Gülnur Tumbat

Gülnur Tumbat (born 1975) is a Turkish female academic in marketing as well as amateur mountain climber and ultramarathon runner. Currently, she lives in San Francisco, California.

Gülnur Tumbat

Personal information
Full name	Gulnur Tumbat
Main discipline	Mountaineering, Ultrarunning
Born	1975 (age 44–45) Denizli, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish, American
Career
Starting age	17
Notable ascents	Mount Everest (8,848 m), Aconcagua (6,959 m), McKinley (6,194 m), Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), Elbrus (5,642 m), Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m), Grand Teton (4,199 m)

Early years

Gülnur Tumbat was born to a teacher father and a seamstress mother as the youngest of three daughters in Denizli in 1975.[1] After finishing the high school, she studied Environmental Engineering at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara with a master's degree in the same field. She further received a master's degree in Business Administration from Bilkent University. Then, Tumbat obtained a PhD degree in Marketing in the United States.[2][3]

Since 2005, she has been serving as associate professor in the Marketing Faculty at San Francisco State University.[2][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Sports

Mountain climbing

Tumbat began mountain climbing at age 17 in the Mountaineering & Winter Sports Club of the METU.[3][8] She was on the top of more than 30 high-elevation mountains in Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Nepal, Argentina, and the US so far.[7] Her doctoral thesis was on the subject of marketing and consuming risk.[4] To study the subject, she joined a group of mountain climbers at the main camp at Mt. Everest in 2004.[2][3]

Her goal is to be the first Turk and Turkish woman to climb the "Eight Summits",[6] an extension of the Seven Summits with addition of Mt. Carstensz in the Oceania continent. The first Turkish seven summiter is Nasuh Mahruki. Only twelve women in the world have completed the ascent to the "Eight Summits" to date.[2][8][10]

Gülnur Tumbat climbed the McKinley (6,194 m), Aconcagua (6,959 m), Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), Elbrus (5,642 m), and Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m).[5] She notes that her most challenging ascent was to Aconcagua, the highest point in South America, where she climbed solo and without the assistance of a professional mountain guide or a team.[2][7]

In April 2014, her attempt to climb Mt. Everest failed as the ascent to the summit was officially barred after a major avalanche killed more than ten mountaineers at 5,800 m elevation.[10][11] She was not hurt by the accident.[9][10] In July 2015, she ascended Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m),[8] completing her fifth summit of the "Eight Highest Peaks", in a group of six mountaineers from South Korea, Australia, France and Sweden.[6][12]

On May 21, 2018 she became the first Turkish woman to summit Mount Everest from the Nepal side, known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā and in Tibetan as Chomolungma, the Earth's highest mountain.

Endurance sports

Tumbat participated in the 2010 Marin County Triathlon finishing 33rd overall and 5th in her age group.[13] Since 2010, Gülnur Tumbat has been taking part at ultramarathon competitions in California, where she lives. Her achievements are:[1][14]

Year	Place	Event	Distance	Rank
				Overall	Female	Age group
2010	Angel Island, CA	Ayala Cove 10 Miles	10 mi	7	4
	San Francisco, CA	North Face Endurance Challenge - California Trail	50 mi	21	3
2011	San Francisco, CA	North Face Endurance Challenge - California Trail	50 mi	127	21	4
2012	San Francisco, CA	North Face Endurance Challenge - California Trail	50 mi	131	27	9
2013	Sausalito, CA	Rodeo Valley 50 km Trail Run[15]	50 km	31	7	2
	Stinson Beach, CA	Miwok 60k Trail race	60 km	92	16	7
	Santa Barbara, CA	Santa Barbara 100	100 km	2	1
	Castro Valley, CA	Lake Chabot 50 km Trail Run[16]	50 km	14	1	1
	San Francisco, CA	North Face Endurance Challenge - California Trail	50 mi	163	31	10
2014	San Francisco, CA	North Face Endurance Challenge - California Trail[17]	50 mi	220	36	6

References

1. "DUV home page Ultra Marathon Statistics". Deutsche Ultramarathon Vereinigung. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
2. Ergün, Bülent (2012-12-10). "Dünyanın zirvesindeki Türk kadını". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2015-08-02.
3. "Dünyanın zirvesindeki Türk kadını". Habertürk (in Turkish). 2014-04-06. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
4. "Gulnur Tumbat". academia.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
5. "Lita Limonata, Yüksek İrtifa Dağcısı Gülnur Tumbat'la Zirveye Çıkacak". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
6. "Marketing Professor Gulnur Tumbat prepares to climb Carstensz Pyramid". San Francisco State University-College of Business. 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
7. "Climbing Aconcagua - Gulnur Tumbat". Peak Climbing Section. 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
8. Koca, Zeynep Esra (2015-07-13). "Turkish woman on Oceania's Carstensz summit". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
9. "Turkish professor from Mount Everest to the family'I'm fine'Message". Haber Monitor. 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
10. "Türk Akademisyen Everest'teki çığdan sağ kurtuldu". Radikal (in Turkish). 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
11. "Dünyanın zirvelerindeki ilk ve tek Türk kadını". Vatan (in Turkish). 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
12. "Dağcı Gülnur Tumbat, 5. Zirvesini Tamamladı". Haberler (in Turkish). 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
13. "Marin County Triathlon - Age Group Results" (PDF). TriFind. 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
14. "Gulnur Tumbat F40". Ultra Signup. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
15. "Rodeo Valley Trail Run - Spring". Inside Trail. 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
16. "Lake Chabot". Coastal Trail Runs. 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
17. "The North Face Endurance Challenge-SF". Ultra Running Magazine. 2014-12-06. Retrieved 2015-08-03.