Up The Rocks

From Feb 25 to March 5, a French group was hosted by Up The Rocks for ski-touring program in Armenia. Among our honourable guests was the general secretary of Petzl foundation Philippe Descamps.

Mystic basalt columns and limestone had been the initial motivation to travel to Armenia, but the potential for outdoor adventures took us by surprise as did the culturel experience. When not climbing onto the vertical pleasures, the thoughts of exploring the landscape dressed in winter conditions seemed appealing. It was evident; there was no choice but to return with skis, and have some fun with Mkhik and our other Armenian friends.

With Jan Pala, we had planned this trip around a year ago. Those times in his dreams the ski-alpinism and heliskiing in Armenia looked like amazing powder slopes and good weather.. . But let’s see what it turned out.

Andranik Miribyan, John Clinton and me set off to the village Aragats. The destination was to explore a new Ski-tour route for "Geographic Travel Club" www.geotravel.am. It has been planned to include a skiing on the slopes of the Northern (4090m) and Eastern (3916m) summits in the program. It was also decided to start the Ski-tour early in the morning from the start point (hydroelectric plant on the slopes of the mount above village Aragats).