Though Mount Ararat is the symbol of Armenia, the tallest mountain which is actually within Armenia's present day borders is Mount Aragats. This volcanic mountain has four peaks, only one of which is really climbable without ropes...and even still...by the route we took, at least, you have to be in really good shape. (Ideally, better shape than me......)
There were approximately 20 of us, maybe more, and we gathered in central Yerevan at 8:30am to begin our trek. This being Armenia, we left some time after 9. The drive was good...we played 20 Questions and looked out the windows at beautiful flowers and small (Kurdish?) shepherd camps. After about an hour, we arrived at the lake at the base, next to which is the cosmic ray monitoring station. After last minute preparations such as the application of sunscreen and putting on sweatshirts because a cold wind was blowing, we started off.
At the very beginning was a (slightly muddy) road...an easy incline, no problem. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the lake and the mountain up ahead. After crossing a grassy field which was crisscrossed by streams and swampy mud from the melting snow (there was still ice on the lake, by the way), we arrived at the first field of rocks. Stepping carefully from one loose rock to another was a bit tricky at first, but eventually I got the hang of it, and by the end of the rocky field, I was still with the bulk of the group, feeling confident. We continued on up the slope, crossing some snow (which was rather more strenuous than the rocks because you had to try to keep from slipping) and eventually reached our first stopping point, where we had some snacks and some water, and then continued on our way.
The climbing got trickier...sometimes people extended hands to help pull me up, and at one point I was actually half lifted from the bottom, half pulled from the top to get me up on top of a large rock. My out-of-shape-ness began to show...but we kept going. I fell towards the back of the pack, but I wasn't always the last...usually I was...but not always!
At one point I started talking to one of the other guys who I had assumed was one of the guides, but was actually a university student who had never been to Aragats before either. I felt better having someone with whom to have conversations like:
--Is that the top?
--I don't know, I hope it is...
--Yeah, me too.
--Hey [person who's been here before], is that the top?
--Nope.
--Really???
It's deceptive when you're up on the mountain...you keep thinking you've come all this way and then you look back and the lake still looks close, and you look ahead and you think that the highest point you can see, way far above you surely must be the top, and then it's a bit of a crushing disappointment to learn that it's not, that you can't even see the top yet...
Eventually, after climbing over and around more and more rocks, boulders, slippery pieces of slate (or whatever those flat rocks were)...we reached a point just before the final slog to the top. My feet were killing me by this point with blisters (on the arches of all places) but the guides told us we had to keep moving because fog was rolling in. So we made a final push and made it to the top, where we discovered the rest of the group sitting around waiting for us (they'd been there for half an hour at least.) Gohar started handing out bread and cheese to everyone, while those who hadn't already put on their jackets or other outer layers of clothing did so...except for the crazy guy who stripped to his boxers and started rolling around in the snow...
After everyone had rested for a bit, taken photos, adjusted shoes, clothing and backpacks, and eaten some food, we headed over to the other side of the peak to start the trek down. Except, the trek was actually going to be more of a slide...because we were headed down the glaciers*!
Those who had plastic bags of their own got them out...the guides had extras for those who didn't. And so the first brave souls started sledding their way down the mountainside...
I started off walking, but eventually realized that the snow was wet enough that I wouldn't get going fast enough to be out of control, and besides which it was so hard to keep my footing that as I was inevitably going to fall down anyways, I figured I might as well start sliding too. So I sat down on my plastic bag and started scooting and sliding my way down the mountain.
Reaching the bottom of the first part of the slope, the land leveled off for a few meters before continuing to slope downward, much steeper than before. Some brave souls started sledding down the steep slope as well, even as one of the guides was shouting out instructions (in Armenian, which I asked him to repeat in Russian) to keep right because it was dangerous to go too far left. As I was debating whether or not I really wanted to go hurtling down a quite steep slope sitting on a plastic bag, one guy stepped off a rock onto a particularly unfortunate patch of snow and promptly sank in up to his chest. It took three guys to pull him back out again.
A few more people headed down the steep slope, but the rest of us discovered that it was possible to walk down the rocks on the side, so about ten of us decided to go that way. A minute or two after we had started, the dark clouds which had been gathering ominously in the distance started to let loose...
Someone shouted in Armenian that it was raining, but soon it was apparent that it was not rain, and since snow is one of the words in Armenian which I actually know, I shouted back that no, it's snowing! We picked up the pace as best we could without falling on the rocks. At the bottom of that rocky section was more snow, which we alternately walked across or tried to slide on, but the slope was too shallow and the snow too wet to get up much speed until we arrived at another steep slope. By this point the group of 10 had broken into separate pairs, and I was with one of the guides. We debated about whether it was safe enough to slide down, but in the end we ended up half sliding half walking, until we got to the bottom where it was relatively level...just a slow incline all the way back to the lake, which, by this point looked extremely far away. The wind was whipping the snow in our faces as we started to alternately run and walk, depending on how firm the snow was packed under our feet. Soon, I could feel that it wasn't snow whipping in my face anymore but hail. Thunder was rumbling almost constantly in the distance. We were running out of time before the storm *really* hit.
The way back was basically in a straight line, with alternating fields of snow and saturated muddy fields of grass, crisscrossed by streams. Out in the open, there were no rocks or anything of any sort to give us shelter. We moved as quickly as we could across the slippery snow. But then, we saw the lightning.
Standing on a mini-glacier on the side of a mountain in a completely open area with nothing else around, not even a few rocks is NOT where you want to be when the lightning starts striking. So we ran faster, hunched over, as close to the ground as we could be while still running. It's a very unbalanced way to run...I wiped out a couple times. It didn't hurt...just got me even wetter. And keep in mind it's still hailing and the wind is blowing fiercely. But as bad as it was on the snow, it was worse on the swampy patches because you had to jump over streams and small rivers, and you wanted to go faster since the water would conduct electricity....
As we got lower, the snow got meltier, and was undercut by fast-moving streams of meltwater. At the edge of one such stream, we stepped on what we thought was a rock covered by snow but which turned out to just be an overhang of snow. It cracked, and we both ended up with our feet in the icy water. We sloshed our way to a rock and sat down to dump out our shoes, because lightning and hail or no, it's very hard to run with a lake in each shoe. (Though I was somewhat concerned that I would not be able to get my wet shoe back on if I took it off, but I had to get some of the water out.) Then we kept running.
Eventually we made it back near where the road had been and where a river now was. Jumping from stone to stone was tricky since there were no flat ones, and they were slick with rain and snow, but eventually we made it down to the lower part of the road which was just muddy, not a flowing river, and then to the parking area and the vans.
Inside the van, I tried to dump the water out of my shoes, and to change my socks, but I discovered that the dry socks I had brought with me were wet too. My jeans were completely soaked, as was my jacket, but that at least I took off and hung over the seat in front of me. It was a long, wet, cold, uncomfortable drive back.
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