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Mount Damavand
With its narrow summit and permanent snowcap is the most important feature of Iran showing impressive beauty in the middle of Alborz mountain range near Caspian Sea coast, it is mainly surrounded by many good-looking mountains, valleys peaks, ridges, lake and rivers, in a clear weather it is visible from Tehran and as far as 250 km away....

Mount Damavand Winter View

Acclimatization
Ascent to the summit is technically easy but physically a challenging hike, the main challenge of climbing is acclimatization…

Accommodation
Camp1 Polour Hut or LodgeThis is the best starting point for south and west route, unlike Reineh camp it is a shortcut to base camp, this new complex sport center is made by Iran Mountain Federation and it has a hostel which looks like a comfortable hotel located in Polour village....

Alborz
Alborz mountain Range in northern Iran is stretching from west to east, in the southern end of the Caspian Sea. This mountain range forms a natural barrier between the south part of the Caspian Sea and the central plateau of Iran, Its width varies from 30 to 130 km in different places, and it is more than 1500 km long. ...

Alborz Mountain Range, Caspian Sea and Mt Damavand
Fantastic work by Views of the Earth

Camp 1 Polour
South Route Campsites
Polour Hut is a new established camp made in 2004 by Iran Climbing Federation. This complex sport center is the best starting point and resting place for climbers who intend to climb from calsic south route or the west route, a very comfortable hostel located in the ....

Mt Damavand Camp 1 Polour Altitude 2270 m

Camp 1 Reineh
South Route Campsites
Reineh Camp in Reineh Town is the oldest camp in the area, it was made in 1939 and reconstructed in 1969, since then there has been no major reconstruction in this building, this small and old camp was the main resort for climbers before the Polour New Hut in the Polour complex sport center camp was made in 2004, ....

South Route Camp 1 - Reineh Altitude 2078 m

Camp 2 Base
South Route Campsites
Base camp is summer start point for trkking and it is a camping area at altitude 3040 meters above sea level, with a small mountain shelter/refuge, a mosque called Saheb al Zaman and a sheepfold. In summer strong cars like 4WD Jeeps and land rovers take you.....

Mt Damavand Camp 2 Base Goosfand Sara 3040m

Camp 3 Bargah
South Route Campsites
Bargah Sevom shelter/refuge at altitude 4220 m, is the oldest shelter in area, this small mountain refuge has been the main safe haven and resort for climbers for years. This shelter is a good resting place for off season, but remmember it is not suitable for use in summer…

Mt Damavand south route Camp3 Bargah Sevom Old Shelter/Refuge

Camp3 New Hut
South Route Campsites
This new mountain resort is made by Iran Mountain Climbing Federation at altitude 4250 meters above sea level, very closed to old shelter/refuge Bargah e Sevom campsite at 4220m, although it is not quite complete yet, but it has has started to give services .....

Mt Damavand south route Camp3 New Hut
Photo A.Soltani, 2 June 2009

Caves Poul e Moon
There are beautiful natural and artificial caves , the series of man made Poul e Moon caves (also known as Qar Dast Kan) caves with their narrow entrances are the most important ones in the area. Located at Poul e Moon junction ( No3 GPS Landmark ) on Haraz Road to Reyneh Town, in Mazandaran Province, Iran....

Poul e Moon Caves

Climate
Generally speaking there is only two seasons, summer and winter! The spring and autumn are too short, it is essential to learn the general Weather conditions prevailing in the area over a long period before you start. Regardless of the season, you need a good weather ....

Climbing Damavand
ABC for Climbing, if you intend to ascend for the first time , you better to start with the simple abc info which leads you to more detailed in other pages. A - You should know some information, routes andcamps. You need a good season timing and weather condition. A good guide or coach is very helpful and increases you chance of success....

Common Mistakes
Common Mistakes in Climbing
Some common mistakes are the main reason for unsuccessful ascend usually done by new climbers and even experinced ones, by avoiding these mistakes you can increase your chance of ascend .…

Contact Us
We hate spams as much as you do, your personal information will never be shared with 3rd parties
If you have any suggestions about our webpage please don't hesitate to drop us a note. If you have any question about climbing or visiting Iran Natural Attractions feel free to ask ....

Crowd
Popularity and Crowd
Due to its great height with mild climbing slopes and lack of technical Difficulty, Mt Damavand is a popular tourist attraction and a well-known symbol of Iran, it is one of the most popular mountaineering height and it has gained popularity rapidly among foreign climbers in recent decade, it is visited by many sightseers each year....

Damavand Popularity and Crowd

Danger Zone
South Route Danger Zone
This deadly region is located between the fake summit 5400m and the peak 5670m, it is the accidents part of the southern route and the area where the most losses take place....

