Iran - Andrew Burke [101]
Damavand can be climbed in two or three days, though readers report the three-day option is preferable as it allows more time for acclimatisation, and means fewer headaches.
Starting at Reyneh, you can walk (four or five hours) or take a pickup to ‘Camp 2’, aka Gusfand Sara or Base Camp (about IR25,000), where you can sleep in the Saheb Azaman Mosque. On a two-day itinerary, you’d drive here, then walk about four hours to Barghah-e-Sevvom (4250m), better known as ‘Camp 3’. Camp 3 has a mountaineers’ hut and clean water is available. There’s no water en route so you should bring some up with you. There’s no way of booking the hut, and on Thursday nights and holidays it is packed with students from Tehran. Bringing a tent, sleeping bag and perhaps a stove (and leaving it there during the final ascent) is strongly recommended, though one reader reported hiring a tent at the shelter. Even in July, nights are freezing and it can be −10°C at the summit. A reader recommends filling water bottles in the evening since the water will be frozen when you get up.
In August you should be able to climb to the peak without special equipment. It’s another four to five hours back to the hut from the peak. The summit doesn’t require any technical gear but it does require fitness, warm clothes and good-quality hiking boots for the treacherously loose rocks. Bear in mind that the weather can change suddenly and snowfalls are a possibility, even in high summer. Most people return from the summit to Tehran, via a taxi from Reyneh, in one day.
Hot Springs
After expending all that energy climbing Mt Damavand, you’ll be pleased to know that just 4km east of Reyneh, at Ab Karm, several hotels have been built around hot springs. You can rent a room for the night for around US$15, including breakfast, tea and a dip in one of the baths.
Getting There & Away
The easiest way to get to Reyneh is by taxi dar baste for about IR165,000. Alternatively, take a savari or minibus from Tehran’s eastern bus terminal towards Amol and get off at the junction to Reyneh (tell the driver ‘Reyneh’). From the junction, where there is a decent restaurant, take a shuttle taxi to Reyneh.
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ALBORZ SKI RESORTS
Skiing in the Alborz Mountains above Tehran can be one of the most unexpected pleasures of a trip to Iran. There are four resorts within day-trip distance, all of which have equipment for hire and are extraordinarily cheap for a day on the slopes. Darbansar (day pass IR60,000; 8.30am-3.30pm Jan-Mar), near Shemshak, has three easy slopes and is best for beginners; while the slopes and resort at Tochal (021-2240 4001-5; www.tochal.org; day pass weekday/weekend IR60,000/80,000; r US$40-120; 8.30am-3.30pm) are accessed via the Tochal Telecabin in northern Tehran. The pick of the bunch, however, are Shemshak and Dizin.
Shemshak
0221 / elev 2450m
Just up the valley from Darbansar, Shemshak Resort (day pass IR140,000; 8.30am-3.30pm Jan-Mar) has the slopes that will get hardcore skiers most excited. There are six lifts, the longest being about 1450m with a vertical descent of about 500m (some of it at an adrenalin-inducing 45-degree angle) and plenty of moguls. Snowboards are welcome. Boots, skis and poles can be hired for IR100,000 a day.
The après-ski scene here has been described as ‘out-of-control and mind-boggling’, but this is Iran so you’ll need to know someone, or meet someone on the slopes, to be invited to these private parties.
Shemshak is, in effect, a series of villages in a steep-sided valley. It has a lively café scene and lodging is usually in an apartment, which can be rented from local agents for about IR500,000/600,000