New Mixed-Discipline Gym Opens in Armenia’s Capital, Yerevan

Members of the Ver Var team posing at the gym's entrance — Ver Var, one of Yerevan’s first commercial climbing facilities, opened in May this year with a crew focused on welcoming new climbers to the sport. (Pictured, left to right: Aramazd Babaei, coach; Garni Baroni, partner and construction lead; Anait Agadzhanian, partner and CEO; Pavel Zemtsev, head routesetter and coach; Saro Yesayan, partner and operations lead. All photos are courtesy of Ver Var)

Ver Var
Yerevan, Armenia

Specs: After two years in the making, a new mixed-discipline climbing gym opened in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, on May 10^th this year. Ver Var, meaning “Up Down” in Armenian, is one of a handful of climbing gyms in Armenia and is the result of a variety of backgrounds coming together. “The team behind Ver Var is made up of nine passionate individuals—eight of whom are climbers—dedicated to growing the climbing community in Armenia and sharing the joy of the sport with kids and adults alike,” Lilit Gevorkyan, partner and co-founder of Ver Var, stated. Gevorkyan described the ownership team as “a diaspora of Armenians who grew up in different regions of the world.” Gevorkyan said four of the owners have expatriated to Armenia from other countries, including the U.S., Australia and Russia, and once in Armenia they found there was a gap in the climbing community. “That helped us in building this project because there was already a community that recognized a need for climbing, while the broader Armenian population is still unfamiliar with the sport,” she elaborated.

Before the recent development of climbing gyms in Armenia, Gevorkyan said there were not many climbers in the country, and the people who did climb largely only had the option of climbing outside. To get the Ver Var project started, co-owner Anait Agadzhanian focused on fostering connections and ended up building a network of climbers, which was later downsized to a team of nine that would run the facility. Gevorkyan said the gym is “essentially a project with mutual friends on the team and other people who had heard about it and were interested.”

According to Gevorkyan, the operators felt Yerevan was an ideal spot for the gym because, as the capital of Armenia, it is where most people live, with a large tourist population. While the city was decided, finding a suitable space for the gym proved difficult, and the owners wanted a spot that would be easily discoverable by non-climbers. The team eventually found a location close to the metro line in the city, in proximity to a big mall and within walking distance of the city center. “I think the initial idea is having [the gym] in the [city] center, and if there were plans to expand later, once you have the climbing community, they would be more willing to travel outside of the city to go to the gym,” she said.

Climbers bouldering inside Ver Var — *According to Gevorkyan, after realizing indoor climbing options were limited in her country, it had been a dream of hers to open a gym in Armenia.*

Ver Var was constructed in a post-Soviet-era factory, which Gevorkyan believes used to process electronics and other parts. Last summer, the ownership team installed a new roof, connected water and electricity to the building, and started to construct the walls. They also built a reception area in the front of the gym and a mezzanine. Ver Var opened to the public this May, but Gevorkyan said it is still a work in progress. “Our main priority was to get the climbing area up and going so that we can start building a community and have the gym open for people who are wanting to start climbing,” she added.

In addition to bouldering and top rope climbing, the gym currently features a café, a warm-up spot, hangboards and training equipment, and coaching for youth and adult climbers is also provided within the space. Because parts of the gym are still under construction, Gevorkyan said the gym will soon offer an expanded café and kitchen space, more walls—including a spray wall and training boards—a sitting area, and a larger space for youth climbers. “A big priority of ours is helping train kids and building that community within Armenia,” she added.

A climber ascends a roped wall at Ver Var — “The location was pretty important to us, finding the right space in the city or near the city, close enough where people can reach the gym by foot or by metro,” Gevorkyan said. “That was a big challenge for us because a lot of the spaces were either taken up or the walls weren’t high enough for a climbing gym.”

Walls: Rocksbox
Flooring: Rocksbox
CRM Software: SmartSolutions / Altegio
Website: https://vervar.am
Instagram: @VerVar_Yerevan

In Their Words: “Since its opening on May 10th of this year, Ver Var has welcomed over 500 first-time climbers and hosted over 50 group classes. Watching the climbing community grow in Armenia has been energizing, and the Ver Var team remains committed to making climbing accessible, inclusive, and empowering for all. We are excited to continue welcoming both beginners and experienced climbers to this space, supporting the youth and underrepresented groups, all while integrating Armenian culture into the community’s growth. Looking ahead, we plan to open a café next to the reception area within the coming year, and following that we aim to expand the climbing walls into the mezzanine space and offer exercise programs and well-being classes.” – Lilit Gevorkyan, Ver Var Partner and Co-Founder