Called by a Dream to Mount Ararat

Like many people who feel at home in the mountains, I carried the dream of climbing Mount Ararat in my heart for years a dream that once felt distant and almost unreachable. Over the past year or two, I began joining hikes more often with friends, and together we talked, explored, and slowly grew closer to the idea of Ararat’s ascent. About six months before the climb, a moment of clarity and determination finally arrived. We decided that this would be the year even choosing in advance which ArmGeo guide we wanted to climb with. From the very moment of registration, my daily life, my thoughts, and my emotions shifted completely.

Was I Really There?

I had imagined the ascent the journey itself, every step to be far more difficult than it turned out to be. That’s not to say it was easy, or that there were no hardships or discomforts. There were plenty of them. But when you’re truly there, in the middle of that demanding and unfamiliar reality, you discover a level of resilience you never knew you had. Of course, it also matters deeply who you share this kind of journey with. In moments like these, two things become essential: your inner connection with yourself, and the people around you.

I was incredibly fortunate. I was there with two people who mean a great deal to me, in the caring and steady hands of my beloved guides, and alongside a group filled with warmth, curiosity, and truly unique individuals.

It was only while standing on the summit that I truly realized I had climbed Masis. Ararat had always felt so powerful, distant, and untouchable that it was hard to imagine it would ever allow someone to come close to approach it, embrace it, and feel a sense of intimacy with it.

After returning to Armenia, I didn’t see Ararat for nearly a week because of the unsettled weather. And then, every time it appeared again, the same question echoed in my mind: Was I really there? Perhaps it was only at the summit that I was able to fully understand and accept that it was real.

Here, standing shoulder to shoulder holds a strength all its own.

The most moving memory of the ascent was dancing. There is one feeling when you dance traditional Armenian dances in a city or a park and an entirely different one when you dance in the mountains, especially at the highest point of the Armenian Highlands. It felt as if, through Armenian music and dance, we were sending something back from the slopes and the summit of Masis to our historical homeland. Standing shoulder to shoulder there carried a different kind of strength a deeper energy, one that is felt rather than explained.

During the ascent, in the hardest moments, it helped immensely to hold on to the thought that I was on the path to Ararat’s summit a place where everything around you feels deeply familiar and close to the heart.

My friends Hrach and Aram supported me endlessly; we walked this journey together from the very first step to the last. And of course, the guides and the rest of the group mattered just as much, because in many ways, the hardships themselves are something you share.

Don’t Hesitate for a Second to Climb Ararat

There wasn’t a single moment when I regretted the decision or questioned continuing the journey.

After reaching the summit of Ararat, I understood the phrase “words cannot describe it” more deeply than ever before. When I stepped onto the peak exhausted, completely drained, yet filled with a new and unfamiliar kind of happiness I took off my backpack, lay down on the ground, and began to cry. I still don’t know exactly what those emotions were: joy, pride, or perhaps the release of everything the previous days had demanded of me. Most likely, it was all of them at once.

Almost everyone standing beside me in that moment had tears in their eyes.

Life truly changes after the ascent and this is not an exaggeration. Both physically, and even more so emotionally, you experience moments and feelings you’ve never known before. You begin to trust yourself more, to believe in your own strength. Looking back now, I’m deeply grateful that I dared to take that step. If you love the mountains, don’t hesitate for a single second to climb Ararat. It will become one of the most powerful memories of your life if not the most powerful of all.

Ani Tovmasyan