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Karo Hovasapyan

armenian alpinist

Karo Hovasapyan

The world’s only Armenian who’s been on the highest peaks of all continents

Karo Hovasapyan is the world’s only Armenian alpinist who has been on the highest peaks of all continents. Hovasapyan was born in Iran. In 1969, he moved to Armenia with his family, and after living for about ten years in Armenia, he moved abroad again.

He has climbed the highest peaks of the Andes, the Pamir Mountains, Himalayas, Ellsworth Mountains, Caucasus, and Mount Kilimanjaro. He is the first Armenian to have reached the South Pole and one of the two Armenians who managed to be at both poles of Earth. In 2006 he climbed Masis which is also known as Mount Ararat and waved the flag of Armenia on the top of it. He waved the Armenian Tricolor on the top of the highest points of the world. He is the third Armenian who climbed Mount Everest after Lev Sarkisov and Igor Khalatyan.

Karo Hovasapyan

A Book About Scott

Hovasapyan tells us that love for climbing mountains came from a young age when his uncle gave him a book about Scott, which really excited him. From that day on he started reading books about mountaineering.

The dream of climbing Mount Everest came to him when he was just 15 years old. He was climbing the mountains of Armenia from a very young age. The first relatively high ascent was Mount Aragats, after which he began his lifelong journey of alpinism, and got acquainted with many mountaineers.

Karo Hovasapyan

He tells us that on the way to Canada he met Loly Dexter, whom used to know only from magazines, and asked her to include him in the group of hikers. After being included in the group, he trained for about four years and one day got an offer to go the South Pole and on the 10th of September, 2000 he was already there.

The group consisted of 9 people, and after seeing his skills and potential, they invited him to climb Mount Aconcagua which is considered to be the highest point outside Asia. So, just a year after being at the South Pole he raised the flag of Armenia again but this time on the top of Mount Aconcagua. Afterwards, in 2003 he received offers to go to North America, Europe, and the North Pole and climbed Mount Everest in 2005.

He claimed: “The mountains are not conquered, they are climbed”

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