ORGANIZERS SAY LARGEST ROCK CLIMBING FESTIVAL IN ARMENIA A HUGE SUCCESS
13:49, June 13, 2013
The largest rock climbing festival in Armenia to date kicked-off on
May 23 in Noravank, an area known for its challenging jagged cliffs
and precipices.
Organized by the “Up the Rocks” Armenian club, in collaboration with
Petzl and SNAPEC, this year’s “Arev Rock Climbing Festival” was the
third such festival in Armenia and lasted for an entire week
Mkhitar Mkhitaryan, one of the founders of Up the Rocks, said the
festival attracted thirty participants, seven local Armenians, and
the others from various countries such as the Czech Republic, Norway,
South Korea, China, and France.
Vasken Koutoudjian was asked by the director of Petzl to start
communicating with “Up the Rocks” this winter, and learn more about
the climbing initiatives in Armenia.
Koutoudjian was born in France to an Armenian father and a climber
who came to France from Marash after the Genocide.
Vasken started climbing seriously as an adult. He travelled, climbed
a lot, and was involved with several French Alpine clubs.
Ten years ago, he became a professional rock climbing instructor,
getting involved with the International Mountaineering and Climbing
Federation.
He had always wanted to visit Armenia, and after discovering the
potential the country has for climbing, and the possible involvement
Petzl, he had even more reason to do so.
Vasken thought the festival went very well and was enthusiastic about
discovering this new landscape. During the festival, Vasken trained
six people as certified rock climbing instructors according to UIAA
standards, thus helping to build the sport of climbing and grow its
community in Armenia.
“I can’t compare this festival to those in Europe. The people and
culture in this area of the world are completely different. But I
think it went great. It was a wonderful experience to learn from
one another and to work towards a common project. We can only wish
that in the years to come, more and more people become involved,”
Vasken said, adding that the success of the festival and Armenia’s
naturally rocky landscape have made a lasting impression on him.” I
would like to return in the fall, further involve myself in Armenia
and develop more outdoor activities here”
Mkhitar said this festival was different from the first two because
they invited children from the local villages of Areni and Arpeni
to participate twice throughout the week. Around fifty children
participated.
“We really wanted to involve young children and students and introduce
them to the sport of climbing and get them interested in developing
their own skills, given they have these rocks in their backyard. We
have high hopes for them, and they all came away very enthusiastic
about the sport. At the end of June, we were invited to participate
at an International climbing event in Georgia, so we picked four
children that were the most enthusiastic and showed a high level of
improvement in a short period of time,” Mkhitar explained
Luca Keushguerian, a member of Up the Rocks, as well as an organizer
and participant of the Arev Armenian Rock Climbing Festival, echoed
Vasken and Mkhitar’s sentiments.
“If you look all around, you can see that climbing in Armenia has
already started to grow, and is going to continue by organizing
festivals like this one, and by raising general awareness of the
sport.”
Luca noted that as a group, with a lot of help from the professional
rock climbers who attended the festival, they must have doubled the
amount of climbable routes and installed some for beginners as well.
“There is a lot of untapped potential here in Armenia, unlike places
in Italy and France where climbing has been around for a long time.
Climbing in Armenia is very new, probably one or two generations at
most. But, because of that, there is a lot of room for growth and
exploration,” Luca said.