Iran Mountain Ranges Iran with 1.64 million km2 has two major mountain ranges called Alborz and Zagros Mountain Ranges. Alborz Mountain Range The first range is Alborz Mountains, also spelled Elburz, Albourz, Alburz, or Elburs. In the Persian language, it is called Reshte Koohe Alborz or Koohhayeh Alborz. This 900 km (560 miles) long mountain is the major mountain range in northern Iran. It stretches from Azerbaijan in the northwest of Iran (also southwest of the Caspian Sea) towards northeastern Iran in the Khorasan region (southeast of the Caspian Sea). The Alborz Mountains range made a big wall between the Caspian Sea and Iran Plateau. It created two different climate systems on the northern slopes of Alborz against the southern side of the huge mountain range. There are a few famous mountain chains and a lot of high peaks in different parts of the Alborz ranges. Talesh mountain chains, Takht-e Soleyman mountain chains, and Shahkuh mountain chains are subranges of the Alborz range located in the western, central, and eastern parts of the range. Moreover, two of Iran’s highest mountains, Mt Damavand 5610m and MT Alamkuh 4850m, are located in the Alborz range. The Alburz mountain system traverses virtually all of the northernmost portions of Iran from east to west. In addition, there are plenty of high-altitude famous mountains above 4000m extended in the Central Alborz Mountains which is in the north of Tehran province. Mt Kholeno (4375m), MT Azadkuh (4355m), MT Kolonbastak (4150m), MT Sarakchal (4210m), and MT Tochal (3963m) are the most famous high peaks located in central Alborz Mountains. The weather on the northern side of Alborz, called the Caspian slopes, has a distinctly humid climate. The famous Hyrcanian forests, which are Iran's natural UNESCO heritage site, are located in that region too. On
Iran Mountain Ranges Iran with 1.64 million km2 has two major mountain ranges called Alborz and Zagros Mountain Ranges. Alborz Mountain Range The first range is Alborz Mountains, also spelled Elburz, Albourz, Alburz, or Elburs. In the Persian language, it is called Reshte Koohe Alborz or Koohhayeh Alborz. This 900 km (560 miles) long
Shemshak Winter Mountain scenery Shemshak is the name of a touristic village before the revolution which has now turned mostly into a small town. Shemshak became famous because of the famous Shemshak Ski resort and a lot of old wealthy people before the revolution came to Shemshak for skiing and it was a hub for many active people in the past years. It’s located in the heights of central Alborz Mountains 50 km away from north east of the capital. The video that you see is a collection of 6 months of photography and timelapsing in the winter season from November 2020 till April 2021. Shemshak village is located between 2600 m – 2800m above the sea level surrounded by a lot of mountains above 4000m and it has about 6 months of winter. There is a long story behind this short video and these pictures as it happens after the pandemic situation when I moved from Lavasan to Shemshak to be far from the population. I had decided to make a short documentary about this special lifestyle that can happen in Iran and the things that happen in the village, but I couldn't make it fully and the end result was the aforementioned video. There were two reasons for that. The first was I didn't have much material and footage to make this video and the second was that I needed a crew and a lot of professional equipment to record this live life happening in the village. So I cut short the plan I had in my mind and only took the most special moments that happened during that winter and I asked our editor to make a nice slide show of the magnificent nature that happens in the high mountains of Alborz. Most of the footage
Shemshak Winter Mountain scenery Shemshak is the name of a touristic village before the revolution which has now turned mostly into a small town. Shemshak became famous because of the famous Shemshak Ski resort and a lot of old wealthy people before the revolution came to Shemshak for skiing and it was a hub
4 seasons of life in the Alborz mountains This clip is about one and half years of photography and life in the Shemshak village after Coronavirus from February 2020 till August 2012. The photos and time lapse were taken with Canon EOS-R camera and a few of them recorded with Go pro. The original reason for this was to have an archive of photos from this amazing place and use it in the Adventure Iran website as the Shemshak photo gallery section. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tl-KLG7tqc After a while when I saw that I have a good collection of photos from different aspects of the region like nature, landscape, people, night photography and the changing seasons, I made the decision to make a photo book for the region as well as making a short clip of the slides of my photos. I hope you enjoy it and would be useful for your information. Shemshak village and in it Shemshak Ski Resort which is one the main three ski resorts of Iran, is about 55 km away from the north east of Tehran. Darbandsar village and the ski resort are also nearby Shemshak which is 4 km away and it’s one of the other ski regions in the area. The third is Dizin ski resort which is Iran's largest ski resort and its 14 km away from Shemshak village. These three villages are located in the valley and many mountains above 4000m in the Central Alborz surround these regions. Shemshak village has an altitude between 2600-2800 m and As it was an important coal mine in the region (about a 100 years ago) which was about the beginning of 20 century, the majority of locals worked in the mine. Afterwards in the middle of 20 century (1949), skiing on Shemshak started.