Difficulty
Difficulty and Climbing Grade
The difficulty and toughness of Mt Damavand 5671 m in Iran is almost the same as Mt Kilimanjaro 5892 m in Tanzania and Mt Everest Base Camp 5380 m in the Himalayan Mountain Range.
It is well-known for its mild slops, climb to the summit is technically easy but physically Moderate and climbers should be fit enough....

Disclaimer
Climbing can kill you !
High altitude mountaineering are dangerous activities, where people die every year. Frankly we cannot think of any more dangerous sport activity on earth! Some climbers appear not to understand the risks, or do not take them seriously ....

Doug Scott
It was a great moment for Iranian mountain climbers to meet the renowned mountaineer, Doug Scott during the 2008 General Assembly of the UIAA in Tehran
A man who has made 45 expeditions to the high mountains of Asia. He has reached the summit of 40 peaks, of which half were first ascents....

Elevation
An article in Wikipedia indicates the elevation of this mountain is only 5610 m, I believe it is not correct. After reading this, I went and made a new measurement on Friday 31 Aug 2007 at 11 AM. With two different brand of hand held GPS units simultaneously....

Equipment
Equipment/Gear List
To enjoy a safe hike, it is essential to bring the proper mountain gear. Some of the most important things to bring are listed below
- Trekking shoes and Socks.
- Sleeping bag, mattress, tent.
- Jacket and pants (Gore-Tex or Synthetic rain/snow/wind)....

Events Calendar
Shared Tour South Route 3-5 August 2009
This is an economy climbing shared tour to reduce your cost and expenses. We have started signe up for this summer tour and welcome other interested parties to join. let's work together to finalize ...

Facts
Facts And Figuers
Some useful and interesting facts and figuers, mainly focused on south route, base camp to the summit .

Abstract
Base camp to Summit
- Average ascend Time 10 hours
- Average climb speed 800 m/h
- Trail path distance 8000 meters
- Altitude gain base camp to summit 2630 m .....

Facts And Figures about Mount Damavand

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Befor asking a question please try to find your answer here, if you could not find a suitable answer then feel free to ask, we will reply to all emails which have the subject Mt Damavand
Q- which month you recommend, I would rather not very hot climb and getting to the snow if it is safe..A- Best climbing time 10 june to 10 August . Even in the peak of summer weather is cool and pleasant ...

Fuji or Damavand
Fuji or Damavand this is the question ?!
Some Iranian believe this beautiful picture belongs to mount damavand , but if you have a close look at the city ( and the lake) at the lower part of the picture , and remembering that there is no such a major city near Mt Damavand , you will realize this is the little sister called Mount Fuji....

Garbage
What a shame to see so many garbage in and around this mountain...

Glacier
East and North East Face Glaciers- In the massive Valley of Yakhar in the eastern side of the mountain there is giant glacier called Yakhar Glaciers which is the most famous and the largest glacier , it starts from about 3500 meters high to just below the summit, it has been climbed many times in summer but noon in the winter yet, this glacer is the main soure of Talkhrood River...

Google Earth
Virtual Trip by Google Earth
It is very useful to have a virtual trip to the mountain by Google Earth before you really start climbing the mountain , it gives you a lot of ideas and answers some of your questions. All you need is Google Earth software installed on your PC and these placemark files which...

Google Earth photos for south route

GPS
GPS Landmark and waypoint
South face GPS measurments track waypoints and landmarks, ( 29 May 2006 - 6 June 2006 - 31 Aug 2007 ) . If you intend to climb this mountain, the safest, the best , and the quickest way form Tehran is:
Tehran > Polour Camp > Base Camp > Bargah Camp > Summit
and fallow the same way back for your return. if you have enough time and energy left ....

Mt Damavand GPS Landmark Table South Route

Haraz
Haraz Region
Haraz Region is a beautiful mountain area in central Alborz Range between capital Tehran and Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province, Iran. It is well khown for its landscapes, mountains ,vilages, rivers, thermal springs, traditional restaurants and gardens, recreational places which captivate a large number of tourists each year....

Hotel
Hotel And Restaurant for your trip
This is a brief information to give you some idea about hotel and restaurant prices in Tehran which you may need for your trip to Iran, you can find some ordinary and luxury hotels and restaurats and their approx prices in this list. Remember there is an increase in prices due to inflation each year in Iran , so before booking you better check for the latest price changes....

How
How To Climb
Two days climb from south face in detail
Camp 1- Polour Camp 2270 m - 7447 ft
Tehran > Haraz Road > Polour > Polour Camp . ( approx 1.5 Hours )
If you travel from Tehran, Polour is much shorter and better way for you. This is a new established camp and belongs to Iranian Mountain Climbing Federation which you can use it or ask for a car to:...

