On the 17th of December 2018 our annual event “Conclusion of the year” took place at the “Elite Plaza” business center.
We are 6 years old which means more than 450 hikes in Armenia and outside its borders, thousands of participants and a lot of discoveries.
Our event was dedicated to Historical Armenia and our expeditionary ascents there.
Our main mission has been and remains the same – to present the geography of Armenia and discover the unknown.
The head of the project Tigran Shahbazyan spoke about the origin of the project and concluded the past 6 years and the project “Ours” which was successfully completed this year.
The 4 Summits of Lake Van
The four mountains that surround lake Van from the south, north, east and west are Mount Sipan (4058m), Mount Varag (3200m), Mount Artos ( 3550m) and Mount Nemrut (2935m): In the latest years we have ascended all four of these summits. During the event all the members who have reached these summits were presented with certificates and the title “Eagle of Vaspurakan” from our project .
The Ascent of Mount Artos
Օn the 20th of July 2018 we made an expeditionary ascent to Artos mountain. The expedition succeeded and our group waved the Armenian flag on the top of Mount Artos. This ascent was very remarkable as in the last 100 years we were the first Armenians that reached the summit. During the event we also watched Sipan Grigoryan’s video about our ascent to Mount Artos.
Special Guests of the event
The special guests of our event were vice president of “Armenian Mountaineering and Mountain Tourism Federation” Suren Danielyan and the director of the “Research on Armenian Architecture” foundation Samvel Karapetyan. The latter gave a speech on the topic “The Chronicle of the Ascents of Mount Ararat”: who and when was made the first attempts of climbing Mount Ararat.
Afterwards we had a closed presentation of the film “Shatakh” which was about historical Shatakh province.
Continuing the Line of Discoveries
During the event we also discussed our expeditionary ascent to Mount Varag on the 30th of May 2018. This is also a mountain that hasn’t been reached by any Armenian during the last 100 years and after the decades our team was the first to succeed in doing it. Each successful climbing in Western Armenia, especially for expeditions, is a big conquest for us as there is always a chance that the whole journey could fail.
Mount Varag itself is very beautiful with breathtaking views from it’s top and I’ll keep silent about the emotions of the participants.
The Most Awaited Climb of the Year
The most awaited climb of 2018 was Mount Ararat. After a long intermission we started our hikings to the most desired mountain. During the event the head of the project Tigran Shahbazyan gave certificates for climbing Mount Ararat to all the participants of the ascent. Afterwards we watched Sipan Grigoryan’s film “The Closed Mountain” dedicated to our ascent of Mount Ararat.
After the event in the entrance hall there was a exhibition of Sipan Grigoryan’s photos again on the theme of Western Armenia.
During our 6 years we have managed to make a lot of discoveries, overcome new summits, to bring to an end our project, to become better, but our greatest achievements are those people who are with us, who believe in us and who are ready to pass with us through difficulties and conquests. Thanks for your belief and for being with us.
See you in mountains.
Article by Hrachuhi Ayvazyan
Photos by Babken Arzumanyan and Sasoun Danielyan