5th – Summit fever

As breakfast was served from 0630 it was decided we would be packed and ready to leave at 0700. A small bag for the one night to climb Tochal, a sleeping bag which mules would carry to the hut near Tochal, a large bag we would pick up when coming back for the Damavand climb and a bag with stuff we wouldn’t need until returning home.

At 0730 we were off and only half an hour later we arrived in Darband (at around 1700m) where we met with our guides and started the day’s walk.

A statue at the start of the walk.

The first couple of hours we walked through the small village with lots of cafes and the like with a small stream going through the area and several places had put out tables/seating arrangements in the water so you could cool off. Unfortunately, the large amounts of trash lying around (and occasionally smelling) ruined the experience a bit. The cafes also made it convenient for us and resulted in two hourly breaks on the way up before leaving the area.

Up to this point it had been gentle walking and we had been in the shade for the majority of the time but the following two hours were very different; we were asked to put away any poles as we now would be scrambling most of the rest of the way to the hut and as an added bonus there was very little shade. It was quite hard work and some very tall steps were necessary at times, but we all made it to the hut at around 2700m. This would be our starting point when climbing Tochal tomorrow for acclimatization. Our accommodation was a 16-bed room that just fit us all except for guides and tour leader. Lunch was had at 1330.

The view of Tehran from the hut.

After this we had the rest of the day off. A few people went up to a small plateau app. 70 meters above the hut to kill time and get a view. My roommate from Tehran and I decided to do the same. I, expecting a short walk, just wore my relaxing shoes, camera and a bit of water. We left at 1445 and 10 minutes later we had arrived. We looked at each other and asked “was that it?” and decided to continue a bit further. We easily crossed the 3000m mark and feeling great we decided to continue a bit further. This brought us to 3300m, the halfway point to tomorrow’s summit, and we took a half an hour’s break. Still feeling great we decided to push on (“we are already half way, why stop now?!) and sometime later, at 1800, we found ourselves on the summit.

The view - with the shelter - at 3300m.

Summit!

View from the summit.

  

View of Tehran from the summit.

That had not quite been my plan for the afternoon.

We tried getting hold of our tour leader to let him and our two local guides that we were OK and we would be late for dinner, but due to connection issues we could only reach his Danish number and not the Iranian he was using when here.

At 1830 we started our descent. The first half felt a bit steep and combined with a loose surface meant that my lackluster footwear had barely any grip at all. This resulted in us getting down quite slowly and though the steepness eased off later the surface made it hard for me to comfortably navigate the paths.

The sunset on the way down.

We were back at the hut at around 2045 and as our message had never reached its final destination our two guides weren’t too happy with us. There were a few people who hadn’t yet gone to bed who we talked a bit with about what to expect from tomorrow’s climb. We had some leftovers from dinner, enjoyed the night view of Tehran and went to bed around 2200.

Tehran by night.