Exploring Armenia's New Climbing Routes in Dilijan National Park

Armenia isn’t on many people’s radar for climbing, but perhaps it will be soon if Ash has anything to do with it. In August 2024, he and five friends went to develop a new crag in Dilijan National Park, discovering the potential for sport routes with a truly adventurous feel.

On a sunny morning in August 2024, I was relaxing in our base camp in a cow paddock at 2,300 metres. Below camp the limestone cliffs stretched for kilometres in either direction. I was on camp duty, the main tasks being water filtration and protecting the campsite from cows. There were cirrus clouds high above, making the sky a greyish-blue ceiling. Egyptian and Griffin vultures were circling, and when they came close enough I could hear the whoosh of air through their feathers. I counted about a dozen, moving in twos and threes in different strata above me. What an awesome place just to visit, let alone develop a whole new crag.

My friend Tad issued the call early in 2024, and I was one of five veterans of the UNSW Outdoors Club who answered. The others were Mira, James, Brendan and Louis. We were all drawn into Tad’s vision by a mix of factors, the allure of Armenia being the common theme. It’s a country that is a little off the beaten track.

I think we each had a sense that this far-flung country was a big part of Tad’s identity, and we wanted to know more about the place and our friend.

Tad’s first extended trip to Armenia was in 2017, as part of the Birthright Armenia program which connects diasporans with volunteer projects in the country. He volunteered mainly with the Trans Caucasian Trail (TCT) Organisation in Dilijan, and through this met Val Ismaili who would go on to lead the first expedition to bolt sport climbing routes in the area.

“We were both really like, ‘Wow, this is a cool place, there’s a lot of diversity of rock, it’s quite wild and there’s a lot of potential around’,” Tad explains. “A couple of years passed and I get a message from Val saying, ‘Hey I’m putting together a team to go and develop some routes in Armenia, would you be interested?’ Straight away without question I was like ‘Yes, I’m in’.”

That expedition took place over seven weeks in 2019 and developed 22 routes in three areas, which would become known as Empress Slabs, Shady Water Gulley, and The Nest. Even at that time, Tad was thinking about coming back.

“It was in my mind that I have a strong connection to Armenia because of my cultural background and I really wanted to have some form of contribution to this country,” he says.

In the months leading up to our departure, we had many remote meetings to discuss objectives, gear, travel arrangements and other logistics. Two major development objectives which came from these meetings were multi-pitch routes and accessible grades. We decided these contributions could offer the most to the Dilijan area and anyone who might visit.

Expedition planning

However, objectives come to nothing if the logistics to realise them aren’t in place. Tad outdid himself in this regard. Having now spent a considerable amount of time in Armenia (and being able to speak the language), he has the connections that are vital to the functioning of an expedition like this.

“I think it would be extremely difficult, to come here without prior knowledge, to organise a lot of things because the society is primarily relationship based,” he says. “I almost feel out of my depth because I have to make so many phone calls, more phone calls than I’ve made in a whole year I have to make in a week.”

There were a multitude of miscellaneous organisational tasks which needed to be sorted once we were all in Armenia. We needed general gear (a shovel, gas, pots, kindly provided by Trails for Change), bolting gear (extra bolts, extra drill, lent by Tad’s friend Luca), transport to Dilijan, a place to stay and store gear in Dilijan (Dilijan Hikers Hostel), and a 4×4 to get the gear up into the mountains, just to name a few challenges. All of this was arranged by Tad. He would make calls to friends from previous trips, and if they couldn’t help, then inevitably they would know someone who could.

There was also the issue of permission. Tad had contacted the Armenian bolting committee some months prior, but his emails had been missed. This meant that we had a tense email exchange asking for permission after we had all arrived in Armenia. Luckily, after a few days, they gave their approval, and we could focus on the task at hand: deciding where to develop climbing routes.

The first mission after arriving and shuttling the gear from Yerevan to the town of Dilijan (~90 minute drive) was to do a scouting hike. We had two possible options for route development: adding more routes to the area developed in 2019, or opening up a new crag at a cleft in the cliff line higher up in the mountains.

Our scouting hike began in a forested valley at Haghartsin Monastery and followed a section of the TCT up into the highlands, leaving the tree line far behind. We covered 1,000 metres of ascent along rocky farm roads, and camped by Mt Dimats in what may be one of the world’s most scenic cattle ranches, with a view from the tops of limestone cliffs over an expansive valley. We were travelling slow and heavy, carrying ropes and gear for inspecting the cliffs.

