Mount Damavand South Face Ascend-exploring Larijan Hot Spring

Early morning (around 6 am), you will be picked up from your hotel driving to Polour village. It will take about 2 hours. As you will not have a complete view of the peak from now on, we will drive off road to a village where one of the best locations for photography of the peak is. We will have a short trekking around the village for about 2-3 hours and then will continue to Polour for dinner and overnight stay at the local Homestay or shelter. (B, L, D)

After breakfast, our 4WD vehicle will take us to Damavand south face second camp called Goosfand Sara (3000m). Hiking will start from the second camp to the third camp (Bargah Sevom or Shelter 3) in 4250m altitude. Hiking time is between 5 to 6 hours depending on the ability and speed of the group. There is a good opportunity to socialize with other hikers and climbers who are usually in the shelter (total ascent 1250m). We will make our camp there and take a rest, have dinner and overnight stay at camp. (B, L, D)

This is a very important high altitude acclimatization day. We strongly believe that rushing people up to the peak is unsound and unwise. So this day is spent getting used to the high altitude, but we will not go to the summit. We will hike from the shelter to a frozen waterfall which is at about 5000 meters and return. This will take about 6 to 7 hours and will be very suitable for our purposes. (B, L, D)

Early morning wake up. After breakfast (around 4 am) we will start climbing from 4200 m to the top 5671m, This day will be the hardest day since we will push for the summit which usually takes about 6 to 7 hours. We will enjoy the amazing view of Damavand volcano. The terrain is difficult, with loose rocks and scree and the weather can change at any time, so please be prepared for anything even snowfalls in the middle of summer. Some 500m below the summit we come across the aptly named ‘Sulphur Hill’ (Dood Kooh) where we can see the evidence of the mountain’s turbulent pass amongst the volcanic era and sulphurous fumaroles rising up from the earth. Making the final ascent to the top we hope to reach the summit around midday, affording us an opportunity to enjoy something of the breathtaking views before the clouds cover the peak (conditions permitting). From here we then begin the descent back down to our 3rd camp, a journey of some 7 hours that should bring us back to camp in time for dinner. Total Walking Approx. 12 hours. Ascent/descent 1521m. Dinner and overnight. (B, L, D)

Descending back down to second camp (Goosfand Sara). The total descending time would be approx. 4-5 hours, 1250m. We then rejoin our 4WD vehicle for driving back to Raineh from where we continue back to Tehran. If we have time in the evening we will drive to Larijan natural hot spring bath to leave the tiredness in the hot mineral water then will be driven to the hotel in Tehran. (B, L)