• Visiting Shemshak and Sepidestoon villages
• Spectacular views of Central Alborz Mountains
• MT Damavand view in a pass
• One night sleep in high altitude village of Shamshak (2700 m)
• One day Mountain biking around the ski resort of Shemshak

Shemshak is one of the highest village in heart of the mountain with 2700 m height. summits in the region with 4210m altitude from sea level. The closest village to this summit is Shemshak. This village is at 40 km north of Tehran and 60 km to Tehran central areas. The village is trekking start point to Sarakchal and its altitude is 2700 m. Shemshak is famous as it was the first ski resort in Iran opened in 1958 and still is the third largest ski area after Dizin and Darbansar.

There is a 15 Km length ridgeline over Shemshak from west to east starting from Koloon Bastak (4170m) in the west and ending at Sarakchal (4210m) in the east. Between the two there are some mountains over 4000m (Sarakchal 2 & Sarakchal 3) making this ridgeline so challenging. On Adventure Iran website we have another challenging mountaineering tour to cross these peaks.

In the south, there are Paynesum (3350m) and Abak (3520m) summits. If the weather is clear you will view Kholeno (4387m), Azadkuh (4350m) and Borj (4326m) mountains as well as Damavand (5610m), the roof of Iran.

Shemshak

Northern Tehran is located on central Alborz mountains with a lot of high peaks over 4000 m from the sea level. Shemshak is the name of a village & a ski resort 50 Km away from north Tehran in the northeast. The village is on the Alborz Mountains and is one of three largest pists in Iran. Shemshak was a small and unknown village lost in the mountains before the beginning of the 20th century. Soon after discovering coal deposits in the region, Shemshak became important and a road was built to connect it to Tehran. After a few years at the end of mining operations, the village became a leisure resort for rich people due to its heavy snow winters and beautiful mountains surrounding it. In 1958, Shemshak ski resort was built, offering the upper class of Tehran a place to learn and practice this trendy sport from Europe.

Today, Shemshak is a famous place for people to go for relaxation and enjoying its fresh weather. Even-though the resort hasn’t expanded since its opening, it is still one of the largest in Iran. The proximity of Shemshak with other ski resorts like Darbandsar and Dizin, makes it the Ski Capital of Iran!

The ski resort base elevation is about 2,550 meters and the top elevation is about 3,050 meters. There is a hotel, some restaurants and ski, snowboard and sleigh rentals in the area. Also there are electric lights including LED lamps along the piste allowing better visibility for night skiing. The ski time in northern Tehran has changed year by year but in general the best time for skiing in Shemshak is early Dec to late March.

There are a lot of mountains above 3000 & 4000m surrounding Shemshak village making it an amazing place for hiking and mountain biking during spring, summer and early autumn as well as skiing in the winter. For easy and moderate hike there are a few mountains over 3000m height attached to the village. The altitude of lower part of the village is around 2500m and with only 500m ascending you can reach the peaks above 3000m. For strenuous and challenging trekkers there are some famous mountains above the village such as Sarakchal with 4210m altitude from sea level. This trek could start from upper part of the village (Shemshak Bala) at 2700m towards the peak. The total ascend would be around 1500m.

Around the village there are different route for verity of level from moderate level up to challenging level for mountain bike freak.

As Adventure Iran office is based in Lavasan (northern Terhran countryside) in central Alborz mountains, we have designed a lot of mountain biking route in the heart of Alborz mountain for who would like to have activity in neighboring village near to capital city of Tehran. This trip has been designed to be moderate and is perfect for people who have limited time in Tehran or it’s perfect for those who want to escape the crowded and polluted Tehran to a quiet village with fresh air. The highlights of this tour are: meeting local people in the village, Persian food, staying in a renovated local house and beautiful mountain biking route ring around the Shemshak ski resort.
In the afternoon of the first day we will transfer you from Tehran to Shemshak village to stay overnight. This will acclimatize you for a better ascend tomorrow. Early morning the next day, we will start mountain biking from the village toward the pass through a dirt road. Before the pass we have a great view of the Shemshak ski resort and a couple of villages around the area. In the pass if the weather will be clear you will have an amazing view of Mount Damavand and a couple of high peaks in central Alborz mountains. Afterward continuing mountain biking to complete our ring around the ski resort. We will have decent to another village and from there we will back to the starting point of the village. Please inform us your bike size before your arrival. The length of the route is 14.7 km and our total ascent is 976 m and total decent is 976 m.

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• Iran Travel Visa
• FAQ of Iranian Foods & Drinks
• Dress Code FAQs
• General Iran FAQs for Traveling

Shemshak Winter Climate – Alborz Ski Region