peaks in search of further messages.
Colak said news coverage of the first discovery drew attention from mountaineering communities outside Türkiye, including in Indonesia, Spain and Serbia, which the club has since archived.
"Our Italian counterparts were very pleased. Our aim is to maintain Turkish-Italian friendship," Colak said.
The club has also installed a bilingual sign, in Turkish and Italian, on a peak it calls Dilek Dagi, commemorating Zucchiatti and fellow Italian climber Sisto Degan.
Club member Hakan Demirci said the 2006 book also contains photographs of local residents taken during the 1972 expedition.
He said the club hopes to locate the people pictured and potentially organize a comparative photo exhibition using updated images of the same locations.
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