Mount Damavand south route from Camp3 Bargah Sevom to the Summit

Icefall
Icefall or forozen fall
Icfall or icy fall ( Farsi name Abshar Yakhi , abshar=fall , yakhi=icy) , is about 12m tall at 5100m altitude, the highest fall in Iran and Middle East, I am not sure about its rank in the world ?! It is located near south climbing route, almost a permenant icefall for many years, only in a very hot summer it may collapse....

Icefall of at 5100m

Information
Damavand is a dormant volcano, looking like Fujiyama in Japan but much higher, with no eruption in historical times, it is also believed to be an extinct silent volcano, it has is a crater about 200 meters across with yellow sulfurous rocks and pumice stones and some sulfuric gas at about 5600 m, making some problem for climbers. It is the highest peak in Iran and Middle East....

Iran Mountains
Iran has numerous beautiful mountains to offer to global mountaineering and climbing society both in summer and winter with hundreds of peaks above 4000 metres.Mountaineering and climbing is popular all over Iran, the climbs start from very simple routes and trekking to very technical winter or summer ascents on mountains such as Damavand 5671m, or Alam Kouh 4850 m, which has a 750m vertical granite wall...

Itinerary
Itineraries in this topic are mainly based on requests, you can make alteration and modification to a package to suit your programme, ie you may add one extra day to any package and reserve it for bad weather or team being tired to go down in time, but if you could make the trip shorter ....

Lar Lake
Lar Dam Lake
There is beautiful artificial lake formed behind Lar Dam closed to the mountain called Lar Lake , which is well known in the world for its natural poppy fields ( tulip , Farsi name gol shaghayegh , gol shaqayeq , gol laleh , correct name gol khashkhash ) and its exclusive red dotted trout fish . This area is preserved and fishing is allowed with the permit for only 2 months a year only on even days ....

Maps
Maps and Signs
In this post you will find helpful and interesting road and route maps, signs and images.
The maps shows you all the ways and footpaths, from Tehran to starting points, camps and to the summit, you will learn how to go to the summit of Iran and Middle East by your own....

Mt Damavand South Route Map

MDG International
MDG in Your Language
Summary of MDG in Your Native Language . This is an auto translateion of MDG in different languages, later we may add a human translation too. So far we have finished automatic translation for the following languages....

Mountain Sickness
AMS
A family of related medical conditions that sometimes develop when people travel to altitudes above 3500m (11,500ft), at times even lower. There is a wide variation in both the speed of onset, the severity of symptoms and also at the height at which they occur – this is different for each person. The problems are caused by lack of oxygen....

Mummy
On the summit there are few dead frozen animals which look like ancient Egypt mummies, of cours without bandages ! These bodys are there for a long time, more than 20 years. The cause of their dead is not quite known , perhaps they have died becuse of hunger , cold and/or sulphur gas .…

Mythology
Tirgan feast is the day that heroic Iranian archer Arash put his life on an arrow and threw it by a bow from the top of Iran's highest peak Damavand to demarcate Iran's border with Turan. (archer and archery comes from Iranian hero name Arash)...

Nature
Mount nature is fantastic in spring specially for its beautiful red flaowers
At the foot there are a special kind of poppy called the scarlet poppy or papaver bracteatum grows, this beautiful wild red flower covers a vast area around the mountain.…

Mount Damavand Nature
Damavand poppy fields above clouds
Photo by A. Soltani

News
Heavy Snow Fall 13 April 2009
The snow fall around Lasem is continued this week. Good news for ski mountaineers , but it may delay the climbing season for clmbers.…

Noah
Noah's Ark Discovered in Iran?
July 5, 2006
High in the mountains of northwestern Iran, a Christian archaeology expedition has discovered a rock formation that its members say resembles the fabled Noah's ark. The team discovered the prominent boat-shaped rocks at just over 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) on Mount Suleiman in Iran's Elburz mountain range....

Photo Gallery
MDG Photo Gallery
See beautiful photos in separate album for each category
Recently I have added a numerous number of photos to MDG photo gallery album , the total number reaching about 500, a part from that I have added different albums in different categories in the album...

Mount Damavand Photo Gallery

Pool
There is a small pool in its summit crater in summer. This pool is frozen most of the time, only in a hot summer you may see a little water in it, because of its small size it is regarded as a pool .…

Price
Price and Cost for Tour and Trip
Your timing and itinerary determines the price and cost of your trip to Mount Damavand, you should clarify in what time of the year you decide ascending....

