We returned from Iran almost a week ago, but I still feel the gaze of the Iranian people on me. Almost all of them looked at us like we would be UFO’s. We were also very curious of their way of dressing, living, eating and so on. It was also a time-travel for both sides: we returned to the past, they had a glimpsed to the future. But what if they would revolt to reach this/that future and have an Arab Spring-like movement like in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt?

Of course, they aspire to have what we have in Europe, but they also realize the complete and utter failure of the Arab Spring. After discussing with many Iranians, the conclusion is the following: better following a very slow-pace change (step-by-step reforms, openness to change and opening the country to the world economy and tourists) than chaos, civil war, incertitude, even deeper poverty.

Interestingly enough, many of them thought we’d like to eat pizza, hamburger, drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi rather than local drinks and food. We explained: we can have all these in Europe, we had enough of them, sort of, so we’d definitely not eat/drink these in the gastronomically very diverse Iran…!

But let’s get back to climbing the Damavand (5610/5671 meters, around 18,403 feet)…

Please click on the first picture for the text:

On September 11 we woke up at 5 AM and started the ascent at 6 AM from Camp 2 called Goosfand Sara or Saheb Zaman Mosque, located at 3020 meters high to Camp 3 – Bargah Sevom that is located at 4220 meters

The two us (Jocó and me) reached Camp 3 at around 11 AM.

Camp 3 is big, enough to house tens of climbers, but there are also places to put up tents

The yellow-roofed shelter provides free accommodation, but the conditions are… basic

Upon arrival some of us went straight to sleep…

Basic conditions in the shelter

There was not so much garbage like in the Romanian shelters and… there were no bugs eighter. Well, how could they survive at an altitude of 4200 meters… 🙂

We met some very nice girls from Slovenia, plus one from Austria in the evening. The dining area of Camp 3 provides an excellent place to hang out, meet fellow climbers, socialize and give/ask for advice. Snow prevented us to flirt further and we went out to explore the area and see the weather conditions…

We had to check out the condition of the trail to make a strategy…

More rain below 4200 meters…

How will we get up there tomorrow?