4 seasons of life in the Alborz mountains This clip is about one and half years of photography and life in the Shemshak village after Coronavirus from February 2020 till August 2012. The photos and time lapse were taken with Canon EOS-R camera and a few of them recorded with Go pro. The original reason
Winter Trekking in Shemshak Alborz Ski Region Shemshak is mostly famous for skiing in Iran and many people (especially Tehranians) know of Shemshak Ski Resort. It’s a destination for skiing during winter and an amazing region for trekking and mountain biking during the summer. Along with ski and ski touring activity many adventurous hikers are interested in winter trekking and mountaineering which has its own attraction as the scenery in the winter is much different and it’s perfect for photography. Shemshak is located in the heart of central Alborz Mountains surrounded by many high peaks above 4000m. In winter it has high volumes of snow, in some canyons more than 3 meters. Shemshak is only 50 km away from the capital but the winter takes 6 months as it is located at 2700m altitude. The video is made of a trek in winter times in Shemshak that was planned to ascend Abak Peak with 3500 m altitude. Our group did this trek on the 8th of December of 2020. They had a day trek to ascend another small peak and take the ridge line towards the top of Shemshak ski resort. They started the trek from the village and after a few hours reached the pass which has an amazing view of Mt Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran. From there they took the ridge towards the peak where they had an amazing view of many mountains in Alborz like MT Sarakchal 4210 m, MT Kolonbastak 4160m, MT Touchal 3960m and MT Kholeno 4400m which is the highest peak in Tehran province and central Alborz mountains. As you can see in some parts of the video, the weather changes a lot but it made a spectacular view of the high mountains and Shemshak valley. They descended from another side of
Winter Trekking in Shemshak Alborz Ski Region Shemshak is mostly famous for skiing in Iran and many people (especially Tehranians) know of Shemshak Ski Resort. It’s a destination for skiing during winter and an amazing region for trekking and mountain biking during the summer. Along with ski and ski touring activity many adventurous hikers are
Trekking in Darbandsar This video is about a private trekking trip in the heights of Alborz ski region in north of Tehran province with some friends in covid times. As the central Alborz Mountains has a lot of peaks, we generally choose one of them for our trekking or mountain biking trip as it is not that far from the capital. This video is in Darbandsar region which is the name of a village and ski region in north Tehran. Central Alborz is located in the protected area of Alborz-e Markazi which is under the management of Iran Environmental organization. This region has rich plants that locals use for their foods and infusions (Damnoosh in Farsi). Also there are a wide range of flowers that grow in this region which have medical and therapeutic properties for example, you can see hogweed (Golpar in Farsi) that is famously used in Persian traditional medicine. Hope you enjoy the video and if you like it subscribe to our channel to see more of the beauty of our country. Photo Gallery
Trekking in Darbandsar This video is about a private trekking trip in the heights of Alborz ski region in north of Tehran province with some friends in covid times. As the central Alborz Mountains has a lot of peaks, we generally choose one of them for our trekking or mountain biking trip as it is
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 3rd Trip This video is the third and final video of another group we had for this famous cycling trip that year which started from Shiraz and finished in Tehran. Like the other trip, it’s a combination of Iran Classic route sites alongside cycling from south to the north of Iran. They passed the two main Iran mountains of Alborz and Zagros as well as Dasht-e Kavir desert. This time we performed it in November which is the end of autumn and we had rain in some parts of our trip in high mountains. Hope you enjoy the video and if you like it subscribe to our channel to see more of the beauty of our country. https://youtu.be/XhIDJS07Xpw https://www.adventureiran.com/10-best-cycling-routes-in-iran/ https://www.adventureiran.com/best-time-for-cycling-in-iran/ https://www.adventureiran.com/all-about-cycling-in-iran-questions-and-answers/
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 3rd Trip This video is the third and final video of another group we had for this famous cycling trip that year which started from Shiraz and finished in Tehran. Like the other trip, it’s a combination of Iran Classic route sites alongside cycling from south to the north of
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 2nd Trip This video is another video of our famous cycling trip from Shiraz to Tehran. The first video you may see in our channel is created in spring, and this trip was performed in October. So we face different climates and weather. The group was made of German speakers from Switzerland, Austria and Germany and they were first timers in Iran. So they did Iran Classical destinations on their cycling trip to Iran as well. Hope you enjoy the video and if you like it subscribe to our channel to see more of the beauty of our country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rq4nlsKF9I
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 2nd Trip This video is another video of our famous cycling trip from Shiraz to Tehran. The first video you may see in our channel is created in spring, and this trip was performed in October. So we face different climates and weather. The group was made of German speakers