Routes
There are 16 routes , 4 of these routes, south, west, north and north-east are popular, each with a shelter at about 4000m . The north face has an extra shelter at 5000m , the most popular side is the south face, most climber start their ascent to summit from south route. …

Services
We organize and offer the best possible services for your mountain, ecosystem and cultural tours, either as exclusive custom designed tours to best suit your programme or as a single service, just let us know the exact logistic and support you need, we will do our best for you, keep in touch for more info and let's work together to finalize all tour arrangements.…

Shadow
You need a good timing in your ascent in order to witness the beautiful shadow during sunrise midway to the summit , also the chances of the mounatin being free of clouds are highest during the early morning hours. The recommended way of doing this , is to start your climb towards summit at about 4.30 am from Bargah Sevom Camp . …

Ski Mountaineering
Mt Damavand is a popular climbing mountain and is rapidly gaining popularity with ski mountaineers in recent years, mainly due to its height 5671m and easy accessibility from Tehran . It has mild skiable slopes for descents up to 3000m downhill skiing , it is surly one of the world's finest ski mountaineering places.…

Summit
It is conic like many other volcanic mountains , it looks like Fujiyama in Jpan. At the summit there is a crater about 150-200 meters across and 30 meters deep , with a lot of yellow sulfurous rocks and pumice stones , cowerd by snow and ice most of the time, only in a very hot summer you may find a little water in its pool.….

Terms of Payment
Deposit policy for tour
To be registered in MDG event calendar, all clients are requested to pay 50% of their itinerary cost to MDG account as deposit 30 days prior to departure date unless otherwise specified, and pay the remaining 50% balances in cash in Euro on the first day of the tour.…

Thermal Spring
There are many thermal springs with therapeutic qualities, these minral hot springs are mainly located on the volcano's flanks and at the base , giving evidence of volcanic heat comparatively near the surface of the earth . Although is believed to be extinct and while no historic eruptions of the Volcano are recorded…

Timing
Best climbing season
June, July and August are the best climbing season. During these three months, the footpath is usually free of snow, the weather is relatively mild, access by public transportation is easy but the mountain shelters are crowded .…

Beginning of Climbing Season South Route

Tips and Tricks
A collection of tips and tricks
Climbing to the summit of Middle Eastis a life time memory, ascend to the Summit is technically easy but physically a tough climb, before starting your ascend you better to read some essential info. It ranks beside Kilimanjaro in terms of difficulty and height.…

Tour
Many of you may have dreamed of standing on the roof of Iran and peak of Middle East, we give you this opportunity to try your dream and truly experience the magic of this beautiful volcano, keep in touch for more information, and let's work together to finalize all .…

Mount Damavand Private Tours

Video
Please wait few seconds for the player to load the video clips. To download the videos click on the links. I will update the album…

Volcanic Activity
Volcanic activity became unusual and much higher than usual in 2007, it has started emitting a great amount of sulphur gas and steam out of its main active part, the photos shows the most active part very closed to the summit in the south route. When reaching that area keep away from these smokes and continue your way up against the wind .…

Vinegar Mask for Volcanic Area near the summit

Volcanic Statues
There is a ridge in the south route , we call it Statue Ridge (Farsi Name Yaal e Tandis, which you can find many volcanic statues in different shapes and sizes.…

Volcanic Statues

Volcanic Terms
Volcanic and Geologic Terms
A
'A'a: Hawaiian word used to describe a lava flow whose surface is broken into rough angular fragments. Click here to view a photo of 'a'a.
Accessory: A mineral whose presence in a rock is not essential to the proper classification of the rock.
Accidental: Pyroclastic rocks that are formed from fragments of non-volcanic rocks or from volcanic rocks not related to the erupting .…

Volcano Damavand
Located approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Tehran, it is an impressive stratovolcano that reaches 5,670 meters (18,598 feet) in elevation. Part of the Alborz Mountain Range that borders the Caspian Sea to the north, Damavand is a young volcano that has formed mostly during the Holocene Epoch ...

Warning
Please be advised it is not recommended to use any unidentified place as your resting place either in the mountain or in the city-villages near the mountain. The safest , the cheapest , and the best resting place for you are Iranian Mountaineering Federation Camps . If you need a reliable and trusty resting place when you travel from Tehran to the mountain we recommend you to use these camps ONLY …

Weather
For Weather Forecast visit Snow-Forecast it is about 80% correct …

Winter Climb
This mountain is a popular mountaineering peak for summer, it is surly one of the most difficult ones in the world for winter climb, despite its mild climbing ridges and lack of technical difficulties, freezing weather and strong winds makes ascend very difficult .…

World Heritage
Mount Damavand will be registered on the national heritage list as the first natural monument across the country on July 29.Mount Damavand is a dormant volcano and the highest peak in Iran with a special place in the Persian mythology and folklore.…

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