1. North summit from Aragats

Approach

Start in the village Aragats. Walk towards west and the prominent gorge that leads up Mt. Aragats. Here the climb starts

Route Description

There are two options:

1. The gorge: follow the gorge until you come to a turn-off to a smaller gorge at about 2700 m (8850 ft) below the East Summit. Take the small gorge (right), towards the NW. Here you can already see the summit in front of you.
At about 3000 m the gorge becomes wider and eventually you will be on a plateau. Here, at about 3300 m (10827 ft) is a good place to camp if you intend to climb it in two days.
From the plateau continue towards the W, aiming towards the saddle between the East and North Summit. From the saddle the final part of the climb starts - a steep slope of scree, that can be a bit tricky when covered by a thin layer of snow and/or ice.
If the snow is hard enough, you might want to opt for the more direct route (see second picture below). This route I recommend for the ski descent, too.

After the scree slope easy terrain gets you to the summit. But take care especially in winter - the ground cover is still loose and the drops to the left and right are steep. A winter ascent might involve some scrambling near the summit, depending on the conditions.

2. follow the plateau on the right of the gorge, until it drops into a small gorge (the gorge you would take if taking the gorge-route, see above). Traverse the drop towards the NW, aiming towards the plateau below the East and North summit (see pictures and description above).

We took this variant during our ascent, because all of the wolf tracks lead into the gorge...up on the plateau we felt safer.

Essential Gear

Summer:

Stiff trekking boots, trekking poles for support on the scree slope and during the descend. I also recommend light crampons in case snow fields are encountered near the summit. There is not much space up there to navigate around, and a slip up there can be fatal.

The sun can be very intense in Armenia, and even more so in the mountains. Bring suncrean with a high factor (30+), sun hat, sun glases, etc.. In the other hand, the mountain is very exposed, and bad weather can roll in quickly.
Act accordingly - bring raingear, fleece, warm clothing. If caught in bad weather near the summit, it´s a long way home!

Recommended: GPS - take a few waypoints on the way up, in case bad weather comes and sight is reduced. A volcanic plateau like Aragats it can be become very hard to navigate once visibility is reduced.

Winter/spring:

The same as in summer (the sun can be unforgiving in spring, too!). Additionally: Glacier glases, Touring skis, light crampons, one piolet

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

Images

View 1. North summit from Aragats Image Gallery - 2 Images