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The
2001 Ararat Peace Climb
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What
an experience in all senses Ararat has been! I
don't seem to recover myself from all these emotions
and surprises. From Dogubayazit after the youth
reunion we left for Igdir at the very border with
Armenia.
Very
few people has been able to even see this side of
Ararat from such a close range,
let alone climb it and now here I am having a go!.
We
practice really hard for over 4 hours preparing
ourselves
for
what is expecting us ahead, the unknown,
because we will actually open a new route.
I
have heard that some climbers that had confirmed
decided at the last moment not to come but others were
on their way. I am not in the business of passing
judgment to people, I don't know why the changed their
minds but that is also OK to me, this is not
compulsory and I respect everybody's decisions.
And
even more as the great French mathematician and
philosopher Blais Pascal used to say "the heart
has reasons that reason can't understand".
So we
went into town to pick up two more climbers and
What a surprise! One of them is Marcelo
Arbelaez who recently conquered Everest. He has
been like a brother to me as he studied in Mexico and
we have been friends for ages. He said that he decided
to come when he knew I was coming but he kept it under
the wraps to give me a surprise... And what a
thrill! He arrived together with another
Colombian summiter Fernando
Gonzalez and I am sure we all now will have a
super team!.
I
couldn't be happier! Life
is good to us and God is blessing this project!...
Finally I can climb this long cherished Ararat's North
Face that has inflamed my imagination ever since I
talked to James Irwin about the possibility of Noah's
Ark being here and I have met new wonderful friends
such as Nasuh and David and my buddies from Colombia
are sharing this experience.
I
only wish we can fulfill our goal not only of
summiting but of collecting lots of money for AKUT,
TEGEV and Babu Chiri's School.
So
if you read these lines open your hearts and pockets
to our plea.
And
maybe, just maybe, as a bonus token, God may grant us
the chance to find Noah's Ark....but that is another
story...
RICARDO
TORRES-NAVA ON ARARAT
To
support this vision of peace, please make a donation,
via SHIVA charity. You can make a credit card donation by
clicking HERE.
Give
now what you can ! by
clicking HERE.
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