Lianna Araqelyan

What’s your profession? What do you do?

I am a translator. Now I work in the field of marketing.

When and how did you decide to take part in a hiking trip for the first time? How your first hiking trip was and what kinds of emotions did you experience?

I have been interested in hiking for a long time. Back in school, we often traveled and organized hiking trips. For the first time, I decided to join ArmGeo because I noticed that they always choose unusual destinations and discover many unknown places. My first hike was in 2016, destination – Mount Tezhkar and Hell’s Canyon. I remember how we left the bus and all participants started to prepare their hiking equipment. They put on more comfortable shoes, opened their trekking poles and so on. For a moment I felt lost. I thought that I am not supposed to be here, and if I could I would sit in a bus and go back to the city. Then my mixed emotions were replaced by beautiful landscapes, tranquility and some other, completely new Armenia.

What has changed in your life since you started hiking?

I find balance in nature and in the mountains. The balance of noise and silence, action and peace, questions and answers. In the mountains everything is in harmony and balance, nothing bothers you. You only think about how to overcome your own strength and yourself.

In the mountains, I am not in a hurry, I am not tired, and I am not worried about minor problems that we artificially create for ourselves, when we live in the city.

What do mountains give you, what are you looking for there?

Mountains become a territory that you cannot measure by space and time. There you can travel in your desired time and space and end up in your desired place. At any moment you can make important discoveries, at any second you can feel powerful, and the next second you can feel small and insignificant. But the most important thing is that in the mountains you feel like a part of the world, country, people, everything… This sense of integrity has a power that cannot be expressed with words.

Is there a creation that you associate with mountains or hikes?

There are many of them. However, there is one poem about mountains by Hovhannes Tumanyan that I really love. For me, it is a combination of mountains, childhood and simplicity.

What was your most memorable hiking trip and what made it special?

I remember all the trips without exception. During one hike, small white flowers spread out in front of you, and you try to find convenient paths so as not not trample “anyone”. On other hike, you look at cliffs and inaccessible mountains in the distance, and you think that one day you will climb them. During another hike you find good friends.

Are there destinations that you haven’t climbed yet but have a desire to do it?

I never choose which mountains I need to climb. Sometimes I even think that mountains choose me. There, we understand each other very well: they know the right time and the right paths…

Which are those three words that can describe your feelings during hiking trips?

Calmness, happiness, and pride (when you reach some peaks, you look down at the path that you overcame, and you feel proud of yourself…)

What do you think, who are hikers?

People who seek and strive for more than they already have.

How did you appear in ArmGeo club?

One word – Ararat.

What advice do you have for those who want to start to go hiking but don’t dare to get out of their comfort zone and do that?

Remember that you are always one step away from the top, and by taking this step, you will find yourself in a wonderful place with the most beautiful beautiful views. Do not think about the height of the peak, because the peak is always reachable if you take one step.

P.S. Or you can take your phone and call ArmGeo. One more advantage: you will have many cool photos for Instagram :)

Members of ArmGeo Club