Mountain of the Week - Mt Damavand

We’re going to start doing a feature called “Mountain of the Week” here at Outdoorzy. Nothing fancy, just featuring a mountain for the mountaineers to consider and the armchair mountaineers to drool over. We won’t be talking about Everest, Kili, or Rainier though. I’ll try to feature those mountains that non-outdoorzy people wouldn’t know.

This week: Mt. Damavand (18,405 ft - 5,610 m)

From Wikipedia:

Mount Damāvand (Persian: دماوند ) also known as Donbavand, is a dormant volcano in Iran. Located in the middle Alborz Range, adjacent to Varārū, Sesang, Gol-e Zard and Mīānrūd, it is the highest point in both Iran and the wider Middle East. The mountain is located near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Āmol county, Māzandarān, 66 km (41 miles) northeast of Tehran. The nearest major settlement is the city of Rineh, located at the south of the mountain.

History
Mount Damāvand has its own special place in Iranian mythology and folklore. In Zoroastrian texts and mythology, the three-headed dragon Aži Dahāka was chained within Mount Damāvand, there to remain until the end of the world. In a later version of the same legend, the tyrant Zahhāk was also chained on some cave in mount Damāvand after being defeated by Kāveh and Fereydūn. Damāvand is also significant to the patriotic Iranian legend of Arash.

Damāvand was climbed by Iranians thousands of years ago, by shepherds and such.

Routes

There are at least 16 known routes [1] to the summit which have different difficulties. Some of them are very dangerous and need rock climbing. The most popular route is the Southern Route which has step stamps and also a camp midway at 4000 m. The longest route is the Northeastern and it takes two whole days to reach the summit starting from downhill village of Nāndal and a night stay at Takht-e Fereydoun (elevation 4300 m), a two-story shelter. The western route is famous for its sunset view. Sīmorgh shelter in this route at 4100 m is a newly constructed shelter with two stories. There is a frozen waterfall (Ābshār-e Yakhī), which often causes major avalanches.

2 comments May 8th, 2007