We visited the possible new crag at a cleft that offered easy access through the cliff line.

We descended into the gully and a variety of secluded smaller faces became apparent on the right. We set up natural anchors to abseil in and identified potential lines on the main left-hand face, and on one of the lesser right-hand faces.

Although we didn’t formally make the decision until later, we were all excited by the possibilities the gully had to offer. There was great rock, difficulties that were within our abilities, alternate morning or afternoon shade for the different faces, and above all, an adventurous feeling of exposure high up in the mountains.

We continued along the TCT through the mountains to our next stop, descending several hundred metres to the crags that Tad had helped bolt in 2019. Climbing the routes in this area helped us to get a taste for the rock and the style of climbing. We returned to the town of Dilijan full of hope for the routes to come and quickly decided to return to the gully for bolting.

Our rest day in Dilijan consisted of logistics and shopping for our planned nine days in the mountains. We laid siege to a local supermarket. James amazed the attendant in the nut section by purchasing over $100 worth of walnuts, almonds, cashews and sultanas.

Getting ready to bolt

The following day was slated for making the journey back up into the mountains and setting up base camp. Tad had a friend, Luca, driving over from Yerevan, who would be joining us for two days. Luca had offered to transport all our kit up the rough mountain roads to our base camp at the top of the cliffs. He would take two of our team, and the rest of us would walk up the mountain. However, it had been two years since Luca had driven these mountain roads, and their condition had deteriorated significantly. Almost immediately, the heavily laden Honda CRV got a flat, and they determined the car wouldn’t make it. A local driver with a Soviet era Villis Jeep was called in to transport the gear, while Luca dropped his car in town and then made the trip up to camp.

Luca was a font of knowledge on Armenian climbing, having been living and climbing in the country on and off since 2009. He sits on the Armenian bolting committee and has bolted about 40 routes himself in the country. He also works in the family wine business and livened up our base camp with some exceptional reds.

Luca described how Armenian climbing is at the beginning of its development.

When Luca moved back to Armenia in 2019, he had already climbed almost all the available routes in the country.

“I was just thinking that, ‘Man, I kind of need to bolt some stuff for myself.’ You know so I could just keep on improving” he says, and over the years he began bolting beginner friendly crags too.

In the last five years, the growth of the sport has been particularly rapid. Major factors driving this have been the handful of people bolting new routes, growing worldwide media attention, and an influx of Russians who climb after the breakout of the Russia – Ukraine war. With Yerevan’s first commercial climbing gym set to open this year, things are only likely to accelerate.

“It started out really, really slow [in] those early 2000s, there just wasn’t a lot going on. But now every single year the sport is becoming more and more popular. I think eventually it’s gonna explode” Luca says, his enthusiasm palpable.

“What gets me the most excited about climbing in Armenia is just the sheer potential. There is the potential for basically any and all forms of rock climbing. If it’s bouldering, if it’s single pitch sport climbing, trad climbing, multi-pitch, Armenia has all of it and it’s just waiting to be discovered.”

Today there are about 300 sport routes in Armenia, but there is a lifetime supply of rock in the country. From our base camp alone, we could take in kilometres of limestone cliffs, shifting from blue-grey to orange, some of it hundreds of metres tall, and all virtually unexplored for climbing.

We had done our scouting trip and had a rough idea of where our routes would go, but even within the limited scope of our individual lines up those specific faces, it was a daunting task to decide which sequence of holds to string together.

Finding the lines

We naturally split off into pairs, depending on which lines took our fancy. Mira and Louis worked on the massive main face, Brendan and I took a single pitch route on a spire on the right, while James and Tad worked on the huge arete. Luca, only having a couple of days with us, did some scouting of his own and helped out where his expertise was needed.

The days quickly blended together. We top rope solo’d on fixed lines to try and figure out where each route should go, always with a lot of discussion within each pair. Once we decided where the route should be, we would start cleaning off loose rock and deciding on bolt positions. This, too, involved a lot of discussion. For Brendan and I, slightly different beta made different bolt positions better or worse, and we needed to come to a consensus on the best locations.

