Hiking to Mount Tochal Summit - Tehran

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Greetings,

It is my last few days in Iran before heading to Baku, Azerbaijan and Georgia (Gorgestan). The highlight of my visit in Tehran is by far my hike to mount Tochal on the north end of the city. I hiked to Mount Tochal (Persian: Tochaal توچال) with some friends yesterday. It was a great experience. The summet sits at over 13000 feel (almost 4000m) and overlooks the greater Tehran city of 14 million population. The last time I was in these mountains was many moons ago during my teens. Tochal is a fabulous ski resort in winters and a great hiking trip during the off season. The mountain has a 12 km long ridge-line and part of the Alborz mountain range stretching east-west in northern part of Iran. the highest peak of Alborz range is Mount Damovand with the hight of approximately 16000 feet. There is a red dome shaped shelter structure called Jon-panahh (Persian: جان پناه) at the summit where hikers can rest and regroup before heading down. It is said that the weather is so unpredictable and at times merciless and dangrous at the peak here. The storms can move in so rapidly around this peak that can make your head spin, forcing the climbers to seek shelter where they might get stranded for days.

The view of Tehran from this mountain top is amazing and enormously vast. Tehran is one of those unique places that it's population varies drastically from day to night. There are no exact statistics but it is believed that during the days it's population can reach 18-19 million and drops to14 million by night fall. The city draws 4 to 5 million people from the surrounding cities showing up for work.

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Photos

At the Peak with the elevation of 13000 feet
It is noticeably winter up here and summer down bellow in Tehran.

Comments

[Nader]

Achievement--
What a fantastic achievement. I wish you took a picture viewing the entire City from up there. What a hike!