Summary of Children’s Hikes 2025
Here we are, summarizing this busy year full of trials and great achievements. 2025 became a beautiful and impressive journey for us, full of new sensations, challenges, heights, and difficulties, the overcoming of which turned into real victories. We started 2025 with high expectations, which, to our joy, were fulfilled, and we ended it in a very happy and festive mood. On December 27–28, in the Lastiver cave, as we were decorating the Christmas tree, filling the cave with New Year’s spirit, and preparing the festive table—where the main dish was potato ‘plej’ (roasted potatoes), and the crackling of the fire in the stove could be heard alongside the children’s joyful voices—it felt as if all the hiking, camping, and party days of 2025 were coming together piece by piece. At that moment, the whole year turned into one complete story, where every step, every difficulty, excitement, and joy, and every child’s laughter had its place and significance.
During 2025, we carried out a total of 55 events, including:
- 2 tent camps (in Stepanavan and Sevan),
- 3 hiking trips outside of Armenia (two of which were summit climbs),
- 50 hikes in Armenia (30 of which were summit climbs).
We had 1,124 participations across all these events. We were forced to cancel two more hikes due to unfavorable weather conditions. Behind these numbers stand real steps, real fatigue, and real victories.
As of August 2025, the highest ascent by the club’s children was the 4,500-meter peak of Mount Siahgogue in the Islamic Republic of Iran. And on August 1, 2025, the children managed to reach even higher: the 5,137-meter summit of Mount Ararat.
During the Ararat ascent, two nine-year-old participants reached the summit: Mikayel Mosikyan and Vardan Hayrapetyan. Moreover, the youngest participant, nine-year-old Vardan Hayrapetyan, became the youngest participant from Armenia ever to climb to the summit of Ararat.
It seems that the ascent of Ararat should have been the most impressive moment of the year, but no less important and impactful were those difficult and demanding climbs that laid the foundation for that success. They tempered the children, made them stronger, and shaped their will, patience, and faith in their own strength.
In 2025, we also exceeded the limit of our longest hike. Previously, the longest had been in the Syunik region during the ascent of Mount Tapasar (Achanan), where we covered 24 km. This year, we walked from Lake Parvana to the summit of Mount Abul and back to the same spot, covering about 30 km and overcoming a relative altitude of around 1,300 m.
We organized three sunset hikes, of which only the Aparan reservoir hike lacked the colors of a sunset. We spent three nights in a cave, had difficult winter hikes, played countless snowball fights, crawled through the narrow passages of Magellan’s Cave, discovered everything around Mount Aragats, visited the Tirinkatar ancient site and saw the vishapakars (dragon stones) that have reached us from the depths of centuries, walked through the fog, spent an unforgettable day at the ‘Our Mountains’ camp on June 1st, and spent the night on the southern peak of Aragats…
During 2025, we carried out a total of 55 events, including:
- 2 tent camps (in Stepanavan and Sevan),
- 3 hiking trips outside of Armenia (two of which were summit climbs),
- 50 hikes in Armenia (30 of which were summit climbs).
We had 1,124 participations across all these events. We were forced to cancel two more hikes due to unfavorable weather conditions. Behind these numbers stand real steps, real fatigue, and real victories.
As of August 2025, the highest ascent by the club’s children was the 4,500-meter peak of Mount Siahgogue in the Islamic Republic of Iran. And on August 1, 2025, the children managed to reach even higher: the 5,137-meter summit of Mount Ararat.
During the Ararat ascent, two nine-year-old participants reached the summit: Mikayel Mosikyan and Vardan Hayrapetyan. Moreover, the youngest participant, nine-year-old Vardan Hayrapetyan, became the youngest participant from Armenia ever to climb to the summit of Ararat.
It seems that the ascent of Ararat should have been the most impressive moment of the year, but no less important and impactful were those difficult and demanding climbs that laid the foundation for that success. They tempered the children, made them stronger, and shaped their will, patience, and faith in their own strength.
In 2025, we also exceeded the limit of our longest hike. Previously, the longest had been in the Syunik region during the ascent of Mount Tapasar (Achanan), where we covered 24 km. This year, we walked from Lake Parvana to the summit of Mount Abul and back to the same spot, covering about 30 km and overcoming a relative altitude of around 1,300 m.
We organized three sunset hikes, of which only the Aparan reservoir hike lacked the colors of a sunset. We spent three nights in a cave, had difficult winter hikes, played countless snowball fights, crawled through the narrow passages of Magellan’s Cave, discovered everything around Mount Aragats, visited the Tirinkatar ancient site and saw the vishapakars that have reached us from the depths of centuries, walked through the fog, spent an unforgettable day at the ‘Our Mountains’ camp on June 1st, and spent the night on the southern peak of Aragats…
In addition to hikes and camps, we organized and conducted five-month courses for two groups, whose participants gradually became involved in the hikes as well. Within the framework of the ‘Path to Overcoming the Height’ event, we solemnly celebrated the club’s nine years of activity, participated in a climbing championship, and carried out a trash cleanup.
And most importantly, we were convinced once again that mountains are not just peaks. They are a school where we learn to be human.
In addition to hikes and camps, we organized and conducted five-month courses for two groups, whose participants gradually became involved in the hikes as well.
And most importantly, we were convinced once again that mountains are not just peaks. They are a school where we learn to be human.
