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Where petrol is cheaper than water … Hello friends, we did not write anything for longer period. We had actually no chance as to find internet in Iran, outside of Teheran is a pretty hard job. Maybe even harder than what we did the last days in this country of no bars and disco’s where patrol is cheaper than water (0.10 Euro/l) and where the bread you can carry hanged over your arm. Friday 13th is famous for it’s bad luck and even if we do not believe in fairytales we had a strange feeling when we left Turkey direction Iranian boarder. From Dogubeyazit we rented a small bus to the customs, where we had to take our entire luggage and carry it by ourselves to the boarder about 200 meters. Turkish passport control was OK and then we got through 2 huge gates to a country that is so much different to every other experience that we all had until now. Alcohol is strictly forbidden in Iran under the threat of prison but still we could not live with the idea to celebrate the eventual climb of Damavand, the highest peak of Iran, with a cup of tea. I managed to get some instant red wine. No shit, 8% of alcohol was the promises on the label that gave us some hope for a dignified celebration of possible achieve. Finally no baggage checking happened and we could breath in Iranian air and meet local taxi drivers and dealers. Their business feeling and our knowledge of Persian language and local habits resulted in a great job for them and after about an hour we were in the small town of Maku where we took a bus to Teheran. It took 12 hours and cost 6 euro. Iran made to us a better impression than east of Turkey. Everything more organized, people very kind and smiling. The smile does not mean that they will not be pleased to cash our $ with the biggest pleasure. Even prices that we agreed on in advance are finally not valid and the taxi drivers that took us from Teheran to Reyneh right after we got off the bus finally get more that we would like to give away. But in general the prices are good, especially for transports. Just imagine that for 1 dollar you can buy 50 liters of diesel and for 0.10 euro you get a liter of normal petrol. Reyneh lives mainly from the money that tourists bring. Most of them come here to try to climb Kuh e Damavand, the highest peak of Iran with its 5671 meters. In this period when we came the summit was more than usually covered in sulfur smoke from this sleeping volcano. We found accommodation for 1 euro/night at Mr. Ahmad, local mountaineering veteran. He also served us breakfast that is eaten on the floor with hands here. We got an egg, cheese and bread that looks like small carpet. Basically there we slept as well on the ground in sleeping bags. This would be all great if there was not a diesel operated tee machine that was pretty disturbing. But what else can you expect in a country where you get 52 liters of diesel for 1 dollar? Finally the weather forecast promised 3 good days. Damavand is a mystical mountain. According to legends one local hero in chained a dragon to the mountain and from time to time he still spouts a sulfur cloud and you can still hear it’s moaning sometimes. From Reyneh in 2000 meters we start the first ascend to shelter 2 in 3200 m. Weather is still bad so we just hope for better conditions during next days. Second day we move on to shelter 3 in 4200 m. We find here a pretty comfortable bivouac house. The ascend is difficult due to very strong wind up to 120 km/h, it’s even difficult to stand still. Small icy parts are brushing our sunburned faces. The ascend to shelter 3 became a fight against the weather. Taking a piss in front the shelter becomes also a challenge. Finally everybody’s trousers and jackets get a touch of yellow. 17.4. The 7 alarms to wake up at 4 am did not make it. We wake up at 7 am. The storm is gone and we command for attack. First part we ascent on skis. Later it is faster with crampons on hard snow. In about 5200 m. a breeze with old eggs smell gets to our noses. We try to get as fast as possible to the summit through a rocky ridge. Finally the summit with a small crater. The views are phenomenal. After few photos we have to turn around and get as fast as possible to our ski depot about 200 meters lower. The sulfuric clouds are not especially pleasant. First we ski down the hard snow under the summit, later firn snow and finally muddy mash. We could ski down 3000 vertical meters. Nice skiing day is over and with rented transport we get back to Reyneh the same day. We finish the day with few coups of great delicious instant red wine with the fleur of friendship, adventure, Middle East and mystical mountains. Soon we will add also pics from this part of our trip and hope to report soon about our next steps. Miro Posted at: 20.4.2007
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