“I did not think this day would come so soon, and today it is already a reality,” Sedrak Balyan, a young member of the ADL (member of the ADL Youth), of Salimah Armenian descent, told “Ramgavar Mamoul.”
Balyan also noted that conquering the summit of Ararat has always been a dream for him, and today that dream has already become a reality.
According to Balyan, reaching the summit of Mount Ararat took 3 days. The group departed from Yerevan towards Georgia on 18 August, from where they passed into Turkey, reached Kars, then Dogubayazit, and after spending the night there, at the next dawn the group began the ascent towards the biblical mountain. On the first day they covered 3200 meters in altitude and spent the night at the first base camp. The next day, early in the morning, Sedrak and his companions continued the climb and around 6:00 in the afternoon reached the mountain’s 4200-meter altitude, spent the night there, and on the third day, starting early in the morning at 1:00, they began to climb and conquered the summit of the mighty mountain at 8:00 in the morning.
“When the last 100 meters remained to reach the summit, I took the ADL flag out of my backpack, and placing it on my shoulder and gaining additional strength, I continued my way. Before this, the ADL flag had never been unfurled on the summit of Ararat, so it was a great honor for me to fulfill the vow of all my comrades,” said Sedrak Balyan.
He noted that by raising the ADL flag on the summit of Ararat, he paid tribute to all the deceased benefactor members of the party.
“It was not easy to conquer the summit of Ararat, but as soon as I reached the summit, I forgot all my fatigue. It was a very emotional moment; I could not contain my emotions,” said Balyan.
It should be noted that the group that climbed Ararat also included Hagop Hagopian, a member of the Armenian Youth Association of the ADL in Jerusalem, who, together with Sedrak Balyan, unfurled the tricolor and the AYA flag alongside the ADL flag.
