2016: An Unprecedented Year in the Mountains
2016 turned out to be a very active year for mountaineering. In independent Armenia, mountaineering had long been in a rather passive phase. Although climbers made ascents both in Armenia and abroad — Kazbek, Elbrus, Damavand, Ararat — this was not yet mountaineering in the full sense of the word. Since 2010, Armenian climbers had been training and earning ranks at the Bezengi mountaineering camp, climbing technically difficult mountains. And 2016 seemed to be the year when all these gradual steps came together. Climbs were made both on peaks above 6,000 m and on technically difficult routes: Armenian climbers Ara Khachadourian and Irana Kharazova (the first Armenian woman to summit Everest) reached the top of Everest; Artashes Mkrtchyan climbed Lenin Peak; Eduard Sargsyan, Levon Movsisyan, Suren Petrosyan and Garik Unusyan climbed the Matterhorn; Antuan Ananyan and Tigran Mansuryan climbed Mont Blanc; Igor Khalatyan climbed Ushba; Shushanna Rubenyan and Narine Tshagharyan attempted Lenin Peak, reaching Razdelnaya Peak at 6,148 m — and there were many other ascents. Mountain clubs organized a number of events, and our club was founded as well. The founding of the club was significant because it was the first — and so far the only — club of its kind for children; schools do not have mountaineering or tourism groups either, and through our club children got the chance to come close to mountaineering. Our club also made its own contribution to the unprecedented mountain year of 2016, which was recognized by the Armenian Federation of Alpinism and Mountain Tourism.