Vardan Hayrapetyan, 9, from Yerevan became the youngest Armenian hiker to climb the peak of Mount Ararat.

He participated in this hike as part of the 4 Peaks children's and youth alpine club.

The team managed to climb the 5,165-meter high mountain in three days.

Early in the morning on August 1, the 29 members of the team—most of whom were minors—were on the peak of the mountain. None of Vardan's family members accompanied him.

Climbing the mountain was also his wish.

“One day he came, said, ‘Mom, Dad, I have decided to climb [Mount] Ararat.’ My husband and I were surprised. But after saying [it] several times, we realized that he was very serious. Since then, he has been hiking every Sunday to be physically ready,” Vardan’s mother, Naira Eloyan, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

It wasn’t easy to climb Mount Ararat, but Vardan managed to do it.

“I wasn’t even afraid of the fact that we had to cross the road at night. The most difficult thing was the lack of oxygen and the slippery rocks. It snowed halfway through the road, but that didn’t scare me,” Vardan said.

Narine Tshagharyan, head of the 4 Peaks children's and youth alpine club, said that they had started the initiative to climb Mount Ararat on November 18, 2024. During this time, the children have climbed several peaks in Armenia and abroad with the same team. In the case of Mount Ararat, however, the only concern was the unpredictable weather conditions.

“Assessing the capabilities of our team, I was sure that we wouldn’t have any problems with good weather conditions. If there had been fog, the situation would have changed completely,” Tshagharyan said.

Even though Vardan wants to become an inventor, he won't stop participating in hiking. Now he plans to climb Mount Ararat again with his friends next year.