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 1st Trip The video is about an unforgettable long trip with a Swiss cyclist group who had dreams of traveling to Iran for many years. They were fit and with a good health condition were ready to tackle this tour. The journey started from Shiraz which is near the south of the country. The purpose of the trip was to cycle from Shiraz towards Tehran through Iran mountains and deserts. They passed through southern parts of Zagros mountains mostly from Dena Mountains in Zagros as well as Central Alborz Mountains. In addition, they passed through a couple of national parks and protected areas like Lar and Dena and crossed the Maranjab desert which is a part of Dasht-e Kavir. This means experiencing a different variety of climates from high mountains to flat deserts was the point of this cycling trip in Iran. Alongside mountain biking that occurred throughout the journey, they visited nearly all UNESCO sites in the main urban destinations of Iran. Traveling to Shiraz, Esfahan, Kashan and Tehran was on the list of this adventure tour. It was about 16 days of cycling and they have a couple of rest days in between. We had about 20 to 25 degrees temperature in the hottest locations which were the daytimes in the desert up to the coldest place which was in the heights of the Alborz Mountains. The best season for this trip is April, May, October and November. Hope you enjoy the video and if you like it subscribe to our channel to see more of the beauty of our country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImuIDqSnUZo
Cycling from Shiraz to Tehran 1st Trip The video is about an unforgettable long trip with a Swiss cyclist group who had dreams of traveling to Iran for many years. They were fit and with a good health condition were ready to tackle this tour. The journey started from Shiraz which is near the
Alborz Ski Region in Iran Iran embraces numerous ski resorts in different mountains of Alborz and Zagros. The most important Ski Resorts were built before the Islamic Revolution, during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's ruling, and they are still among the best in the country. Alborz mountain starts from the northwest of Iran near the Turkey border and stretches all the way in the south of the Caspian Sea toward the northeast of Iran near the Afghanistan border. Alborz district is divided into three sections, West Alborz, Central Alborz, and East Alborz Mountains. Central Alborz region has a lot of high-altitude peaks above 4000 m, and Mount Damavand, Iran's highest peak with 5610 m, is located in this part as well. In central Alborz, there is a specific region called Alborz Ski Region that starts from Mount Tochal (3960m)- Tehran's highest mountain- and stretches northward to Kolonbastak-Sarakchal ridge with a width of about 20 km. This region has 4 different ski areas that you can see on the map below. Moreover, some famous mountains outside of the ski area are the perfect place for off-piste skiing or Ski Touring. Ski Resorts in Alborz Ski Region in Iran: Tochal Ski Resort Tehran sits at the foot of Tochal mountain which has a ski resort on its heights. The peak altitude is 3960m and the highest point of the ski resort is 3850m. From the Velenjak neighborhood in the north of the capital Tehran, you will have access to the gondola which will take you up to 3700 m after three sections. From there you can take a lift to go to the highest point of the ski resort which is near the Tochal peak (3960m). The length of the gondola from the first to the last station is about 7.5 km
Alborz Ski Region in Iran Iran embraces numerous ski resorts in different mountains of Alborz and Zagros. The most important Ski Resorts were built before the Islamic Revolution, during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s ruling, and they are still among the best in the country. Alborz mountain starts from the northwest of Iran near the Turkey border
Mount Kolon Bastak in Northern Tehran Northern Tehran has countless mountains above 4000 m, which are geographically located in the central Alborz mountains. Mount Kolon Bastak is one of the highest summits in the Central Alborz region in Iran, with an altitude of 4170 m above sea level. The closest village to this summit is Shemshak, 40 km north of Tehran and 60 km from central Tehran. It is the most convenient place to choose for spending the night before your climb. Shemshak village has a 2700 m altitude above sea level. It is famous for being one of the first ski resorts in Iran which opened in 1958. It is the third largest ski area after Dizin and Darbandsar. Mt. Kolon Bastak is an excellent choice for acclimatization before ascending Mt Damavand (5610m) and Alamkuh (4850m), as it is near Tehran city and is not a technical peak. No particular gear or special equipment is needed to ascend the peak in mid-spring, summer, and autumn. You can drive up to 3400 m to the base of the mountain, the starting point of the trek. From the peak, you can continue the trek through the ridge towards the east and then ascend Sarakchal mountain (4210m). There is a renowned mountain trail called Kolon Basatak-Sarak Chal ridge line, another trekking route for experienced hikers who would appreciate a real challenge. The season starts in mid-spring and finishes at the beginning of autumn. In the summertime, the weather is more stable at the peak, making it suitable for all categories of hikers. Kolon Bastak Mountain Ascent (4156 m) is one of the most popular tours that most hikers will benefit from. Mt. Kolon Bastak to Mt. Sarak Chal ridgeline trek is one of Adventure Iran’s special offers for those of you
Mount Kolon Bastak in Northern Tehran Northern Tehran has countless mountains above 4000 m, which are geographically located in the central Alborz mountains. Mount Kolon Bastak is one of the highest summits in the Central Alborz region in Iran, with an altitude of 4170 m above sea level. The closest village to this summit is