Slowly, we worked through these discussions and eventually found ourselves at the point where there was nothing left to do but sink some bolts into the rock. This part of the process went surprisingly quickly, and after only three of our nine days, Brendan and I had a finished 35 metre rock climb. The others were working on multi-pitch routes of about 60 metres and took a little longer, but by day six all our routes were fully bolted. There were enough bolts to add one easier route, and Mira took the lead on this.

Once the hard work was done, we had the enjoyable task of climbing all our routes. After focusing so hard on the bolting process, some of us were suddenly overcome with the fear of being able to send our creations. But it all went off without a hitch, and each team was able to bag the FA on the first lead attempt.

We then went on to climb and appreciate each other’s handiwork. It was enjoyable for me to watch the other members of the crew try to on-sight the route I knew so well, being puzzled by sequences and working them out. Louis compared it to a horror movie, when you know the killer is in the house, but the character is blissfully unaware and going about their business.

I also had my turn to be the unwitting character, and thoroughly enjoyed the epic multis the others had created. Looking from these routes out into the valley, I was reminded of our altitude and remoteness. These were sport routes, but they had the feel of adventure.

Soon enough, it was time for us to pack up base camp and retreat to the valley. We talked a lot about what it would take to make the Dilijan cliffs a popular climbing destination. One thing is the number of routes on offer, which will likely come with time, but the main barriers surround access. The mountain roads have deteriorated to the point where they are passable only in the sturdiest of Soviet era vehicles, and there are no formed campsites with toileting facilities near the climbing areas. These issues will take effort and funds to change.

For now, there is a brand-new crag in a stunning mountainous location, with two single pitches, two multis, and plenty of space for more. The six of us are definitely biased, but when we climbed each other’s routes the phrase “All bangers, no flops” went around. Someone will just have to go there to confirm or deny.

So you want to climb in Armenia?

While route development in Armenia works best with some local contacts, you don’t need to know people to go and experience its world class climbing, incredible food and ancient culture. Here are some travel tips from our crew:

• Flights from Australia to Yerevan, Armenia typically stop in Dubai or Doha but there are many more flight options from Europe, including cheap fares from Italy with Wizz Air.  
• Information on where to climb and topos can be found on thecrag.com, uptherocks.com and (for the Dilijan area) projectarmenia.co.uk
• For sport climbing in an adventurous location on featured limestone, head to the Dilijan area. The town is about an hour and a half from the capital, Yerevan. You can get there via bus from the Northern Bus Station for about $5 (see t-armenia.com for the timetable) or hire a private driver for about $60. We recommend Dilijan Hiker’s Hostel in the town and wild camping near the crags to access the climbing. The easiest option is to hire a driver of a Villis (Soviet era 4WD) to take you and your gear up to the unofficial camping areas (~$120). It is also possible to walk along the myriad jeep tracks (~4 hrs from Haghartsin Monastery for Otherside or ~3 hrs from Teghut village for Empress Slabs). August is the best month to avoid rain but be prepared for frequently changing weather conditions. 
• A warmer and drier destination is Noravank, about two hours south of Yerevan by car but also accessible by bus from Labour Square. One of the first areas to be developed, Noravank is characterised by roadside sport and multi-pitch climbing in an impressive red limestone gorge with a mixture of pockets, flakes and edges. Stay in a guesthouse in the nearby towns of Areni or Yeghegnadzor or camp in the clearings on the opposite side of the stream. On your way back to the capital, check out the climbing in Hell Canyon.      
• Closer to the capital (30-45 min away), there are two climbing areas known as Ohanavan and Aparan that are worth exploring with access being relatively easy. For Ohanavan, park at the town’s cemetery near the entrance to the gorge and walk down the trail via cairns for 15 minutes to a beautiful crag by a cold flowing river.   
• While in Yerevan, check out Ver Var climbing gym, which is scheduled to open in the next 12 months and will be the first public climbing gym in the country. 
• Ask hostel operators for advice when making travel arrangements, they will often be able to recommend people who can help.
• Download the app Yandex, the local equivalent of Uber, for getting around in cities and towns.
• Armenia is known for plentiful clean water. You’ll find constant flowing bubblers (pulpulaks) in cities and towns and many natural springs along popular trails. Use your common sense and filter when required.
• Wild camping is tolerated within reason, though it is a good idea to ask permission where applicable. Land within national parks may be used by farmers, and they may be curious about what you’re up to, but in our experience everyone was very hospitable. You may just end up having coffee with them.

The incredible Rose Weller sending iconic Nowra line, White Ladder (33). Image by Michael Blowers.