The Ministry of Education and Science Rejects the Climbing Federation's Application for the 10th Time

The Armenian Federation of Alpinism and Mountain Tourism is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. In this regard, the federation has issued a notable statement: "Well, 2021 is a jubilee year for us—it's been 10 years since the federation was established, and like every year, we applied to the Ministry of Education and Science, requesting assistance in developing, popularizing, and strengthening climbing in Armenia. We believed that recent events might change things, given the clear importance of sports training and proper action in mountainous conditions. But, as every year, we received the standard response that we are not included in the national teams for the Olympic Games or world championships. We’ve spent a lot of time explaining that climbing is not merely a sport; it offers much more to Armenia now and in the future. But it just isn’t happening. What we wanted was to propose helping 10 professional mountain clubs in Armenia financially, and in return, we envisioned organizing 200 training expeditions with high school students over six months, involving 4,000 participants—young people who would know 4,000 mountains, orient themselves in the terrain, and have first aid skills. Mr. Karen Giloyan, the ministry's response was given before your appointment; could you be the one responsible for sports who can help climbing in Armenia? However, we do not have the right to wait long for a positive response, and even in the case of a negative response, we cannot afford to remain inactive. Thus, we will now launch self-education and retraining programs in our community, attempting to do so with the help of our skilled Climbers and Rescuers, trying to do it for free for the benefit of our youth," stated the federation's announcement.

It is understandably painful that in a mountainous country like Armenia, not enough attention is given to Alpinism and Mountain Tourism. At the same time, it is surprising that a climbing federation was only established just 10 years ago in a mountainous country such as ours.