Karo Hovasapian (born on August 9, 1959 in Iran) is a mountaineer and a polar explorer. He moved to Armenia with his family and settled their house in Charentsavan town in 1969. He went in for wrestling and embodied as Candidate Master of the Soviet Union. He served in the USSR army in 1978. He left for Sochi in 1982 and he lives in the USA from 1989 till now. He has climbed the highest peaks of The Parmir, The Himalayas, The Caucasus, The Alps, The Cordeales, The Ands, The Elsfrod and Mount Kilimanjaro. He is one of the two Armenians in the world, who has been in both poles of the planet.
He started to be interested in mountaineering, when he read the book “Captain Scout” given by his uncle at the age of 13. He has started reading the adventure book, then the books about mountaineering since that day. The first book about mountaineering reffered to Edmund Hillary. He dreamed to get to the top of Everest at the age of 14-15. He was encouraged to engage in mountaineering by his uncle, who often said,before getting to Everest, you should reach the peak of Mount Ararat. But we have another story about his love of Mountain height. Once Karo’s grandfather wrote on a slab in Iran “The garden belongs to Almast Hovasapian”, and when they migrated to Armenia, The Hovasapians brought the stone with them. Karo’s uncle wanted to pick the stone to Mount Aragats,but he couldn’t do it. Karo could reach the top of Aragats with his family after a year. Before climbing Aragats, K. Hovasapian has been in Gegham mountains and has climbed Mount Gutanasar (2299m.).
Karo Hovasapian’s success started from 1996, when he met a Canadian (an Englishman by nationality) polar explorer Lori Texter. K. Hovasapian told Lori about his will to go to South Pole, but Lori Texter had an uncertainty about his idea at that moment. K. Hovasapian started to train, to take part in marathons and to climb mountains. A group of 10 people representing different countries went for a trip in November 2000, which finished in January 2001. 8 of 10 members could get to South Pole. After a year getting to South Pole on January 10, 2001. K. Hovasapian had a success to climb the highest peak Mountain Aconcagua (6960m.) of South America. He got an invitation from Victor Bayarski to go to North Pole in 2003, which came true. He climbed Mount Elbrus (5642 m.) on April 7, 2004, Mount Everest (8848 m.) on May 5, 2005, Mount Ararat (5165 m.) on September 6, 2006.
- Hovasapian is the first Armenian, who reached North Pole in 2000. He is one of the two Armenians in the world, who has been in both poles of the planet. Armenian Tricolour has been waved at 7 highest tops of the world.