Mountain · Armenia
Mount Aragats
Mount Aragats is an old volcano in Armenia and the highest mountain of the country, with its northern summit reaching 4 090 metres. Four rocky peaks stand in a ring around a deep hollow.
Picture credit: Armenak Margarian (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Albero (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Mount Aragats?
Mount Aragats is part of the Lesser Caucasus.
You will find it in: Armenia.
Summit: 40.533° N, 44.200° E
The story behind it
Mount Aragats erupted so long ago that its crater has broken open into a wide bowl, and the four peaks around that bowl are the leftovers of its rim. The northern one is the highest, and getting there means walking along a rocky edge with the hollow dropping away on one side. Meltwater from old snowfields gathers in Lake Kari, a cold pool high on the slope where many walks begin, and in June the pastures below turn into a field of poppies and wild tulips. Because the air up here is thin and clear, scientists built an observatory on the mountain to watch the stars and to catch particles that arrive from space. Shepherds, marmots and larks share the grassy lower slopes, while the summit ridges stay bare, windy and often wrapped in cloud by midday.
Find it on the globe
Mount Aragats is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How high is Mount Aragats?
The northern summit, the tallest of the four, stands 4 090 metres above sea level. The other three peaks around the crater are a little lower, which is why guidebooks list several different figures.
Which country is Mount Aragats in?
The volcano lies in Armenia, north-west of the capital Yerevan. It belongs to the Lesser Caucasus and stands alone on a high plain, so it can be seen from far away.
Can Mount Aragats be climbed?
The southern peak is an easy walk from Lake Kari in summer, while the northern summit is longer and needs care on loose rock and snow. Weather changes fast, and fog in the crater can hide the way back.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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